Being a known lover of burgers, more often than not, I regularly have people (mostly friends) provide recommendations of places to visit to try out various burger creations. During this time, I have often heard, “go to Grill’d, their burgers are great”, which I am always surprised about, as I have been there before and don’t remember them being anything special, so I have always avoided having to revisit. That was until recently, when someone said to me, “but you still need to do a review”, and they were right. So, I decided to get myself down to the local Grill’d at Westfield Knox for a bite to eat.

“Healthy burgers” is sprawled across the top of the menu. What is a healthy burger anyway? Is there such a thing? Doesn’t that take the fun out of it? These were the thoughts going through my mind as I reviewed the menu. Despite there being new “Speciality Wagyu Burgers”, I opted for the traditional style so I could truly measure the quality of the original burgers. I ordered the “Mighty Melbourne”, which came with beef, tasty cheese, crispy bacon, free range egg, salad, relish, herbed mayo and as usual, “hold the beetroot!”. According to the menu, the patty is “100% grass fed, free range Australian beef, ground coarsely with their signature relish and herbs so it’s moist and flavoursome. Free from preservatives, antibiotics and all added hormones”. Antibiotics?? So it’s not from sick cows that have had the flu?! Lol

The burger arrived and looked impressive. I was starving so I got stuck into it straight away. The bacon and egg were really good. The meat was ok, however I couldn’t help but feel it had an artificial type taste about it. It’s hard to explain, but it just tasted different somehow. The relish was ok too, and I’m definitely not a fan of the herbed mayo – too much of it and too sickly for me. And despite having my choice of bun, it was too dry and not flash at all.

Chips on the side were ok, but enough with the herbs already!? I wasn’t in the mood for a beer either (yes, hell has probably frozen over too!) and without any shakes on the menu, I decided to go a plain bottle of water this time.

Overall, the burger was ok, and value for money was reasonable too. Part of me just feels that the notion of “healthy burgers” means that whilst you might take out all the stuff that’s bad for your health, you are also probably taking out a bulk of the best flavours too! Anyway, I just think there are plenty of better burgers out there, although there are also some that are worse too.

Mid week catch up with a friend of mine on a cold wintery day recently, and of course it was a burger that I craved, so we walked to the closest place to where we were – “TGI Fridays” in Southbank. I was pleased to be trying this place out as I knew the menu was filled with all American fare, which included a number of different burgers.

I was initially drawn towards the first burger on the menu, being the “All American Cheese Burger”, however when I got the the bottom of the list, I couldn’t go past the “Ultimate Jack Daniels Burger” – two juicy Diamantina premium Aussie beef patties glazed with Jack Daniels sauce, stacked with cheddar cheese, aioli, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and Cajun-battered onion rings. Being partial to a ‘Jack and coke’ from time to time, I was very interested to find out what this burger was like.

It arrived. It was a big burger and looked good too. I took out one of the 4 massive onion rings to try before starting my destruction of this beast. The first thing that hit me was the tastiness of the beef, although it was also very dense and heavy. The crispness of the onion rings and bacon worked well through the burger too, and that was about where the fun ended. The flavour of the other ingredients were bland and just didn’t create any spark. Worst of all, the bun was terrible. My lunch partner described it as a “hot dog bun disguised as a burger bun” and that was very true! It was dry, tasteless and tore to pieces with every bite.

Chips on the side were ordinary too, and this time I thought it was appropriate to have an American beer, so I went with a Millers Genuine Draft, which is one of my favourites.

Overall, a below average experience, saved only by the tasty meat. However, value for money is shameful, with the burger costing $28! I can get a burger elsewhere for half the price and twice the quality for that cost!! Perhaps the hot dogs are better??….. not sure I will be game enough to ever find out though!