Not Quite Australia’s Finest Burgers
We’re leaving for Sydney tonight and are finishing off the last bits of packing and tidying, but I wanted to sneak another post in, so here goes!
After seeing this review of Subiaco’s newest burger joint which opened recently at the location which used to be the Marrakech, L, Chad and I were keen to try it out. We convinced a few of the others to give it a go too and proclaimed Friday to be “Burger Friday”! We downloaded the takeaway menu on Monday and ummed and aahed as we tried to decide which burgers to order.
We ordered by phone and R went to pick the burgers up. He returned with seven large burgers in plastic containers that reminded me of lettuce keepers. “Which is which?” was the immediate collective cry. Only one burger had been labelled, but R had been assured it would be easy to work out which burger was which. Five solid minutes of confusion and frustration followed as we tried to identify which burger was which – it was a little difficult and awkward to do this without physically handling the burgers to see what was between them. “Easy to work out” – *snort*. The burger which had been labelled was the “ABC with beetroot” – Chad’s burger, and she dug in hungrily while we continued to be baffled by the burger identification puzzle (“Who ordered one with avocado?” “Who ordered one with bacon?” “Mine should have bacon but not avocado” *sigh*). Unfortunately as it turned out, the burger Chad started eating wasn’t the ABC burger with beetroot. It was my burger, the Aussie Burger, as Chad discovered when she met the pineapple as she was about to take her second bite. Oooops.
My workmates were ravenous by the time we’d completed the burger shuffle, so I only took photos of my own burger and Chad’s.
ABC stands for avocado, bacon and cheese (AU$19). I think Chad mostly enjoyed her burger – she loved the relish and commented on how much she liked it a few times, but she really wasn’t impressed with the bun, which to her seemed a little stale.
My Aussie Burger (AU$19) was tasty – the beef pattie was fantastic, meaty and actually larger than the bun. Mmmm, beefy overhang. Unfortunately, I’d asked for no beetroot, but there it was, in its pink stained, bun-soggifying glory. I hate how the beetroot juice just gets on everything – I’m so not into pink-stained cheese and pink burger drippings leaking out the back every time I take a bite. I could taste the butter on the bun, which was great – but the bun was rather spoiled by the crazy pink juice. And also very disappointingly, there was no egg in the burger, despite “free range egg” being listed as one of its fillings. I’ve mentioned before how much I love egg in burgers, and that had attracted me to ordering the Aussie Burger in the first place. But no egg. Between this and the beetroot, I was pretty annoyed.
Relish, 100% beef pattie, melted mature cheddar – two thumbs up. Pineapple – sadly wimpy and overwhelmed by the other flavours – perhaps it needs to be a bigger and fresh piece of pineapple, instead of a floppy tinned pineapple ring. Salad – nothing exciting (but then I rarely get excited over salad). The unwanted beetroot – I pulled it out, but it had left its mark -everywhere. Egg – missing. The sugar-free bun was OK , I suppose. I do agree with Chad that it seemed a little on the stale side.
As the burgers were so large and tall, they were held together with skewers which we removed before eating. Warning: if you don’t like messy food, these burgers are not for you. They made huge mouthfuls that left our cheeks and chins smeared with burger and relish trails. With every bite, you had to wipe. And our hands smelled distinctly of burger even after washing. This might be a problem if you had a meeting afterwards, perhaps. :)
Had my burger not been subject to the errors described, I may have been more prepared to agree with the lofty claims of a burger joint claiming to serve Australia’s Finest Burgers. We all agreed the tomato relish was delicious, and the beef patties were really good, but noooooo, these weren’t the Finest. Pretty Good, but not the Finest. Let’s hope the quality ingredients (though at this stage the buns are so-so on my list) aren’t let down by mediocre service – they really need to get the burger orders right! We’d still like to try more of their fare in future though before we really make our minds up – Chad’s keen for a dine-in experience next time, and R and I want to try a chicken burger.
And as I sign off now, I’d like to say Merry Christmas, my dear readers! And a Happy New Year too! I hope you have a fun and delicious time with friends, family and food. I’ll be back in two weeks – and if I do get a chance to blog while I’m away, I’ll certainly do so.