After heading north to escape the cold for a short holiday recently, I found myself enjoying some the local burgers on offer and this time I headed out for dinner to “Mangrove” at the Seagulls Club in Tweed Heads, NSW that offers waterfront dining with local pub fare. Whilst not a traditional gourmet burger joint, I had to give one of their burgers a shot to see how it stacked up.
I ordered the “Beef & Bacon Burger” which came with pure Angus beef patty, bacon, American cheddar, tomato, lettuce, onion jam, smokey BBQ sauce and housemade aioli. You can also double the beef & bacon, for which I was completely “Natalie Imbruglia” about (ie Torn!) and ended up leaving it as a single this time. Yes, that’s right, I decided to take the smaller option and I think hell may have frozen over too! Lol
Waiting for my order, I was admiring the look of the burgers being delivered across the restaurant, and when mine arrived with the steak knife stabbed through the middle, it was just as impressive. I couldn’t wait to get stuck into it. The first thing that hit me was how good the Angus beef tasted. It was almost like having steak in it instead. The onion jam with the bacon worked well together and the fresh tomato and lettuce complimented it too. However, having said that, the beef and bacon were actually both over cooked, and having the onion jam on top meant the brioche bun ripped to pieces with each bite. Aside from all that, the most notable issue with this burger was that the cheese was not melted to the patty! As far as I’m concerned, that’s a major faux pas in the burger world. Surely, it can’t be that difficult?!
Chips on the side were just chips and not worth writing home about. Luckily, the James Squire’s 150 Lashes on tap hit the spot!!
Overall, this burger was actually quite tasty, and with a few tweaks could be even better, ie don’t over cook the meat, move the onion jam away from the bun and please, please, please melt the cheese! Otherwise, stick to the other pub styled favourites on the menu!
