Banger,
24-26 Church Lane,
Belfast,
BT1 4QN
028 9590 3500
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DIRTY food isn't as easy as it might look, or as its label might make it sound. It's a broad genre of grub that can be summed up as a lot of stuff with a lot more stuff piled on top of it, usually with a lot of cheese piled on top of that.
It's dirty because it's messy and because it certainly isn't clean. You're not detoxing on it. But that doesn't mean it can't be good.
Much of what falls into the category is American, so there's a lot of burgers and hot dogs, ribs and chicken wings. US barbecue - despite being home to some of the most precise cooking and cleanly defined flavours you'll find anywhere - often gets lumped in with the rest, with pulled pork or brisket somewhere to be found in the middle of all that stuff, on top of the other stuff, under the cheese.
The only thing new about all this is the branding. A cheesy curry chip or a mixed mystery meat kebab was never described as 'dirty' in my misspent youth, even if they clearly were, and the straight line drawn from these late, late night feeds is clear when it comes to a lot of the food glorying in its own filth.
But all that sauce or cheese or deep fried bits and pieces can hide a multitude of sins. Take the burger - if it's good enough the last thing that needs to be anywhere near it is a mound of more meat in a tangle of cheese, an onion ring the size of a hula hoop and inevitable regret. And any amount of god-awful, frozen chips can get away with murder if you can't see them for all that gravy.
But the best sort of dirty food doesn't need to hide anything. Yes, it might be stuff on top of stuff under cheese, but underneath that (good) cheese, there's good stuff, cooked well and put together with a bit of thought.
Banger in Belfast city centre, which specialises in dirty food with hot dogs at the heart of things, for the most part, understands this.
You can get one of those hot dogs served simply with ketchup and mustard, or groaning under the weight of all sorts of things. But it isn't there for obfuscation - it's to make everything better, and is good enough by itself in the first place.
The place itself is the standard, bright, modern, street-foody sort of space you expect, with a bit of neon, some exposed brick and a relaxed atmosphere among the craft beer, cocktails and sausages in baps.
The music is a succession of 90s dance tunes, happily blasting away. Bangers, as the internet tells me the kids say.
And the bangers that come on the plates are excellent too. There's a choice of pork, beef and vegan, which does a fair impression of a decent pork sausage - which is, after all, what it's going for.
All you really need on a hot dog is sauerkraut and mustard, but the OG's additions of gherkins, Swiss cheese and sweet thousand island dressing don't hurt things at all. The chilli is densely beefy and studded with blasts of pickled jalapeño, while the cheese and onion topping comes heavy with the alliums, bringing them in fried, mayonnaise, crispy shallot and chive form, along with melty Gruyère.
The loaded fries - things are often 'loaded' in dirty food world - are less successful. While the chips are hot and crisp, their toppings, though similar to what's going on the hot dogs, taste like they're being used to cover up for something. They don't need to.
Like dirty food itself, there's nothing new here. But neither is a cheesy curry chip. And there's nothing wrong with any of that. Especially when the standard is kept generally high.
The chicken wings, usually a reliable barometer of this sort of place, are top of the line. Huge, crisp, succulent things both their own, slightly sweet, Asian-inflected hot sauce, or with a zippy sriracha and lime coating.
And unlike the fries and even the hot dog, there's no way cutlery is going to save you with these - to get every last bit you'll need to get your hands dirty.
THE BILL
Cheese and onion hot dog £7.50
The OG hot dog £7.50
Chilli dog £7.50
The Daddy fries £4.50
The Swiss frontier fries £4.50
Banger chicken wings £6
Sriracha and lime chicken wings £6
Total £43.50
