Another adventure completed, and this time I headed down the Princes Highway to the Dandenong Pavillion. At first, I thought this described a shopping centre food court styled eatery, however was impressed to find this is actually a modern looking restaurant for semi-casual dining. Voted by the Herald Sun as being home to the best new burger in the last 12 months, I was keen to get my hands on a little treat from this place.
Firstly, do not be discouraged by the regular menu only showing one “beef burger” because there is actually a secret burger menu that you have to ask for separately. I loved the notoriety that went with that, and it certainly added some excitement to the experience.
I was determined to order from the secret menu (who wouldn’t want to do that?), and being an old time fan of McDonald’s Big Mac, and also a fan of the 1988 classic movie, Coming to America, I could not go past the McDowwell! Two beef patties, melted double cheddar and swiss cheese, and special sauce on a soft white bun (no sesame seeds!), which was cut into 3 like the Big Mac.
The beef and cheese were very tasty, and the special sauce was awesome! You could certainly tell that it had been inspired by the Big Mac. However, I found there was too much bun or not enough burger?! Also the bun was lightly toasted, and very buttery too, which took away from the great taste of the burger itself. It also wasn’t “made with love” as the two layers were very uneven. Thank the stars for the special sauce because this made the burger, and left me wanting more!
Pickles and tomato sauce were served on the side. I’d prefer the pickles to be on the burger already because the amount of melted cheese does not make it easy to get the pickles into the burger itself, and the only place for a pickle is on the actual burger. The tomato sauce had to be for the fries, because you wouldn’t put it on this burger. I mean, would you put tomato sauce on a Big Mac?? – don’t think so!
The chips on the side were delightful!! Lightly seasoned and not too crispy.
This was a solid burger and very tasty that also went well with a few cold beers to wash it down. It was definitely good enough to consider returning to try another one from the menu.
