Burger: Double Wagyu Bacon & Cheese Burger
Price: $15
There are several pubs within walking distance of me now. The Empire Hotel is about a 5 minute walk from my place. It's a semi up-market hotel, with a nice bar and bistro, and separate pokie and TAB rooms. The food at the Empire is a little more fancy than other pubs close-by, particularly the North Annandale.
I went to the Empire with my mate Tom (originally from Adelaide like me) and my mate Nick who still lives in Adelaide and was visiting (see North Annandale Hotel review). From what I remember, we all went for the Double Wagyu Bacon and Cheese Burger. The name made it sound amazing - wagyu (double!), bacon and cheese. Better still, it was only $15 and included fries.
The burger was pretty damn sexy for a pub burger, albeit overcooked. |
Beef:
There is only one thing better than beef, and that's twice the beef (or more). These patties were a nice thickness, and weren't full of fillers (although there were some in there). The fillers did not affect the taste too much, so no big loss. They were overcooked for my liking, but were surprisingly juicy and tender. Most importantly, they tasted good. At $15, two decent sized patties is great value.
Bun:
Cheese
3/5
Bun
3/5
Extras
3/5
Cheese:
As you can see from the first picture, the cheese was a processed cheddar-like slice, the type you get from the supermarket in bulk (just without the single plastic wrapping for each slice). This sort of cheese is saltier than normal processed cheese slices, and has more 'bite'. It doesn't melt quite as well, as you can see. After a few minutes however, the cheese melted to a degree (second picture), and the depth of flavour that comes with melted cheese came through. This also means that the patties were recently taken off the grill - a sign of fresh food. It tasted good, but not great. Having said that, it was noticeable, unlike many other pub burgers, where the cheese cannot be tasted at all.
Bun:
The bun was similar to the supermarket-type buns, with a few sesame seeds. It was of a better quality though. It didn't add much taste, but that's not important. It did it's job of holding everything together, which was great, considering how much was stuffed into the burger.
Extras:
Although similar to an "Aussie Burger", this classic pub burger differed a little. As with the Wagyu (single) burger at the North Annandale, it did not contain egg. To me, that's a good thing. While I do enjoy egg in a burger sometimes, it's only a welcome addition when everything else is flavourless. It contained the ubiquitous beetroot, which was fresh, as well as fresh lettuce and tomato. Fresh salads are hard to come by it seems, and are seemingly left over for dishes such as burgers. As far as the salads go, they were fresh but unremarkable. The simple additions (lettuce, tomato etc.) are great when they are fresh, and in this case, were good. The bacon was fresh, but under-cooked for me. I love my bacon cooked America-style: Crisp and salty. It added a nice saltiness to the burger though.
Fries:
The fries that came with the burger were standard pub fare. Chunky style, abundant and salty. They were cooked well, and had a good flavour, but didn't make me think twice about them.
Meat
3/5Cheese
3/5
Bun
3/5
Extras
3/5
Fries
3/5
Total:
3
0 comments:
Post a Comment