Not even bitterly cold winds and driving rain off the river Liffey could deter hundreds of people lining up outside the Harbourmaster pub on Wednesday for a taste of sun-kissed California.
The queue for the pop-up In-N-Out Burger started forming before 9am, more than two hours before the doors opened. By 10.30am it stretched 200 metres through the financial district, with people from all over the world seemingly happy to endure considerable hardship for a burger.
But not any old burger. In-N-Out was born in California in the 1940s and has been elevated to playing a starring role in movies such as The Big Lebowski and featuring at many Oscar night after-parties. Michael B Jordan, the recent best actor recipient, was the latest winner to rock up for a burger and chips after the glitzy bash.
It is also beloved of fast-foodies, while even Gordon Ramsay has praised the chain for selling some of the best burgers he has ever eaten.
READ MORE
The eatery was in Dublin for one day only and people were warned well in advance that the food would be dispensed on a first come, first served basis, with a strict rationing system in place.
Such was the demand that the opening was brought forward by at least 30 minutes, and by 10.30am cooks were slinging burgers as fans were admitted in groups of four to place their order.
Maddie Hahm was close to the top of the queue, having joined shortly before 9.30am.
“I’m from California, so it’s a taste of home,” she said. “It’s something you always get with friends, so I want it when I’m here as well. It’s just the idea of, you know, coming off the beach and getting a burger,” she added as Baltic breezes whipped past.
Maria Borgado from Portugal said she’d “been waiting for this my entire life”. When asked what exactly she was waiting for, she said she was “expecting the greatest burger I have ever had”.
Niamh McCullogh from Cork, but living in the US, had a clearer idea of what was coming her way, having worked as an In-N-Out manager in California for seven years. “Me and my husband are back here for like a month or so and when I saw there was going to be a pop-up I had to come. You never know, I might put the red apron back on.”
Lucy Draper and Paul Kelly from Dublin were in line too. “I’m here for him, he really wants a burger. We only live across the road so we said we’d pop over. I wasn’t expecting it to be this busy,” she said.
For his part, Kelly said he was hoping to right a past wrong. He had two previous chances to have an In-N-Out burger in Las Vegas but admitted he was “too drunk to try it”.
At the back of the line was Megan O’Connell, who said that the last time the pop-up came to town a couple of years ago she was put off by the size of the queue.
“Hopefully the line will move fast and people will be in and out,” she said, adding that she fully expected it to be the best thing she has ever tasted. “I hope so anyways, that is why I am here,” she said and went back to stamping her feet and blowing on her hands to keep out the Irish cold.
