Dollar Grills & Martini's, Clerkenwell

Located in Clerkenwell, the outside of the DG&M venue looks great with its curved glass and neon. Lucky we booked, it was a Tuesday night and every table was taken. Its a stylish place. Moody wall uplighting, candles on bench style tables and low hung ceiling lights glow dimly over tables. They had Casablanca showing on a flat tv on one wall. The unisex loos downstairs are reminiscent of nightclubs. Burger orders continually arrive at a central kitchen hatch where they are whisked away by waiters and waitresses. Its buzzy verging on noisy and its a little bit grill-smokey. 

The menu has a bunch of interesting looking burger options including a £14 Wagyu burger. I went for the £8 classic cheese burger - i often go basic on a first visit to get the idea of how well a place handles the classics, before checking out their more unusual or unique options. 

The bun, like almost everywhere these days, is soft brioche and slightly sweet glazed. The assembly from the base is sliced lettuce, thick slice of tomato, thin slices of red onions, the patty and a big slice of Montgomery Jack cheese almost completely melted into the top of the patty. The patty came perfectly medium rare, nicely seasoned, good edge caramelisation and was a decent size in ratio to the bun. Tasty and juicy, but perhaps not the most spectacularly beefy flavour i've ever tasted in a patty. The waitress said they use 100% sirloin, so i'm guessing the slightly lower fat content from that cut is reducing the flavour a little, but hey its a little better for the old arteries so i'm not complaining. 

Fries and onion rings especially were very good, service was pretty good, price was good, well recommended - but don't forget to book, if they are rammed on a Tuesday i imagine thurs-sat are a nightmare to get a table. I look forward to checking out some of their other burgers and their trio of sliders too. 

Awful i know, but i didnt try one of their famous martini's. What can i say, I just really fancied a beer.

2, Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4PX 
Tel: 020 7278 0077
www.dollargrillsandmartinis.com