Out searching for another burger recently, I found myself walking down Swanston Street in the CBD. I was heading to a place that I had been before. A place that I visited before TGBC started, and one that possibly helped fuel the decision to start reviewing burgers in the first place. I remembered the burger being really good, and now it was time to find out for sure. The place was “Gloria’s On Swanston”, although now it’s called the “Lounge Bar & Kitchen”.
If you didn’t know it was there, you’d probably walk right past the small doorway that leads upstairs into a large bar area. I walked in and the place was pretty empty. Uh oh! Could this be right? Hmmmm….. I just had to put it down to the fact that it was a Monday lunchtime. I wanted to try their famous “Kick Ass” Burger. Unfortunately, it’s only available at dinner time – WTF?? So I had to have the “Classic Cheeseburger” instead, which comes with 150-day grain-fed 200g Black Angus beef (dry-aged in-house for a minimum 21 days – apparently?! Lol), Swiss cheese, ketchup and classic American mustard, in a house-made sesame bun. I was starving (of course) and was very tempted to throw in a fried chicken patty, however the description of the beef was enough for me to double the patty, and throw in some extra cheese and bacon for good measure!
I anxiously waited for my meal. The waiter came over and asked if I wanted a knife and fork?! Pfffft! “Away with you” I said, “that won’t be necessary”. He replied with “A man’s, man huh?”. As he walked away, I thought to myself, “absolutely!” Lol. My meal finally arrived, and with it came another comment, “now that’s a big burger!” – and it was! I waited for it to cool down to a “woofable” temperature before picking it up and starting to get into it. It was still way too hot though, and as my burger etiquette dictates, once you pick up the burger, you cannot put it down. I had to press on and at first was biting into one patty at a time because it was so thick. I actually also ended up turning it upside down as it was slipping all over the place!
This was a straight up Cheeseburger, with loads of flavour. The meat was good, although I really should have left it at only one patty because it did take over the rest of the burger and make it really “heavy”. Cheese, sauces and bacon were all good. The bun was soft and lasted the distance too.
Fries on the side were super tasty, and washing it all down with a Coopers Pale Ale, made for a tasty meal.
So if you are in the mood for a solid cheeseburger in a relaxed, pub like atmosphere, then this place is definitely worth a shot. I still need to get back there and try out the signature “Kick Ass” burger, which I would hope is as good or better than this experience!!
