Southern Suburbs – Full of Beans

August 30, 2017

Hallouminati

Tonight, my husband and I went to Burger Republic in Hyde Park, and I had the Hallouminati burger. The Hallouminati burger contains grilled haloumi, charred pumpkin, beetroot relish and rocket, and it costs $16.50.

And it was delicious! To be honest, I relieved my burger of most of its rocket because… I don’t like rocket. But the other ingredients all worked perfectly together. You really can’t go wrong with haloumi and pumpkin, and the sweet beetroot relish rounded everything out perfectly. Yum! We also enjoyed the fact that the price of every burger includes a serve of chips!

The seating area at Burger Republic was quite nice, but it was nearly full even on a Wednesday night, so take away might be a good choice. Burger Republic is also very proud of its range of beers, but as a pregnant lady I did not find this very relevant to my current interests.

Burger Republic also have one other vegetarian burger, called the Garden Burger, which has onion rings in it so I’m probably never going to try that!! They only have the one location.

Flavour: 10/10. Just awesome.
Satiety: 8/10. It wasn’t huge but it was plenty.
Structure: 9/10. The structural integrity was impressive.
Chips: 9/10. The chips were medium thickness, nice and crispy while being soft on the inside.
Overall score: 9/10. Super great!

Please note: All reviews on this site are intended purely as personal opinion. Prices and ingredients should be checked with the retailer.

April 1, 2017September 3, 2017

Veggie Vitality

Today I tried a Veggie Vitality burger from Grill’d at Westfield Marion. The Veggie Vitality burger has a beetroot, sweet potato, spinach and quinoa pattie, topped with avocado, pineapple, carrot and lettuce, and it costs $11.50.

My first impressions of Grill’d weren’t very good. I had ordered my take-away by phone, and when I went to pick it up, the restaurant was very busy and loud, and it wasn’t really clear where I was supposed to go. Eventually I found my food at the kitchen pick-up window, but they didn’t want to take my money, so I had to line up at the orders counter with my burger so that I could pay for it. As mentioned, the restaurant was very busy so I was standing sadly in line for about 10-15 minutes, visualising my chips getting colder and colder and my burger getting soggier and soggier. I could totally have skipped out without paying and had a more delicious experience (but I didn’t do this, because I am not the veggieburglar). Also, parking at Marion is a pain even at 7pm!

After these horrors were over (I know, some women in Africa walk 9 miles every day to get water), I really enjoyed this burger! The Veggie Vitality is definitely a “nice” burger – the polar opposite of the one I had last time at Fudd’s – fresh and tasty, with the best structural integrity I’ve experienced for a long time! It is one of those burgers where you can taste every ingredient separately. And, as a millennial, of course I love me some smashed avocado.

Grill’d offers a choice between a wholemeal or white bun. I was very happy with the fresh and chewy white bun that I had (which I think is the “panini” bun on their website).

My chips were not that good. They had some interesting herby seasoning on them, but unfortunately they were past their prime by the time I got to eat them, and had cooled down to room-temperature at best.

All in all, I think I will come back to Grill’d. But I would not call with my order ahead of time, and I would not go on a weekend night at peak time.

Grill’d also have two other vegetarian burgers, called Garden Goodness and Field of Dreams. They also have two other locations, in the city and in Norwood.

Flavour: 8/10. Pineapple and avocado are great together!
Satiety: 7/10. It was enough food, but I’m not super full.
Structure: 8/10. Everything stayed in place until almost the last bite!
Chips: 6/10. The chips were nothing special.

Overall score: 7.5/10. Once I got it home, this was a very enjoyable burger!

Please note: All reviews on this site are intended purely as personal opinion. Prices and ingredients should be checked with the retailer.

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March 10, 2017April 1, 2017

Swiss Burger

As a result of having quite a few friends living in the area, I had heard a lot of good things about Fudd’s at Aberfoyle Park, so tonight I made the journey down south and tried a Swiss burger.

The Swiss burger has a crumbed field mushroom, Swiss cheese, beetroot relish, caramelised onion and garlic-herb aioli, and it costs $14.

Surpassing our expectations of having to take care of ourselves, Fudd’s actually does table service, which was impressively warm and friendly. They have a good range of interesting alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (of particular note are the local beers and the jarritos). We ate out the front in their very pleasant outdoor dining space, able to simultaneously enjoy the fresh breeze and the fairy lights while also making sure no one dinged our cars in the carpark.

Burgers can usually be categorised into two broad types: the “nice” burger, which is fresh and nutritious, and the “naughty” burger, which is rich and sloppy. Both have an important place in the world!

The Swiss burger definitely felt like a naughty burger. It was juicy and thick, and very substantial. The crumbed mushroom makes a satisfying meat-patty substitute. The burger had both sweetness (from the beetroot relish) and creaminess (with the Swiss cheese), and the onions added some nice complexity.

However, dear reader, I must confess that this burger just wasn’t really for me. I don’t really love crumbed things, because they make me feel really bogged-down as I eat them, and I definitely don’t love onion. Nevertheless, these are really just me-problems, and if you’re looking for a rich and heavy burger without the meat, I think this is definitely a great choice.

Also, Fudd’s fries were worth the visit on their own. They come in quite a few different options (including the Dirty Fries and the Classic Fries, pictured) and are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and yum all over.

Fudd’s also have another vegetarian burger called Veg Out.

Flavour: 6/10. I can see how the flavour would be really good for most people. It just didn’t really suit my tastes.
Satiety: 9/10. It was very filling.
Structure: 3/10. Everything was going everywhere!!
Chips: 9/10. These fries were first-rate!

Overall score: 7/10. Yum, but I feel like I need a salad now.

Please note: All reviews on this site are intended purely as personal opinion. Prices and ingredients should be checked with the retailer.

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