V Burger Bar, East Victoria Park
In the last couple of years, gourmet burger bars began popping up all over Perth, and V Burger Bar in East Vic Park was one of them. It’s taken us a while to get there, but I’m glad we finally have.
There’s a nice feel about V Burger Bar. Besides the sizzle and aroma of a grill in non-stop action, there’s funky music, friendly blokes making the burgers and smiling locals dropping in to pick up their regular orders in takeaway brown paper bags. We drop in for dinner on Monday night.
Burgers, V Burger Bar
Our mountain of crispy battered onion rings (AU4.80) is served with aioli dipping sauce. They are fresh and popping hot, and as usual, impatience wins and I burn my fingertips and tongue. They are a little greasy, on the verge of too salty. The aioli is peppery but otherwise bland. We’ll try a different sauce next time.
Onion rings
I enjoy V Burger Bar’s onion rings but my favourite onion rings still are the ones at Jus Burgers. Tell me about your favourite onion rings!
Onion ring close-up – I burned my fingers in the name of food porn
When ordering your burger, you have a choice of bread: a Turkish style roll, light sourdough or gluten free (extra AU$2).
Jac orders one of the “no meat” burgers on light sourdough – the guacaloumi (AU$12), with grilled haloumi, mushroom, guacamole, mixed gourmet lettuce, onion and aioli. Both our burgers include red onion sliced in large rings. It tastes good in the burger but lingers long afterwards.
Guacaloumi burger
The mushrooms are freshly grilled and juicy, the haloumi soft and chewy. With every bite, guacamole oozes out like green monster goo. It’s messy and not pretty.
Guacaloumi burger – different angle
I order the HaVaiian chicken burger (AU$14) on light sourdough, with a grilled chicken fillet, bacon, grilled pineapple, cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, mixed gourmet lettuce, aioli and BBQ sauce. When I first see the burger it looks ridiculously tall and I don’t know if my bite will be big enough. I extract the skewer and squash the burger with my hands as I attempt to get my teeth around it for my first jaw-aching bite.
The burger is juicy, with succulent chicken breast, sweet pineapple, salty bacon and lots of BBQ sauce that drips onto the plate and smears my face with every bite. Chicken and bacon also keep escaping the bun as I bite. It’s really good, but when I’ve finished the burger, my hands are sticky and I feel like I need to take a shower. My nephew Caleb would be the only one suitably dressed to eat here – he wears a bib at mealtimes! If only we had my mum with us – at this very moment she’d be opening her handbag and offering us each an individually wrapped moist towelette saved from her last meal at a fast food franchise.
HaVaiian chicken burger
If a burger needs to be skewered to stay upright and protect it from collapse, is it too tall to begin with?
The buns are small but the burgers are generously filled and deceptively substantial. The sourdough buns are burger-strength – they get soggy but do not disintegrate. The burgers are surprisingly messy to eat – the messiest burgers we’ve eaten in a long time. If this is typical, V Burger Bar may not be the ideal venue for a first date as the saucy soggy mess will make you even more nervous and self-conscious! As a couple of 14+ years, we feel no such shame or embarrassment and happily swap burgers, laughing at the gooey globs of guacamole and sticky BBQ sauce drippings on each other’s chin.
The burgers are served on sturdy, thick napkins and trust me – you’ll need yours after every juicy bite.
V Burger Bar interior
Love and passion is tasty and messy! The burgers are delicious and we’ll be back for more.
V Burger Bar – prepared with love… served with passion
V Burger Bar is located on Albany Highway next to Bintang Cafe (Indonesian) in the small shopping complex where Charcoal House Cafe and Chock Dii Thai are. The burger bar seats approximately 40 including a dozen or so seats outside.
V Burger Bar – exterior
V Burger Bar
12/910 Albany Highway
East Victoria Park, WA 6101
Telephone: (08) 9355 3702
Web: www.vburgerbar.com.au
Opening hours:
Mondays 5pm to 9.30pm
Tuesday to Thursday Sunday 11.30am to 9.30pm
Friday and Saturday 11.30am to 10pm
Sunday 11.30am to 9.30pm
Entertainment Book Card : 25% off (up to a value of AU$15) – makes it excellent value!
I’m on holidays
I’m getting on a plane with Juji and Jay on Thursday morning. We will be eating our way around Sydney for the next 10 days, with Jac joining us for the last couple of days (she has a conference and it’s just how the timing went). I’ll be resuming my Kuching series as soon as possible but may not be able to publish new blog posts as regularly while I’m away.
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