Review – The Shamrock
We went to the Midland Military Markets this afternoon, after visiting a mate who lives out that way. I had only eaten a small sausage roll for lunch (which was really lovely, but just not big enough), so I was starving and hoped to grab a bite to eat at the Markets. We needed to get some fruit and vegetables too. Jac’s been making fruit and vegetable juice every morning, so we wanted to buy bulk lots of green apples, carrots and celery.*
*Edit: someone asked for more detail on the fruit/vegie juice: we each have big tumbler of juice containing (so each person drinks the following): two sticks of celery (great big long things, including stalk and leaves), two small carrots, half a lebanese cucumber, one and a half granny smith apples (sometimes pear instead), and half an orange from our very own tree. We have an old Phillips juicer that vibrates like crazy and sounds like it’s about to take off but overall works really well.
This is the sign that greets you as you drive into the car park of the Markets.
This was one of the first stalls we came across when we arrived. The deep-fried, greasy, fatty, meaty goodies looked really tempting. They had three or four different kinds of juicy-looking sausages glistening on display. Luckily I didn’t eat anything there – I would’ve missed out on one of the tastiest burgers I have ever eaten!
We almost walked right past the Shamrock booth, but the lady running it is a very good salesperson. As I was walking past, she said hello to me, and once she had my attention, offered me a sample of her lamb curry, straight out of the bubbling pan. It was piping hot and really delicious – I was surprised – but I wasn’t really in a curry kind of mood. I think she sensed I wasn’t quite sold, because she then offered me another taste – this time of her beef and guinness. It was pretty good too, though not as tasty as the curry. By this time though, Jac wanted to order the Irish Fadge with cabbage, and I had my eye on the Irish Stovey Burger. Our food was cooked to order. I could smell my burger as it was cooking, and it made me feel even hungrier. I never mind waiting if as long as the food is fresh and delicious. It took only about five minutes for our food to be ready.
The Irish Fadge consisted of three hot griddled seasoned potato patties (the menu said “topped with Irish butter”), served with hot savoy cabbage and bacon pieces. Strictly speaking, as she’s on the Liver Cleansing Diet, Jac shouldn’t have had the butter. But she was good and asked for her fadge without the bacon. I tried some of the potato and cabbage – it was pretty tasty. Not as good as my burger though!
The Irish Stovey Burger was a nice, plump 100% beef mince patty, gooey melted tasty cheese and a crumbed potato cake served in a warm Irish soda bread roll. You could have your choice of sauces e.g. tomato, mustard, sweet chilli. I had mine with tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce.
I thought you might like to see the burger with its lid off. It was seriously one of the BEST burgers I have ever eaten. The beef patty was lovely, done medium-well, still juicy and really moist. The potato patty was really crunchy and not at all greasy. The actual potato inside the crunchy crust was soft and fluffy. I had never eaten soda bread before – it tasted kind of like damper, which I really like. It really was a big, big mouthful. I had to really try hard to fit it into my mouth for the first few bites!
Damn, that burger was good. Really, truly, one of the best burgers I’ve ever had (yeah, I know I’ve said this like three times!). So fresh, and with really pleasurable contrasting textures – the juicy meat, the crunchy potato, the warm soda bread. I highly recommend you try it if you ever find yourself out at the Midland Military Markets. The lady who served us and cooked the food (she was really Irish, too!) was really smiley and friendly, and The Shamrock has other yummy things on offer.
Here’s the menu:
The Midland Military Markets are at 3 Clayton St, Bellevue/Midland, open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and all public holidays from 9am to 5pm. The Shamrock: A Taste of Ireland is located next to The Happy Spud and a T-shirt shop. There are tables and chairs to sit at and eat, and it’s all undercover. Jac is keen to make a return visit when she’s off the diet so she can have a Stovey Burger of her own.