Anthony_Pokorny

29/7/19 This has been a Melbourne bucket list item for a long time and I finally had a chance to head to Maribyrnong to visit St. Burgs and was not disappointed. No beating around the bush, this is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had, even if you ignore the novelty of the Krispy Kreme buns. The beef is simply to die for and is a perfect example of how a smashed patty should be cooked.

26/8/19 This one didn’t make the ‘gram coz It was pretty average. I expect as much from a sports bar that isn’t exactly a “gastropub” first and foremost. That said, it was decent enough as far as pub burgers go. You can tell they’ve tried, as far as using American cheese, milk buns etc rather than standard kinda Aussie burger fare. But the beef was flavourless and cooked right through til it was grey. The bacon, grilled, did nothing for me. Honestly the best part about this burger was the generous mayo and that’s really saying something about it.

25/9/19 This is one of my go-to Melbourne burgers. When you break it down it’s nothing that flash on paper. Standard kind of burger ingredients, excellent mac & cheese croquette thrown in, smothered in a dill-heavy special burger sauce. But there’s a quality to the meat, sauce and the whole burger in general that a lot of places lack. You can taste that it’s a high quality meal, you can appreciate that the beef is hand-minced on site, resulting in an incredible beef patty. I’m yet to have a bad burger from here and don’t expect to any time soon

20/9/19 8bit is a perpetually solid option for efficient service of satisfying, presentable, no frills burgers that aren’t at all over the top. For $13, the Golden Axe is a generous offering with a huge lump of chicken breast, coated in a crispy batter, rather than southern fried breading style that every man and his dog is offering to mixed results. It’s a crunchy and melt in your mouth coating with a hint of spice. Thinly shredded coleslaw drenched in sriracha mayo that actually retains some heat rather than just being “orange mayo” rounds out a really enjoyable burger.

22/9/19 In the mood for something spicy, I gave the Spicy Sam a crack, with added beer cheese melt for $2 more...why not? The finished product was a great looking burger that I couldn’t wait to sink teeth into. The burger was immediately satisfying: juicy, well seasoned beef with a rich smoky chilli flavour from the basting, and no hint of any graininess. Complemented by the hints of crispness and sourness of the raw onion and pickled jalapeños that cut through the creamy chipotle mayo and the rich chilli cheese melt. All sandwiched between memory foam-like buns that were light as hell but retained their shape. All washed down with a cheap pint of the good stuff, I’ll definitely be back for more.

11/9/19 This was one of those situations where being new to Melbourne, I didn’t really know anything about this place and picked my lunch from a glance at the menu. My appetite did not match the behemoth I was given. My sense is that Three One 2 One, while whipping up objectively tasty food, is focussed on the OTT burgers and shakes like a 50SixOne or a Milky Lane (obligatory #fuckmilkylane ), where everything is Instragrammable (check out their IG or hashtags as an example - it’s mostly just white girls taking photos with their middle-school art installation of a milkshake). I’m not really all about that, and I struggled to get through such a rich and messy burger having also ordered loaded fries. The ingredients were well prepared and the service was fine - the staff were lovely, and it’s still a good burger. However, it’s just probably a place I’m less likely to go regularly as it seems more “form over function” / “quantity over quality” than I normally prefer. Each to their own however.

9/9/19 First burger since moving to Melbourne, and naturally I scouted out the closest burger joint to where I’m living. Haven’t heard much about On It Burgers but they have quite a large menu that sounded great on paper so figured I’d give them a crack. The Bacon Jammy is a solid burger, without being anything spectacular. The crispy streaky bacon and bacon jam were excellent, tasty house sauce, and perfect melt of the cheese. The meat, while cooked to a nice pink and not grainy at all, was nothing to write home about and was just kind of “there”. The bacon was a big winner here. All up, a totally solid burger that won’t offend anyone’s palettes

Betty’s is pretty widespread around the east coast and they hold their own against a lot of the big names. With a still up and coming burger scene in Adelaide not quite satisfying a spoilt former Sydney-sider, the early 2019 opening of a Betty’s restaurant in Adelaide’s East End is a godsend for me. Adelaide’s burger scene is growing, but Betty’s automatically is a Top 2 burger joint in Adelaide and crowds are flocking to the new hot thing in town. Fortunately the quality is as good a the stores on the East Coast.