Happy International Burger Day (May 28)! We’re sure you could rattle off all the international burger franchises that have set up shop here in Dubai and saturate the food scene, but where’s the fun in that? So, we’ve dug up the best homegrown burger places in Dubai. These indie joints strip the junk food of its bad rep and dress it up in gourmet goodness. Disclaimer: Impulse orders might be placed after reading this article, and diets might get cheated on. Drool on with our guide to the best burgers in Dubai!
1. Salt
When Amal Al Marri and Deem Al Bassam launched Dubai’s first food truck, a vintage silver Airstream trailer on the sands of Kite Beach, little did Dubai’s foodies know that this would become a cult hit for burgers. Salt’s grilled-to-perfection wagyu beef sliders and uniquely local twist on mini chicken burgers are what put them on the city’s culinary map, and long queues snaking down Kite Beach.
Succulent chicken patties slathered with cheese and a generous smattering of crunchy Cheetos skyrocketed the burger brand to viral success. In the UAE, we like chips in our food and Salt got that correct right off the bat. Today, they have sit-down restaurants across the country, including La Mer, and their pop-up camps are a gourmet delight of savoury and sugary bites and eclectic photobooths.
📍: Find Salt outlets across Dubai here
2. High Joint
The trick to being the talk of the town is this: be an unassuming teeny little cafeteria-style restaurant squeezed between other streetside eateries and the neighbourhood mosque on Al Manara road in Jumeirah that slings world-class burgers made of Angus beef and indulgent ingredients such as provolone cheese and truffle mayo.
This hidden gem started off as a tiny kitchen with just two cooks in 2018, flipping juicy beef patties doused in clever, original sauces. Soon, those burgers captured the imaginations of not just diners in Dubai, but across the world too (it won the Hellman’s Burger Award 2019). All that through word of mouth!
On weekends, it’s hard to find a table in the curbside seating area, and wait times run into hours. But the classics like High Jamz, with dollops of delicious in-house jam of slow-cooked onions and bacon, and the Millionaire High (provolone cheese, tempura Portobello Mushroom) are worth the wait. Keep your eyes peeled for their secret menu that pops up on Instagram every 6-8 weeks and vanishes just as quickly.
📍:Find High Joint outlets at Al Manara and Khawaneej
3. Pickl
You know how just thinking of briny pickles makes your mouth water? That’s the reaction every burger from this JLT-born brand elicits. Their menus are lean with just 10 burgers, but those 10 are heavyweights of flavour – think slabs of juicy patties smooshed between fluffy potato buns and generous lashings of the eponymous tangy pickles to cut through the juicy fattiness of the burger.
It’s their stacked crunchy chicken sando slathered with a secret comeback sauce, however, that has the city’s foodies salivating and coming back for more. Combined with a quirky celebrity obsession (their secret spice is named after Jeff Goldblum), vegan Impossible Burgers, and uniquely UAE sides such as the Vimto Shake, it’s easy to see why Pickl is a crowd-pleaser. PS: there’s a minor danger of unhinging your jaw while scarfing down one of these monster stacked burgers. We say the risk is worth the payoff.
Find Pickl outlets across Dubai here
4. Brd by Slab
Burgers are usually the domain of beef patties, not at Brd by Slab. They’ve dropped the vowel ‘i’ but the vowels you’ll be dropping with every mouthful of their chicken burgers are ‘aaaaaa’ and ‘ooooo’. Since we’ve established how delicious these crispy fried chicken burgers are, we’d like to draw your attention to the other reasons why your tastebuds will thank you for a visit to this homegrown burger joint.
The loaded Yard Fries are one. The aahs and oohs could also be a reaction to the insanely hot Nashville sando or hot mayo-infused Insanity sando’s spiciness. This place doesn’t chicken out when it comes to fiery food. Brd’s the brainchild of chef Omar Rodriguez, the man behind La Mer restaurant SLAB known for its gimmick-free approach to gourmet food. True to that approach, the humble bird takes a grand culinary flight at this casual chicken restaurant.
Location: Find Brd by Slab at Al Safa Park Complex, Building 11, Shop No. 1 – Al Safa 2, Dubai
5. Good Burger
Birthed in the kitchen of JLT-based Maiz Tacos, this Dubai-native burger restaurant is one of the good uns. The Original Good Burger, an All-American no-nonsense classic cheeseburger blend of delicious Angus patty, potato roll with butter, lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, cheese, and special sauce, quickly had the tongues of Dubai gourmands wagging and paved the way for more.
The menu has now expanded to include additional beef burger options, including a tongue-in-cheek truffle aioli one called ‘Boujie Burger’ and a build-your-own burger option. Like any good burger place worth its meat, they go beyond beef and have vegan burgers as well as the chicken sando. The buttermilk fried chicken is to-die-for, but don’t kick the bucket before you’ve stuffed your gob with their array of gooey, loaded fries crammed with deadly good fixings.
Location: Find Good Burger at JLT Lakeshore Tower Cluster Y, Lower level Shop B10, inside Maiz Tacos
6. She Burger
Sheikha Eissa’s homegrown burger outlet’s delicious nosh has floored even H.H. Sheikh Hamdan. The business that was a foodie’s secret and ran out of a home kitchen in Mirdiff now has an ardent following on social media and long queues of hungry patrons waiting patiently for the burger brand’s monstrous fries, shakes and signature burgers. And to think it all started one evening when Sheikha Eissa flipped out a few burgers for her brother and his friends, has now spread its wings internationally to Riyadh…!
Location: Dar Wasal Mall – Al Wasl – Dubai
7. Eleven Green
This burger restaurant was built on the rumble of its veteran Bull Burger (bacon jam, cheddar cheese, wagyu beef patty, Hokkaido milk buns) – the UAE’s best burger and the world’s 3rd best burger at the 2022 World Food Championships. Fired up by all that mouthwatering international attention, husband-wife duo Kinda and Sultan Chatila fired up the grills at a permanent brick-and-mortar venue in Meyan Mall, serving more whole jalapeno-cradling 11G hotdogs, grilled cheese sando, creamy milkshakes, gluten-free burger buns and a special Unoriginal burger that’s launching today on International Burger Day.
8. Lads Burger
This is another Jumeirah burger gem to bookmark. It deserves a special shoutout not just for its oh-so-juicy burgers, but also for serving you free water with your meals! A rarity in Dubai. Cooked in Wagyu beef fat, these delicious patties come in beef, chicken, and breakfast burger varieties too, stacked with a layer of fried egg. Additionally, it’s open 24 hours, making it the place to hit up with your lads and the ladies for burger cravings after a night out.
9. MAXZI The Good Food Shop
Hailed as one of the UAE’s best burger bars (they’ve got outlets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and the awards to back it), this butcher shop-turned-restaurant’s classic bacon double cheeseburgers and Maxzimum Meat Lovers Burger are a meaty affair you will remember.
Dripping with sauces, flavour, and creativity, it’ll be hard to pick one from their jam-packed menu of brisket burgers, crispy chicken sando and truffle burgers stuffed with arugula. We say order them all, including their Mayura chocolate-fed Australian wagyu steak – you know it’s impeccable when your food eats better food than you probably do!
10. Beau Burger
Dubai’s hunger for smash burgers and fine-dining flair of French cuisine is satiated at this homegrown burger joint owned by two Parisians. The sleek, all-white outlet in Jumeirah (of course, it’s Jumeirah) dishes out a dreamy Lumière sur le Smash Toast – a single angus beef patty hugged by sliced yellow cheddar and a smash brioche buttered bun; truffle burgers with caramelised onions and mushrooms flown in from Paris and special sides like smash potatoes.