PR company Frank has been pushing cocktail and hotdog pop-up Dirty Dug pretty hard this month. This has resulted in a bundle of tweets and comp visits from bloggers. There has been a lot of competition from other temporary cocktail and snackish outlets, though, not least from the enjoyable Liquor Library and the various street food options that have appeared across the city.

I popped in for a visit and while Frank had offered to comp things, we decided to keep our usual low-profile and pay our own way.

Located at 24 Frederick Street, a spot which has been a succession of fairly ropey bars and clubs over the years, it has the feel of a venue with aspirations far beyond the month of August.

The cocktails are very rudimentary so I won’t linger long on them. I had a Disaronno sour (£6.50) and it was tooth-looseningly sugary. Poor show.

Their food selection looked a little more promising. I mischeviously ordered the Garden Dug (£6) but replaced the veggie dog with a meaty one to sit alongside the guacamole and salsa topping. I added a side of mac n cheese (£3).

Service was attentive, friendly and a strength. The items were soon with me and once I’d taken candle-lit photos I tucked in.

The mac n cheese was reasonable without setting the pulse racing. The same applied to the hotdog, which was fine and rather tricky to eat via the shove faceward method. I saw people using knives and forks, but this felt a bit wrong to me.

There is the prospect of a DJ set from someone called Jackmaster tonight (27 August) from 11pm, so if that means anything to you please go and check it out.

So overall, I liked the idea of Dirty Dug but the fare on offer was pretty ordinary. Still, it’s a lively little Festival venue so do consider giving it a visit over the last few days of the month.