Venue: Cafe Bar Hotel
Date: 17/8/2012
Today the burger Fridays fellows ventured down to the cafe at the bottom of the Pitcher Partners building. Given the locale at the bottom of an office building, expectations are quite rightly set low. The place is essentially a glorified food court venue, but if you worked in that building you wouldn't mind the quick service at bargain basement prices that it lends itself to. Beers on tap and some Irish hospitality from the birds behind the counter make the experience an enjoyable one.
The immediate thought that pops into your head when you look at the photo above is that the burger looks dry. This was due to a number of factors.
Firstly, the patty was slightly more towards well done that the ideal juicy medium that the Fellows have come to love. The patty itself was actually quite tasty due to the herbs thrown into the patty mixture. However, the grill plate temperature was set too low and the burger cooked through - resulting in the juices from the meat being cooked out.
Secondly, the buns seemed to be a tad on the older side (or what supermarket special boards would refer to as "crusty bread ideal for croutons"). We do not mind crustier bread as long the burger makes up for the lack of moisture in other ways. The crusty bread coupled with the over cooked patty resulted in the need for a mid-mouthful swig of beer. Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.
Thirdly, the burger lacked the salads which can normally be relied upon to refresh the palette. A small handful of lettuce and a cheeky slice of tomato and/or beetroot would have been serviceable. The Fellows are not ones to harp on about the need for salad on a burger but when you don't get enough of it, you really notice it. I am sure Turtle from Entourage has been preaching this phenomenon for quite a while.
Finally, the sauce combination was quite good (being of tomato chutney and American style mustard) but was in limited supply. A drier bun can be saved due to a plentiful supply of sauce moistening it. However, this was not the case. Although, props must be given for a sauce combination for with the desired level of tang which gave the burger a balanced taste.
Unfortunately, the burger itself fits the character of something befitting a food court location. However, the ripper value at $11 with chips and beer is probably the most note worthy aspects of the burger. I suppose that is kinda like the most note worthy thing about Liz Cambage is that she is big, i.e. pretty obvious from the outset and after seeing her play, there is not much else worth mentioning.
If you worked in the area it's worth giving a crack but I wouldn't venture too far out of your way to get there. But at the end of the day, I have never met a bad burger - only better ones. And even though this burger is at the bottom end of our scale, it is still satisfying enough to warrant the $11.
Burger Friday rating: 27/50
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