March 02, 2012 ~ Adelaide Burger Blog

Name: The North Annandale Hotel

Address: Cnr. Booth & Johnston Streets, Annandale NSW

Burger: Wagyu Beef Burger

Price: $16 approx

I now live within 30 seconds walk of the North Annandale Hotel. Annandale is an inner-west suburb of Sydney, approximately a 10 minute drive from the CBD. It's a fairly affluent area, with numerous local shops, including a butcher, chemist, several take-away shops and a small supermarket. The North Annandale Hotel sits on the corner of the two main streets - Johnston and Booth. I've eaten at the North Annandale a few times. The management has recently changed, and I therefore thought I'd eat there again.

My friend Nick, from Adelaide visited me recently. We both had a long day on the day he arrived, so decided to have a meal at the North Annandale. Nick had the "gourmet sausages" with mash, while I went for the Wagyu burger (second time). Nick (below) said the sausages didn't taste too different from those purchased from Coles, but said the mash and gravy weren't too bad.

Nick and his "gourmet" sausages.

My wagyu burger didn't differ much from the first time I had it (under the former management). It was what I would call an "Aussie" style burger.

It contained (from top to bottom):

Caramelised (hardly) onion
Beef patty
Tomato
Beetroot
Lettuce
Mustard
Cheese

The Waygu burger, which should be known as the 'bland' burger.

As you can see from the above image, the burger wasn't that much to look at.

Beef:

The beef, as I've said before, is the most important part of any burger. It should be juicy, not fall apart too much, and most importantly: taste of beef! Wagyu is prized for its marbling. This results in an extremely juicy, tender and tasty cut of beef. This beef patty was extremely dry. It also contained a ridiculous amount of binding agents (I'm guessing egg, bread crumbs etc.). There were far too many herbs. It did not taste like beef at all. It's what I like to call a "meatloaf patty". It would make an OK meatloaf, but does not belong in a burger. Although I ordered it medium rare, it arrived quite well done.

Cheese:

Cheese... CHEESE? What cheese? It was there. It was cheap. It was unmelted. Worst of all, it tasted like fridge. A wedge of cardboard would have added more to the burger.

Bun:

You can get hamburger buns at most supermarkets. A few bread brands make them. Tip top make some OK buns. They are OK for home burgers. Apparently they are OK for North Annandale Hotel burgers too. Unfortunately, they must have purchased them in bulk, and put them in the cupboard for a few weeks. They were grainy and dry. Not good.

Extras:

This was essentially an "Aussie" burger, minus the egg. Most burgers don't contain caramelised onions, and certainly don't contain beetroot. If you read this blog, you'll know that I'm a burger purist. While I do enjoy a bit of beetroot every now and then in my burger, it has to actually complement the burger, and not try to salvage it. The beetroot was the only fresh part of this meal. The lettuce was dry and limp, and the tomato mealy. I hate mealy tomato. The onions were not cooked anywhere near enough. The North Annandale provided a fairly standard selection of extras, which CAN work well together. Unfortunately, they need to be fresh.

Fries:

The fries at the North Annandale are OK. I'd eat them again, but wouldn't be that excited about them. They essentially summed up the food at the North Annandale: OK if you're hungry, but nothing you'd travel more than 100 metres for.

Verdict

Don't bother. Although the North Annandale is not well known for great food, it should do better. I have not eaten many other dishes from the hotel, but those I did eat were a little better. It seems as if every pub must have a burger. This shouldn't be the case. A burger should only be on the menu if it has earned its place on the menu.

Meat