Rockpool Bar & Grill

Burger reviewed: David Blackmore’s full blood wagyu hamburger with bacon, gruyere cheese and zuni pickle.

Venue: Rockpool Bar & Grill

Date: 3/2/2012

The infamous Lao Tzu once said “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”. For the Fellows of Burger Friday, the inaugural Burger Friday journey of a thousand burgers begins with a single delicious bite. To start our path of enlightenment towards finding the best spots in Melbourne to enjoy a Burger on a Friday we decided to start at the top, with the venue of choice to celebrate this momentous occasion being Rockpool, the home of Steven Seagal look alike Neil Perry. While I may have a problem with a white man in his 40’s with a ponytail who dresses in Chinese pajamas, one cannot help but tip their hat to the man who has brought to Australia a burger of the highest quality.

Let’s get this clear from the start, the Rockpool burger is a star in its own right. While Neil Perry may have dreams of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, the burger comes without any superfluous elements. The ingredients of gruyere cheese, pickles, bacon and tomato relish are simple and work together as smoothly as the Black Caviar strides racetracks. My one gripe is the cos lettuce and slices of tomato on the side of the plate. We all know that cooking in a kitchen is hard work, but can’t the chefs just put them in the burger already for you? As lazy as the Indian cricket teams efforts at fielding.

For the quality of the ingredients and the location inside Jamie Packers Pensioner wonderland called Crown Casino, the burger comes at a premium price at $26 without any sides. Just a burger and plate, and a couple pieces of rabbit food on the side (shakes fist at lazy chefs). Once you add some onion rings or fries and a beer, the burger loses a fair few points in the value stakes as your per head price is looking at a pineapple for coverage. You wouldn't be smashing this burger too often at that price. The chips we ordered came with a good tomato relish and while they were good, they were a little too Boof Lehman in the middle, not enough Arnold Schwarzenegger in the crunch factor.

All in all the burger was perfectly cooked to a juicy medium rare, has a balance of crunch, saltiness, tang and a great whack of freshness from the pickles. Hard to argue, but simple ingredients make the best burgers. And this is definitely one of the best.

This burger is like a silky smooth Kevin Bartlett – has been around for a number of years now and flat out refuses to handball out any sides (some chips on the side would be nice) for some cheap goals.  Like KB, it makes no excuses for this. But what it does hold itself out to do is a bloody brilliant burger, and it does this very well.  

Burger Friday Rating:  42/50