Tag Archives: Hamburgers

Road trip pragmatism …

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Burger King, international terminal, Auckland Airport

Heavy weather has made our domestic flight from New Plytmouth to Auckland late – but not disastrously so.

Still, we know full well that under the terms of budget flying in the new centuries we are going to be fed precisely zilch on the plane to Melbourne.

We have some time, but not enough to “um” and “ah”, or perhaps even order food to be cooked for us such as noodles or an acceptable burger.

So Burger King it is.

A double whopper meal deal for the pair of us at $NZ13 each, in fact.

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It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten food such as this – and there are some pleasant surprises.

The salad ingredients, dressings and pickles are fresh and tasty.

The meat patties, though, are somewhere between Grill’d and the Golden Arches – that is, nowhere near as good as the former or as bad as the latter. Closer to McD’s, says Bennie.

The big let-down is the quality of the buns. Really, what is an otherwise acceptable fast-food meal in a fast-food situation is rendered a negative experience by these squishy, sweet nonentities.

And the chips – hot and utterly without charm or flavour.

Still, sometimes men have gotta do what seems inevitable.

We half expect to find a noodle or wok joint closer to our departure gate – and don’t know whether to feel relieved or exonerated when that is not the case.

Paradoxically, on the way over from Melbourne we enjoyed a great feed given the no-show of airline food these days – two tubs of dip (hoummous, eggplant), pita bread and kalamata olives.

After four or so hours … it’s good to be home.

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Food truck mayhem in the west …

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Mr Burger, Somerville Rd, Yarraville. Phone: 0312 345 67

What’s this?

Looks like a food truck shootout in Somerville Rd.

Although having no plans to eat anywhere except at home, I’d noted courtesy of Where The Truck at that Beat Box Kitchen had plans to be at Yarraville Park in the evening.

Then about 6.30pm, I discover via a Facebook post by White Guy Cooks Thai, that they, Dos Diablos AND Mr Burger are all planning to set up shop there, too.

That’s too much fun to miss out on, so off I go.

It IS a festive scene that greets me at the park.

There’s three trucks up and running – no sign of Beat Box Kitchen.

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I figure this is a foretaste of how the west-loving food trucks are going to go in winter.

There’s about 50 or so people milling about. Some are deciding on what they’re going to eat. Others are waiting for their orders.

There’s families, cyclists, toddlers and dogs.

Just about everyone, except the cyclists, is suitably rugged up.

Some people are, um, “eating in”. Other are grabbing their goodies and heading back to their cars and, presumably, home.

The interests of journalism, food blogging and spreading myself around a bit dictate that I opt for Mr Burger, having already tried the other two trucks present.

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My food takes about 10 minutes to get prepared. The Mr Burger crew is working hard.

I like the way my side and sandwich are served in the same cardboard box.

A small serve of chips is a fine deal at $3 – they’re plentiful, fresh, hot, crunchy and plain. None of your sea salt ‘n’ rosemary here.

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My basic Mr Burger – beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard, mayo and tomato sauce for $9 – is wrapped in both paper and foil.

It appears both modest in size and like a sodden, mushy mess.

But it tastes great and is adequate size-wise!

The meat has a nicely char-like exterior, the lettuce is crisp, the tomato fresh and the dressings just right.

I wonder, though, how such a burger would handle even the briefest of drives home.

I’m halfway through my meal when the Beat Box Kitchen vehicle turns up. It’s up and running with surprising speed.

Maybe next time.

 

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The Greekgrill

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The Greekgrill, 43 Civic Parade, Altona. Phone: 9398 5335

Getting in early seems to have become something of a Consider The Sauce habit of late.

When I ask the staff at The Greekgrill how long they’ve been open, they say since about midday!

Yep, it’s opening day.

That would explain why we haven’t noticed this establishment before.

It’s smack bang in the middle of a small shopping strip that has previously been of little interest to us, save for hitting the ATM of the correct flavour before heading to adventures elsewhere in Altona and environs.

The Greekgrill delivers a variety of options – yes, you can order a burger or kebab wrap or charcoal chicken here.

But what intrigues me are the more substantial and traditional Greek offerings.

And especially at attractively low prices. (As previously noted, we love Greek restaurant food, but that style loses out when the prices are steep compared to more affordable options.)

How about a plate of chicken or lamb gyros with “chips, salad, warm pita bread and tzatziki” for $16.90?

Or “char grilled baby snapper served with lemon and herb scented rice and salad” for $17?

Mixed grill for two goes for $36 and the seafood platter for two costs $42.

I entered seriously contemplating some of these heftier items, but while ascertaining if the taramosalata is house-made – the answer is “yes”, but it’s not on today – I switch paths and figure a light meal is just the ticket for this early evening chow down.

My mixed mezze plate (top photo) is beaut – particularly at $14.

The dips, eaten with warmed and lightly toasted pita bread, are super – an apricot-coloured spicy fetta number with a swell and very cheesy chilli kick, a plain cucumber and yogurt combo, a garlicky eggplant delight, and a beetroot blend that is less sweet than most of its kind but packed with that earthy beetroot flavour.

Elsewhere on my plate are two kinds of olives, kalamata and stuffed green jobs, a few cubes of rather ummemorable fetta and some roasted red capsicum.

I’ve been given a few extras over and above the menu description – perhaps because it’s opening day and they’re looking to impress or perhaps because of the interest I’ve shown.

Small red peppers stuffed with a creamy blend of fetta and ricotta also have a nice chilli hit, while the marinated octopus is chewy but nice enough.

A serve of “dolmadakia” (“vine leaves stuffed with herb rice”) costs $6.50, but I’ve snagged a couple at 50 cents apiece. They’re plain but good.

Judging by the number of locals dropping in to grab menus, it seems The Greekgrill will prove a winner.

 

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Late at night with the truckies …

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Ports Diner Roadhouse, 420 Footscray Rd, West Melbourne. Phone: 9689 9975

As most Consider The Sauce visitors will know, cool late-night options are a tad thin on the ground in the western suburbs.

So when the midnight hour munchies strike, I habitually head for the relatively close and comforting charms of the Embassy Taxi Cafe in Spencer St.

However, there is a slightly closer alternative, one that promises to provide a similarly distinctive transport-related fast food fix – and the time to take it for a road test it is now.

This place doesn’t keep anything like the 24/7 opening hours of the taxi cafe, but I figure it’s worth a shot just to enjoy another unique Melbourne dining experience.

In the night-time shadows of the Citylink/Bolte Bridge, and with the ridiculous Big Wheel in the background, I pull into the vast parking lot.

There’s a lot of trucks here – and I’m pretty sure there always is.

As several come and go, I finally find a parking spot, next to another small car, where it seems there is a good chance my vehicle will not be crushed like a bug by some reversing behemouth.

Inside the prefabricated building I find your typical diner set-up, spick and span, and with press coverage of the joint on the walls and copies of Big Rigs newspaper at hand.

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There’s plastic containers of that night’s Chinese and pasta dishes in the bain marie, but I – of course – go the burger ($7 with bacon and onion) and chips route ($3).

Unfortunately, it’s all rather drab.

The burger patty is quite large, but appears to be a generic supermarket model. Certainly, it’s devoid of flavour or allure.

The rest of the burger is similarly unmemorable.

The chips are plentiful, hot and crinkle cut. They’re just OK, but are nevertheless the best of my meal.

No matter – I’ve enjoyed checking another personality-laden, one-of-a-kind Melbourne eating experience.

I’ll even consider returning – maybe for a steak sandwich or souvlaki.

After all, when the late-night munchies strike, a man’s gotta get truckin’ …

 

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Mama Bear

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Mama Bear, 526 Racecourse Road, Flemington. Phone: 9376 0386

In terms of location, Mama Bear really has it nailed.

Roughly equidistant from the coffee-and-more riches of Union Rd, the swell Asian smorgasbord on the other side of the railway line on Racecourse Rd and undistinguished Macaulay Rd, it really stands out.

Even better, unlike the situation on those three nearby strips, the parking here is unrestricted on both sides of the road. You may have to look for a wee while at weekends, but I doubt it’ll be any great problem.

Lovely exterior artwork, concrete floor, random yet stylish furniture, vintage signs, a high communal table with stools – yes, this is hipster cafe territory.

As you’d expect, breakfast is the big deal here. Heck, there’s not even a lunch menu – the post-noon fare falls under the heading “Brunch”.

The building was previously a Mexican joint the threshold of which we never crossed.

Co-proprietor Daniel tells me that ithe building’s first role was as a stables or some other equine-related business. He shows me the indentations where horses had gnawed away at the window frames.

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I love the display of $3.50 old-school slices and hedgehogs. Some are brought in, some are made in-house.

The non-breakfast line-up is compact and appealing, with all items sitting on or around the $17 mark.

There’s a pesto-based pasta, a blackboard risotto, a calamari salad and a beef cheek slider.

I go for the Angus burger.

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The orthodox in me yearns for something more usually related to burgers for accompaniment – coleslaw maybe, or chips. Or both.

But truth is, I am a fan of the rocket and fetta fad – and this is a good one: Fresh, lemony, tangy.

The skewered pickled cucumber is a crunchy, slightly sweet and delicately seasoned delight.

The beef patty looks modestly sized but is quite substantial. More importantly, it tastes fantastic. If only all burgers were this juicy! Maybe it could’ve done with a slightly heavier hand in the salt, pepper and seasoning department, but it’s still a very fine thing.

By the time the beef is all gone, I’m left with a handful of other ingredients – high-quality bun, shredded red cabbage that looks pickled but doesn’t taste like it, tomato, good and gooey cheese, mustard and mayo. But they’re all so classy, I enjoy consuming every last morsel.

Has my Mama Bear burger been worth the extra few bucks above what you’d pay for a basic sandwich at, say, Grill’d or Jus Burgers?

Yes.

To finish, a cafe latte is ordered.

It’s insanely excellent.

 

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Grill’d Yarraville

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Grill’d Yarraville, 18 Anderson St, Yarraville. Phone: 9687 1107

The corner of Anderson and Ballarat streets, the heart of Yarravile … it’s where we live; well, almost.

It’s certainly where we shop for all sorts of things, get haircuts and the occasional beer, browse, partake of coffees and gelati and ice-cream, run into friends, see the odd movie, buys books … yes, well, it IS where we live.

Have done so for years and presumably many years to come.

So seeing a flash new franchise hamburger outlet operating on the site of the former post office is shocking to the point of confrontational.

Will it come to be thought of as an eyesore?

Or will the passing of time see it become just another part of the local furniture?

I have noted, though, that in the few days it’s been open it has been doing very good business, although I’ve yet to see any locals – locals I know, that is – taking the place for a test spin.

On the other hand, I doubt very much that I’m the first to give it a go.

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Inside, looking out on to the so very familiar street life is quite a surreal experience.

The interior has polished concrete floors, lots of wood, a newspaper rack – always a plus.

The young or youngish staff are decked out in a variation of the very cool Grill’d T-shirts and obviously doing a diligent and enthusiastic job of taking care of their customers.

As this is my first visit – and future ones are likely to be on the rare side – I lash out for something a little bit saucier than my usual burger with bacon.

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The Hot Mama ($13.50) has beef, roasted peppers, dill pickle, tasty cheese, tzatziki, salad and harissa paste.

When the not-so-young bloke who serves me asks me about chilli preferences, I say mild.

As it turns out, my burger is far hotter than any of the Indian, Thai or Sri Lankan food that it has been my pleasure to eat in the previous couple of weeks.

So hot it leaves my lips tingling.

My plain white bun seems not as fresh as I’m used to getting at Grill’d outlets, so I fear my burger will messily crumble. Happily it holds together quite well.

The cheese element is good in that it actually has flavour, unlike you know McWhere.

The meat component is as tasty as ever for a Grill’d product, although the harissa dominates all.

Cos lettuce leaves are terrifically crunchy, though I detect no flavour of texture of roasted peppers.

Which doesn’t mean they’re not in there – more likely they’re just swamped by the other robust flavours, including a good dose of dill pickle and yogurt sauce.

It’s a typically good Grill’d effort, though no better than their more basic and significantly cheaper burgers.

The snack-size chips ($3.50) are good but not up to the standard we’ve often enjoyed at other Grill’d outlets, such as Highpoint.

They’re only just hot enough and some of them are floppy. I suspect I’ve copped the end of one batch instead of the start of another.

Grill’d does good work, but I suspect I’ll continue to have NIMBY-type feelings about an outlet landing in the heart of Yarraville.

And be warned – a bells-and-whistles meal here pushes the upper boundaries of what constitutes a cheap eat.

My burger, chips and a small bottle of Pepsi nudges above the $20 mark – that’s twice what I paid for an incredible biryani a few days earlier.

Grill'd Healthy Burgers on Urbanspoon

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Jus Burgers

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Jus Burgers, 364 Chapel Street, South Yarra. Phone: 9827 1318

Consider The Sauce is listed with a fledgling social media service called Social Callout, which is endeavouring to connect bloggers with marketers, PR types and folks wanting to talk up their products and services.

I hooked up with this crew not because I’m eager to get my snout in the freebie trough – been there, done that.

It’s more about being open to new story ideas.

But while it’s very early days yet, I think it’s already fair to say there’s not much future in our relationship with this site – so far the “callouts” have been overwhelmingly of zero interest to CTS and the prospects of there ever being any with applications to the west seem nil.

The one that did catch our eye was posted by Perth-based burger outfit Jus Burgers, seeking bloggers to check out their new Chapel St emporium.

So I applied for the “callout” and … nothing.

The “callout” went up again, so I applied again.

Turns out there’s been some gremlins in the Social Callout system, but this time I eventually get an email reply from Melbourne Jus Burgers manager Cory.

When I finally talk to him on the phone, it’s clear we’re on the same page when it comes to bloggers, freebies, marketing and so on.

“There’s no way I expect blogger reviews to be all positive,” he says. “In fact, if they’re anything less than honest, then they’re not of use to us. Besides, if there’s critcism, that’s the kind of feedback we need.”

So on that basis, we’re happy to make a rare foray across the river to Chapel St for a complementary meal (full disclosure below).

In fact we’re quite excited, as the menu strongly hints at good eats to be had at a place that presents as a more tony, ambitious version of the sort of thing Grill’d does.

The line-up of burgers and sides is enticing – see full menu below.

There’s THREE kinds of slaw.

Among the JB boasts are “no frozen food” and “all Victorian”.

And to top it all, one of CTS’s very best pals, food obsessive Nat Stockley, is very much a burger expert – one who has given Jus Burgers the thumbs up!

The place is smaller than we expect, though there is a kid-friendly room “out the back”.

Exposed brick, graffiti-style sloganeering, too-loud hip-hop – it fits right into the Chapel St scene.

But ambiance be damned – we’re here for the food.

Bennie’s wagyu burger earns an instant 10 out of 10, what with its beaut, crispy charcoal flavour and texture – once he’s done licking his chops and fingers.

For like his dad’s excellent roo burger, it’s a truly sloppy handful.

This messy outcome is due to both the overkill in terms of the various sauces and dressings used on our respective burgers and the crumbly Turkish-style buns.

Truth is, though, we don’t care.

It’s a finger-licking feast time, the paper serviettes are of the more substantial variety and there’s plenty of them at hand not far from our table.

Apart from the terrific patty in my burger, there’s a nice spice hit from the “horseradish slaw and goan cuisine green chilli jam”.

Our sides arrive after our burgers, but we don’t mind that, either – even though, predictably, there’s more food than we can feasibly consume.

Chips – very good; hot and crisp.

Onion rings – way better than very good; sensational, amazing, as good as any we’ve had. Ever.

Honestly, these rings are near-perfect, with a mostly grease-free coating that adheres to the onion remarkably well. Maybe, just maybe, they have a touch too much salt.

Spanish slaw (“sherry vinegar, honey and smoked paprika dressing”) – the only blah part of our meal. We expect some real zing and some sharply defined tastes, but get instead a rather bland and overly sweet salad. If anything, the mint and sweet factors remind us of a bland Vietnamese coleslaw.

Would we have paid for our meal?

Yes, happily.

Is Jus Burgers worth a trip to Chapel St?

Yes, just for a different, quality take on the familiar.

Meanwhile, the CTS flirtation with Social Callout and the unease it is causing is leading us to reconsider our whole approach to such matters.

Our meal at Jus Burgers was provided free of charge by the owner in return for a story on Consider The Sauce. Neither staff nor management knew what we were going to order. Jus Burgers has not been given any editorial control of this post.

Jus Burgers (South Yarra) on Urbanspoon

Big slide, little boy, wimpers of fear …

Truckies Drive In Cafe

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Truckies Drive In Cafe, 90-92 Boundary Rd, Laverton North. Phone: 9325 1553

There are hundreds of fast-food outfits spread across the industrial wild west, servicing myriad operations big and small, lubricating the wheels of commerce and feeding a mix of blue-collar workers of many kinds and their support colleagues.

I’ve always assumed that they’re pretty much interchangeable and that the food involved is not much good and even less good for one’s health.

So why try this one?

Well, I’ve driven past it many times, so it has become an itch to be scratched.

It’s got the sort of name and something of the appearance of a genuine ‘Merican-style truck stop.

Still, my hopes are appropriately modest.

A good burger would be good.

A very good burger with fresh, hot, crunchy chips would be a bonus.

My more extreme fantasies run to a wise-cracking waitress named Loretta or Rhonda, a jukebox stuffed with prime Merle Haggard and a slice of house-made apple pie a la mode.

And fantasies they are, as I discover when I enter what looks like a routine fast-food place.

But the welcome from proprietor Elias and his crew is warm and welcoming.

They’ve been here for almost the all the eight years an eatery has operated here.

Even better, my dismay at the line-up of already-made and wilting burgers and kebabs is immediately dispelled upon being told that, yes indeed, a burger can be made fresh to my specifications.

My burger is better than good.

The flattened patty is rather lightweight but tastes OK.

The other components – lettuce, tomato, bacon, some raw onion, sauce – are fine.

But the ace in the hole is the top-quality bun – fresh, big and delicious.

The chips are hot, well-done and inhalable.

Even better, there’s HP Sauce on hand in which to dunk them.

Burger and a can of soft drink $6.90, chips $2.

Bargain!

And at that sort of price, requesting an extra patty is quite viable should you want a more meaty feed.

And now some wise words from two of my fellow western suburbs food fans:

The flip side of Yarraville

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See review here.

Coming soon to the site of the former post office, on the corner of Anderson and Ballarat …

Hey, even as fans of Grill’d, we’re not sure how we feel about having a branch right in the heart of our neighbourhood.

Of course, there’s a Nando’s just up the street, but it’s not in a so prominent postion.

What do you think?

Mona Castle Hotel

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Mona Castle Hotel, 53 Austin Street, Seddon. Phone: 9687 7636

It’s the end of the working/schooling week and we’ve made it through in pretty good nick.

But the cook – that would be me – is sick of cooking.

Besides, we’ve skipped the grocery shopping on the way home.

Worse still, a classic, typical Melbourne “false spring” has been and gone, and it’s grim and bleak outside.

Getting something delivered doesn’t appeal, either.

What to do?

Oh well, I gee both of us up and we head for the car, knowing not at all where we’re headed.

It proves to be one of our joyful spur-of-the-moment outings.

As will be obvious to anyone who spend more than a couple of minutes perusing Consider The Sauce, pub food isn’t really our “thing”.

Nevertheless, we have eaten at the Mona Castle a few times – twice in the more formal dining room and once from the bar menu.

But all of those occasions are now just dim memories.

After this visit, though, we think: “Why did it take us so long?”

There’s been talk in the past year or so about the death of neighbourhood, inner-city pubs, especially in the western suburbs.

The Mona Castle seems to be happily bucking that trend.

The big public bar space is already busy early on a Friday night as we enter, with about half the merry crowd seemingly adorned with fluoro work gear.

The staff are wearing monogrammed Mona Castle shirts that also bear a strong resemblance to the colour scheme of a certain local AFL team that will not be competing in any of this weekend’s finals matches.

We give the more formal and expensive dining room menu – you can see it at the Mona Castle website – a miss and head straight for the blackboard bar menu.

Oh, gee, what a surprise – Bennie orders the hamburger ($14).

For his father, it’s pie of the day, which – according to the daily specials list next to the blackboard – is tomato and beef and which also costs $14.

The main bar area being jumping and well on its way to being jammed, we adjourn to the back bar, which is festooned with yet more sports memorabilia and is gradually accepting the bar overflow of patrons.

After a gratifyingly short time, our meals arrive.

Bennie’s burger is a mountain teetering on the very edge of the wooden board on which it arrives.

Indeed, as he attempts to get to grips with his sandwich, runny egg yolk oozes from the board to the table.

No matter – this is just the sort of two-handed burger he loves so much these days as the pre-teen growing spurts come and go.

“MMMmmmm, beefy taste – it was yummy,” he says the next day.

He gives it eight out of 10.

My pie turns out to be a real surprise – instead of beef and tomato, it’s chicken curry.

No matter about that, either.

Why return a perfectly good pie to the kitchen, when life’s a lottery anyway?

The pie, in a ceramic dish, is lava-like hot and contains heaps of chicken pieces along with chunks of potato and carrot. The seasoning, of course, is regulation curry powder, but frankly anything more funky or sophisticated would be grossly inappropriate.

I like my pie a lot.

My salad is fine and fresh, with an extremely lemonish dressing.

Our chips are good, but could be a tad hotter and are way, way over-salted.

We’ve loved our dinners and we love the homely, cheerful and welcoming vibe of the Mona Castle.

For a quick, hassle-free and cheap feed it strikes us as a winner when we’re not inspired to travel further afield for anything more exotic.

And as far as pub food goes, the bar menu certainly is an attractive proposition, especially when there’s goodies such as corned beef to try.

And don’t you just reckon this is the sort of place that will do an awesome spaghetti bolognaise?

Flat-screen TVs: Yes, heaps of them.

Mona Castle Hotel on Urbanspoon

Pete’s Charcoal Stop

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Pete’s Charcoal Stop, 562 Mt Alexander Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9375 1169

Charcoal chicken shops = coleslaw and chips.

That’s the pretty much hard-and-fast rule for at least one half of the Consider The Sauce team.

So what am I doing breaking with such entrenched tradition?

I’d been alerted to the merits of this chicken shop several months previously by someone who knows about such important matters.

I’d stuck my nose in at the weekend for a look-see … and discovered that this particular business has a distinct Mediterranean flavour.

There’s dolmades and dips and more.

The takeaway menu lists mousaka, pastistio and spanakopita.

So I go with the flow …

And order some of scrumptious-seeming potato segments residing in tasty- juices instead of chips to go with my half-chook.

And Greek salad instead of ‘slaw.

The spuds are beautifully cooked, but I confess to expecting more by way of lemon/oregano zing. Still, a nice change.

The salad is good, the vegetables are fresh and there’s quite a lot of dressing but not much seasoning.

The bird itself is tender through and through – something that can’t often be said of such places, especially when it comes to the often-dry breast meat.

My chicken is a good roast half-bird – that is, it’s minus the crinkly, crunchy, blackened and pungent/salty skin.

My meal – including a can of soft drink – clocks in at a fine $14.

I suspect next time here I’ll revert to chips/coleslaw type.

I know that if I lived nearby, this would be a far-too-regular haunt.

It has the vibe that tells me it’s run by people who know exactly what they’re about when it comes to charcoal chicken, kebabs and burgers.

New York Minute update …

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New York Minute, 491 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9043 1838

Just a couple of weeks after first visiting New York Minute, word is out that the full menu line-up is of offer.

It’s time to return to check out their list of American-style sandwiches.

Saturday lunchtime becomes a cheery social occasion, with yours truly joined by foodie-all-over-town Nat Stockley, Ms Baklover of Footscray Food Blog and her girls.

My Brisket On A Roll makes a nice lunch, but it’s not something I’ll order again.

The cold beef is OK and accompanied by a Picalilli-style pickle; the advertised cheese seems to have made no appearance.

The chips are something else again – and a big step up from that first visit, going from satisfactory to near-sensational.

They’re hot, crispy but tender inside – it’s a good thing Ms Baklover relents and orders a big bowl for her brood, or we could’ve had a riot on our hands.

She and Nat both order the Pulled Pork Roll with “creamy coleslaw and smoky BBQ sauce” (top photo).

Their sandwiches look damn fine to me and I’m envious.

But thy both mention a sweetness in the sauce that becomes tiresome as their meals unfold.

The girls share the Philly Cheese Steak, which I foolishly don’t nail with a usable photograph.

Somewhat to my surprise, as we are organising our departure, Ms Baklover opines that it has been the best of the lot; so that’ll be my lot next time out.

I suspect New York Minute may struggle to impress ardent and picky fans of such American-style sandwiches.

But I’m not complaining after splitting while having paid a mere $14 for sandwich, terrific chips and a a full-size can of that Coca Cola stuff.

See earlier story and menu here.

New York Minute on Urbanspoon

New York Minute

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New York Minute, 491 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9043 1838

Enjoying lunch at New York Minute is especially enjoyable, as only a week previously I’d ruminated on the fickle nature of this stretch of Mount Alexander Rd.

So it’s nice to welcome a newcomer.

Having been tipped off about this place – Hi, Nat! – and scoping out its website, I lose no time in getting up there.

Because the New York Minute menu is so extremely well thought out – nothing over $8, very succinct but with several bases covered – and the fact it’s open breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, it’s hard to see it becoming anything but a popular fixture.

It’s a small place, but the brown-toned fit-out is cool and there’s outdoor seating.

Unfortunately, as the place has been open only a few weeks, some of the sexier menu items are yet to eventuate – specifically the $8 Philly Cheese Steak, Pulled Pork Roll and Brisket On A Roll.

The super friendly staff assure they’ll be up and running in  a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I’m happy to make do with what’s available.

A super homely and rich minestrone ($5) looks awesome, but I order the grilled chicken burger ($8) with a side of chips ($3) and a soft drink ($2.50 for a 200ml can).

The chips are hot, delicious, just crunchy enough and just plentiful enough to accompany a burger.

The chicken meat is tender and juicy, but lacking a little in the flavour department.

Happily, the same can’t be said for the cheese.

I’ve actually given up ordering cheese with any sort of burgers, as almost always it seems doing so is for form’s sake alone. How often can you actually taste the cheese?

That ain’t the case here – the thickish slice of gooey, grilled Swiss is really good.

And flavoursome!

The burger is completed with some good spinach leaves, tomato and chilli mayo.

I linger long enough to enjoy a beautiful cafe latte ($3).

Even with a slightly parsimonious soft drink serve, my lovely lunch is a brilliant steal at $16.50.

And I’m excited about returning to check out the BBQ items …

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Java

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Java, 12 Ballarat St, Yarraville. Phone: 9687 7508

We’ve been long enough in the west by now to feel entitled about claiming nostalgia rights.

Well, if not nostalgia, at least the reflective gift to long-time residents of being able raise a wry smile about “the way things used to be” or to simply marvel at the changes taking place around us.

My own first visits to Yarraville involved train journeys from St Kilda or the CBD to the Sun Theatre, which in those days still screened black-and-white and noir classics from decades long gone, as the Astor does still.

Oh, how I wish the Sun continued to do likewise!

I know it’s lovely having our cinema set-up a few minutes’ walk away, but its line-up hardly varies at all from those available elsewhere.

We remember, on moving west, that Java was a simple and funky cafe that sometimes did service for coffee and babycinos but was also often erratic and frustrating.

That IS nostalgia, for Java has been a different operation – and different style of operation – for many years.

Whenever we’re in the vicinity, Java seems to be going great guns, selling all the usual breakfasts and meals of a kind that don’t seemed to be offered specifically by many of its competitors but which we suspect lack any kind of focus at all.

Could it be that Java’s “popularity” is a chimera fostered by overflow from the more loved options nearby?

On the basis of a long overdue Consider The Sauce meal, we’re inclined to think so.

Being neither of us hearty of appetite, we agree to share the beef burger ($16.50), which turns out to be an affordable light meal for us pair.

The chips are adequate in number but are not hot enough and not crunchy enough. They all disappear fast anyway.

The burger patty is nice and fat, leavened with some carrot and onion, and best thing going on our plate.

The trimmings do not inspire.

The salad, tomato and onion bits are OK, but the egg and bacon fail to provide any flavour lift or contrast at all.

On the specials board when we visit are Thai chicken curry ($16.50), beef stroganoff with jasmine rice ($14.50), beer-battered fish, chips and salad ($14.50), and roast beef, salad and chips ($200.50).

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Rockfish

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Rockfish, 3/46-48 Edgewater Blvd, Maribyrnong. Phone: 9317 3474

We feel quite well served when it comes to hamburgers OR fish and chips.

When it comes to hamburger AND fish and chips – that is, our preferred combo of the former for him and the latter for me – things are not so rosy.

Ripples is fine but Moonee Ponds is a bit of stretch for the spontaneity and instant gratification that seems to go with this kind of food.

Could be then that Rockfish could become our regular haunt when the mood is upon us.

It’s part of a food precinct that has sprung at Edgewater, about midway between Highpoint and Footscray. There’s also Thai and Malaysian eateries and a specialist dessert place joining other outlets that have been there a while.

Happily, there seems to be heaps of parking.

Rockfish is a straight-up fast food joint that’s clean and sparkling and has two tables inside and outside facilities, too.

We order, for our Sunday lunch, our “usual” – burger with the lot for Bennie, fried fish of the day and coleslaw for me, chips to share and a can of soft drink.

Our chips are thoroughly excellent – salted just right, unoily, crisp, perfect.

There’s far too many of them, though.

We got a medium order ($4.50) when a small ($3) would’ve done. We wish we had been asked.

Bennie is entirely happy with his burger lot ($7.50).

He tells me he really likes the fact his meat pattie has a crispy exterior.

He also later, when pressed, says it’s a “10 out of 10” job.

His more hard-nosed dad advises taking that assessment on board with caution, but still …

The coleslaw ($3.50) is quite unusual by the usual standards of such places.

The vegetable components are fresh and crunchy.

The mayo dressing is neither too gloopy and gluggy or too runny, one of which is almost always the case.

In fact, the dressing is quite sticky and adheres to the vegetables really well.

I find it a bit on the dry side, though, but Bennie like it, which is a plus.

My fish ($6), flake, is of modest proportions, but the batter is fine and sticks to the fish.

The fish itself is divine – lovely and juicy and flavoursome.

In terms of containers and implements, we are provided a mix of real crockery, plastic and cardboard.

On the one hand, we envy the locals here having such a competent fish and chip shop close at hand.

On the other, it’s no bad thing we have to think about such fodder and then drive to obtain it, lest such fare become more than just an occasional treat.

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Corio Bay Roadhouse

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Corio Bay Roadhouse, 383 Melbourne Rd, Corio, Geelong. Phone: 5275 120

The Corio Bay Roadhouse has the look to go with the name.

There are frequently trucks parked outside.

My waitress has a big, wide smile and tattoos on her fingers.

A month or so before my visit, the place had been burgled then torched by the same culprits, but happily this local landmark is up and running again.

Despite having driven past it twice on each working day of the past couple of years, I’ve taken my time about checking this place out.

Maybe that was to do with some of scant online information I was able to find referring to burgers stacked up like soldiers in a bain marie.

Yes, they’re here but there’s plenty of scope for fresh-cooked food, too.

Of course, this being a temple and monument to good nutrition and healthy eating, there’s a lot of frying going on.

Sarcasm aside, this place does good diner-style grub.

If I lived around here, this is where I’d come instead of hitting any of the various franchises that dot this same strip of highway.

My open burger with chip is an immense amount of food for $12.

The chips are good and the bacon really fine and crispy.

The egg is gooey and runny, but I doubt it’s free range.

Given the food genre, I’d happily do without the vegetable quotient and pay even less.

The burger itself is just OK – along the  same lines as those served up by the Embassy Taxi Cafe.

If you want to go without unmeaty trimmings, then the $15 mixed grill could be for you.

Even the magazine rack keeps the ambiance going.

I figure it’s probably a good thing this place is not open when I’m driving past on my way home after a night shift.

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Oliver’s Garden

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Oliver's Garden in Queen's Park, Moonee Ponds.

Oliver’s Garden, The Strand, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9372 0438

The kiosk in Queen’s Park in Moonee Ponds is such a lovely setting that I wish it was closer to home – or, leastwise, that we had something similar.

The last time we visited was with our pal Kurt on the midway point of a longish Sunday bicycle ride.

If memory serves, our meal that day was BLT, nachos and a burger. Without reaching any great heights, they all did their job.

And also went some way to nullifying the truism that Melbourne does food in its parks about as well as it does bayside dining.

Truth is, I’m not even sure kiosk is the right term these days, as the eatery in question is operating under the name Oliver’s Garden.

For this week-day lunch, I’m in a burger mood, so am none too hopeful – the online menu, found on the establishment’s website, lists none.

But I’m in luck – though the news it’ll come in a Turkish loaf is unpromising.

Burger at Oliver's Garden ($14).

Initial impressions don’t do much to bolster confidence, either, as the beef patty looks way too small for the bun. And the $14 fee is starting to look a little on the high side.

But the hands-on experience is a winning one.

The chips are crispy, well-cooked, hot and very fine.

The burger meat belies its size by being full of beefy flavour and pretty much in the right proportions to its sandwich colleagues.

The dressing of grated beetroot, dill pickle bits and dill mayo is nigh on perfect in a suitably burgerish way, as is the fresh Turkish bread.

This is a burger meal that rates in quality, taste and price alongside the likes of Grill’d and Burger Edge.

Though my tiny bottle of that Coca Cola stuff for $3.50 is outlandish.

Oliver’s Garden does a range of breakfast dishes, focaccias, salads and a kids menu that ranges from $5 to $9.

On the day of my visit, the blackboard next to the takeaway servery hole lists a bubble and squeak for $13 that sounds real nice. 

Whizzing to and fro on our various adventures, it’s easy to forget this place and its lovely surrounds – and that’s our loss.

Even on a crisp, overcast day there’s a leisurely ease around the place of mums and children and ladies lunching.

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Burger Edge

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21 Anderson St, Yarraville. Phone: 9689 3099

THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN.

Heading for a Geelong night subediting shift without packing a meal of some sort is something of a disaster.

This is especially so on Sunday nights, when the handful of Asian eateries that turn out acceptable and acceptably affordable meals the rest of the week, lunch and dinner, are closed. Shut. Tumbleweeds down the main drag.

Thus it was that recently, without home-packed food of my own, I resorted to the easy, lazy option of hitting the McDonald’s outlet right across the road from the offices of the Geelong Advertiser.

Eating McDonalds is something I do maybe every couple of years or so – just long enough, it seems, to have forgotten how awful it was the last time.

I had one of their much-advertised Angus burgers.

Little bit fancy? Ha! How about a real big load of … unfood stuffed in an unbun.

Horrible chips, barely lukewarm. I’m tempted to say they were tasteless, but in fact they did have a taste – a bad one.

Blah soft drink.

Just terrible!

Why do folks put up with such crap? Or, more to the point, why do so many of them positively revere it?

One of life’s mysteries.

We dig our burgers and know there’s ways of going about it with much better results than delivered by the McDonalds option.

Or Hungry Jacks, which I find preferrable, though we’re talking very small degrees there.

We love Grill’d, as experienced during Bennie’s 10th birthday shebang.

For a contrast in taste and style, we also like our local old-school burger place.

As well, we’ve been somewhat regular visitors to one of the breed of burger places that has been resident in Anderson St, Yarraville, for a few years now.

According to the Burger Edge website, there are a dozen or so outlets in Melbourne, three others elsewhere in the country and four more in the planning stages.

This sounds pretty good to me – if franchising must be part of our food culture, the smaller the better I reckon.

So it is that I rock up on a chilly mid-week night to see how our Burger Edge scrubs up these days.

There’s nothing flash about the place – utilitarian but perfectly fine.

Best of all, though, the Anderson St shop has a tidy upstairs dining space – cosy on a cold night!

I order a the BBQ Bacon Burger, going combo-style with chips and a can of Pepsi for $4 and 70 cents more for a small tub of “aioli” for a meal-total of $14.60.

The chips are better than good but short of great. There’s plenty of them as part of my combo deal and they’re good and crunchy, but they could be a tad hotter.

The peach-coloured tub of dressing is fine for chip-dipping but calling it “aioli” is a stretch.

The burger, likewise, is better than good but short of great. The bacon adds flavour, but I discern little or no BBQ sauce tang. The salad bits – lettuce, red onion, tomato – are fine, but the beef patty simply isn’t, well, as “beefy” as those found at Grill’d.

In fact, where Grill’d scores 8 or even 9 with us when we visit, Burger Edge is more your 6 0r 7.

Not a fail by any means – I enjoyed my meal – but just lacking, well, an edge that would make a difference.

Burger Edge has a loyalty program that is different.

Instead of having to purchase X number of burgers to qualify for a freebie, they present customers with a plastic card that once ratified on the company website delivers a 10 per cent discount on every meal.

The Burger Edge website is here.

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Bennie’s birthday lunch at Grill’d

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Grill’d, Highpoint Shopping Centre. Phone: 9317 7455

Hey, a boy only turns 10 once, so Bennie got his wish of lunch at Grill’d followed by a movie with his mates Daniel and Tah, even if his mum and dad might have preferred yum cha.

I have vivid recall of our early days at Highpoint – just after we moved west, when Bennie was a somewhat fractious baby/toddler.

Those were my first experiences with the whole shopping mall gig, and the experience quite often made me profoundly batty, not to mention cranky and cantankerous.

The music, the lighting, the crap shops, the round and round – ugh!

We don’t share the outright hostility of some of our friends towards Highpoint, but we do keep visits to a minimum.

Moreover, we’ve refined our Highpoint technique to hit-and-run – we effortlessly filter out the stuff we don’t want or need; we know where to get a Medicare rebate, a cheap pair of shoes, a football or footy boots.

If the noise and piped music no longer sends me batty, it’s not because I’m a benumbed shopping zombie – more like I’m able to focus on our immediate task and ignore the rest to emerge unscathed, emotionally, spiritually and financially.

Food is another matter, of course, and on that score Highpoint is pretty much irredeemably awful.


Plum adjoins, but it’s never really hit the spot with us.

The food court at the southern end has a Laksa King – whether it’s any relation to the Flemington establishment, I know not. It does a passable Malaysian job, but like everything else surrounding, it is to be avoided if only because of the obscene wastefulness of the disposable plastic cutlery and bowls/plates.

The food court adjacent the Hoyts cinemas boasts a China Bar – again, whether it has connections with the identically named places around the city, I know not. Here you’ll get real cutlery and crockery and – in our experience – meals of a certain dullness. Scattered around are a faux 50s/60s diner at which our only experience was dismal and Nando’s, La Porchetta and Pancake Parlour outlets.

Based on a number of visits, though, Grill’d is the top pick.

As with previous meals here, the kids loved every bite and slurp, while the adults were once again astonished that such tasty, crunchy, fresh and real food was available from a franchise set-up in a shopping mall.

Our order was four basic burgers with bacon for the boys, likewise with beetroot for mum, soft drinks all round, two serves of chips with two serves of garlic mayo and five discount movie vouchers.

The chips were really, really good – ungreasy, beautifully seasoned with salt, perfumed with rosemary, simply superb.

The burgers were just about as good – bacon that added real flavour, beef patties with nicely chewy texture, sandwiches just right for a two-handed feast. Best of all, and in some ways disconcerting for being so unexpected, was salad greenery that provided tangible crunch.


The price four our meal and movies was – gulp! – $127.

But thinking it through, I realised this was quite reasonable – say $15 per head for the food and $10 for the movie, or even vice versa.

Not a screaming bargain, then, but not a ripoff either.

I’ve been asked a few times why we would even think of visiting Highpoint when we live a five-minute walk from Yarraville’s Sun Theatre – and a pretty good hamburger joint along the lines of Grill’d.

Well, the truth is that the Highpoint Hoyts/Grill’d combo provides precisely the sort of movie experience craved by kids – particularly a trio of stroppy 10-year-olds.

With time to spare, the boys headed to the whizzbangflash games arcade, each clutching a handful of gold coins, to expend some of their nervous energy and delight in each other’s company.

The movie? Gnomeo And Juliet was an OK animated feature, but the post-flick verdict was that it was a bit too girly for the four boys.

The Grill’d website is here.


Seddon Fish ‘N’ Chips Shop

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154 Victoria St, Seddon. Phone: 9687 0407

We are fans of the new school of ritzy burger joints, with the Grill’d chain being a favourite.

Of course, if you really want to lash out you can go to a flash restaurant and pay way more than $20 for a burger, but those sorts of extremes seem absurd. And what use is a burger around which you can’t get you hands?

We find the Grill’d burgers and chips real tasty and well worth the price.

Sometimes, though, it’s just right to go down the path of your more orthodox Aussie burger – the kind of thing served up by your local fish and chip/burger establishment.

It’s amazing how different the taste and flavour is from the more American-style offerings of Grill’d and its ilk. It’s almost like a whole different kind of food. Still good, sometimes great, but different.

One of our locals did the job for us.

It’s a bright and clean no-nonsense takeaway shop, with seating available on stools that front the window.

Our order of burgers (cheese and bacon cooked; onion and tomato uncooked), chips and the obligatory can of that Coca Cola stuff cost $17. Doesn’t seem that cheap does it? But the same deal at Grill’d would cost at least $10 more.

The chips were ungreasy and good, but not great. The burgers were a fine example of their kind – not particularly filling, but just perfect for a pre-Grand Final lunch.