Burgers: the eating out craze currently sweeping through the urban outfitters generation. But not just any burgers; *real* burgers. I’m talking wagyu beef wannabes with brands burnt into brioche buns. Pick your choice of gourmet toppings, add a side of super skinny fries and seat yourself with your bespectacled friends and chat about your beard growth.

London has been overtaken with a plethora of restaurants specialising in these meaty beauties; Opera, Hache and numerous Byrons are just some that we’ve sampled. Until now, in Brighton we have been well served by Troll’s Pantry, Grubbs and now Burger Brothers. But last night came the ‘game changer’: the opening of the MEATLiquor Brighton in a very bold position on London Road.

For those of you not familiar with London Road, it’s a shit hole of crusties, pound shops, low end super markets, charity shops and greasy spoons. It’s not somewhere you want to be at night, and it certainly isn’t a destination of culinary choice. But, I guess the rent was cheap, the atmosphere edgy and the location equidistant between tourist hell and student heaven. Thus is born MEATLiquor Brighton. A couple of months in the making, this dark, dingy, abbatoir-esque interior with pounding music and neon lighting certainly looks the part.

Seated at our aluminium topped table complete with condiments and kitchen roll, the menu looked like you might expect; no nonsense, straight to the point: burgers, sides & cocktails. No diet coke here, sir. We ordered a selection of everything (including the ‘no more than 2 per person’ cocktails) and quickly received both drinks and sides.

Yes. That’s a lot of sides. Chilli Cheese Fries, Hippie (a mustardy sauce with a kick) Fries, Normal Fries, and yeah, onion rings complete with an entire bloody onion in each. Definitely good value for money so far, and definitely way, way too much food before our burgers had even arrived.

We also tried some of the specially selected Brighton ‘Fish’ dishes (because everyone who lives or visits Brighton loves fish) – some cajun shrimp & some coconut shrimp. Very nice. All very, very bad for you.

Unfortunately, when our burgers arrived they looked so good we ate them without taking photos. So I guess you’ll just have to go and try them out. The boys decided it was a contender, if not, the best burger in town; but most had had 3 cocktails by then and were buying into the great atmosphere. I had a Chilli dog, which although looking and tasting like a heart attack, had some extremely good flavour and was a nice change from a cheese n bacon burger.

The overall rating? Would risk heart attack again. I’m sure in 6 months it’s going to be full of tourists or 16 year olds dressed like Madonna from the 80′s, but if it still serves the same food, then that’s OK by me.