I get a lot of stick on this blog every time I eat Maccas. Usually, I serve the chips with a home made steak tartare. Living a one minute walk away from the Acland St Maccas, it is far easier to walk there are back rather than deal with hot fat or oil (I refuse to use oven chips).
The last time I advocated Maccas chips the comment was “he’s obviously not a foodie”. Well, done for recognising it. Proudly, I’m not.
I do have secret food shames. Five years ago it was boxes of nine McNuggets with the strangely addictive mustard and curry sauces. Like I said, not a foodie. One day the girl behind the counter said:” Do you know you are the only person who orders that sauce combination?”
Hurrah! I’d become a regular. Everybody has to have a regular place to hide out, the downside being the lack of alcohol at Maccas.
I’ve also been a regular employer of staff from Maccas too. Faced with the hundreds of resumes from young graphic designers (with identikit portfolios produced under artificial conditions) having worked at Macccas showed a work ethic and being able to work within a process or system.
My system was that I was in charge and didn’t like rainbow coloured headlines. The process was designing loads of pages a day, flipping and photoshopping pictures rather than burgers. Delivering everything to a tight deadline, now preferably.
Nowadays, Maccas has become fancy. Salads and all sorts of stuff keep the mums there with their kids. Burgers are cooked fresh and delivered within a few minutes.
Last Saturday the Grand Angus appeared good perhaps because my palate and head was jarred by a big night. Monday I was back for a second opinion.
“Everybody wants Angus,” the guy behind the counter said. It took two minutes to deliver, and another one to take it home. And it came with decent enough tomato, cheese a hue of Richard Wilkins (orange), pickle slices and onion.
I think these last two are the secret of Maccas burgers. The pickle gives the flavour to the Big Mac. Here too it does, as does the additional onion, which is a bit much for my taste. The burger patttie is nice enough but too large.
Perhaps it would be nice to make one sized for normal people rather than the greedy and obese.
If I’m busy and hungry I may be back. But I prefer to support local businesses and if I have time will hit Danny’s on Barkly St. Or even better, Andrew’s in Albert Park.
Where do you stand on MacDonald’s
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It’s unAustralian to use pickles(rightly called dill pickles as opposed to mustard pickles) in a hamburger and also to ignore beetroot.The American fast food people have adulterated good old Aussie taste. For a person with taste the fast food burger is generally mush. When Maccas first arrived on the scene 99% of people chucked away the pickles which were an uncommon taste.A classic case of cultural imperialism!
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
HEHE that ANUS shot is GOLD!
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
I forgot you can’t say anything complimentary on a blog without arousing suspicion! No I don’t work in PR, I’m sure I’ve miss-quoted at least one of the ingredients and I’ll re-read it again, but I’m pretty sure the question is ‘what was your favourite burger, ‘
So yes – there may have been some enthusiasm in there.
2nd is the Tolarno bar burger, but best of all, any burger I ate in the states. Yellow cheese is the business.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Steve, Slate recently did a piece on exactly that subject: http://www.slate.com/id/2231807/
The US is afflicted with the Angus beef plague worse than Australia.
BusinessWeek had a really good article on how the McDonald’s Angus burger was born: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2009/id20090914_256776.htm
Though it was Burger King (HJ’s) who did it first in the US.
Best burger? As a vego, I can’t really offer much of an opinion. Grill’d actually has one of the best vege burgers going around for the exact opposite reasons you don’t care for them: it’s far junkier than many of the too-healthy, savoury lentil blandness burgers other places serve. Vegetarians like junk food, too, damnit! Grilld’s burgers are generous with the condiments and flavours, use good rolls (HATE getting a cheap white supermarket bun — Lord of the Fries, I’m looking at you), while still being really fresh.
In Melbourne, the faux-mince Sloppy Joes at Las Vegan bakery are amazing, and there’s very little “healthy” about them (except that there’s no cow anus in them). I defy even carnivores not to enjoy them.
And just as a matter of interest: This is supposed to be the best burger in the world: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/01/the-little-owl-best-cheeseburger-west-village-nyc.html (according to the Guardian, anyway: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/best-foods-in-the-world).
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Simon, I thought I reassume positive blog posts on the Angus. I wasn’t PR’d.
The Maccas versions are infinitely better than Hungry Jack’s Anus. But I tend to get my burgers elsewhere.
Thermomixer, this morning I would like some of those wipes, frozen. Sichuan food last night.
Felix, jealous that you are only a block away. It is perfect.
Barabara, Lamaro’s fan, rather than the other Barbara that we all know and love, I’ll refer to Jack’s point. Although if you had a profile on Gogle or a link people would be able to link through and there would be less suspicion. The Tolarno is now atBarney Allens.
Lorraine, I know I should have toned down the headline but you know it’s the prickly side of me coming out.
Jurgen, Actually, I forgot about those Barney Allen burgers.Those mini ones they do are particularly popular with the girls.
Billy, I’ve eaten some good burgers at the St Kilda Danny’s. They do nice one with lamb. I should get up there while I’m living up north.
Mike, fair enough. I make a mean burger at home. Chopped rather than ground and I leave it raw (tartare) and serve with Maccas fries.
Lucy, I’ll be in Hobart in a few weeks and shall look out for Alleycat.
Jack, good point. Paul Wilson said they’d more on the menu at Match but brought them down to two because they’d gone mainstream. And if burgers are passé what’s next?
Foo, glad to tickle you. The something went through my mind.
Barbara, what happen’s now there are two of you on the internet?
Steve, good points. I’ll be writing something to clear this up sooner SBS. All this wage is a load of wan and a big slab of it as steak isn’t the best way to eat it. threes a lot of marketing and PR bullshit behind it. It’s basically foodies tricking people to buy expensive products.
I haven’t tried Kermond’s and will.
Frank, I have a hankering for some beetroot and meat between buns right now. But not something too massive as the Aussies often end up. I hadn’t thought of it sculptural imperialism. Bt it is. Will save that up for another time if you don’t mind me stealing the phrase.
Ruth, I love that “Vegetarians love junk food too”. How do you rate the chips at Lord of the Fries?
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
When in Canberra, it’s hard to beat the Kingston Foreshore caravan outlet called BrodBurger (http://www.brodburger.com.au/). Brod used to be the chef at Griffith mod-Oz cafe Element before heading out into short-order territory.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
….how did your Anus feel after?
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
sod it. after reading all of this its settled; burgers tonite at mine – big fat juicy rump with relish, bacon, cheese and roasted tomato between a crusty baguette. this after the BEPS fete tonite of course!
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Oh, LotF chips are a different kettle of TVP-imitation-fish altogether: delicious and wonderfully junky. Actually, now I think about it, the chips themselves are just OK — it’s the sauces that make them so good. And all vegetarian/vegan. Grill’d also does good chips, though again, it’s mainly the seasonings and sauces.
Best chips in Melbourne would be an interesting debate. Anywhere that does their own hand-cut is off to a good start, IMO. I used to work at a pub that cut their own each day and cooked them in organic coconut oil, which were amazing, but it got too expensive (and the staff all eventually got nauseous at even the faintest whiff of coconut after a while).
There’s actually a booming market for vegan and vegetarian junk food and sweets in Melbourne at the moment. The East Brunswick Club now do an extensive trade in vegan pub food — fish and chips, parmas, even a Philly cheese steak — while Grumpy’s on Smith St ONLY do veg/vegan food. Plus Trippy Taco, La Panella, Tart’n’Round, vege2go, Plush Pizza, Sugardough, Fritz gelato… if you bake it, they will come.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
I also love the Danny’s burgers, but it’s been a while. Had no idea there was more than one Danny’s, either. While Burger Republic on Errol Street lived, it was loved, but the replacement (Urban Burger) can be hit and miss.
Have put Plan B down on my Sydney itinerary!
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Nice name Neil, congrats.
Ed. you’ll be pleased to know that REAL angus are extinct. The Queen mother owned the last herd but, unfortunantly there were Canadian/American genetics added to that herd about 7 or 8 years ago. Americans, being American, wanted everythging to be bigger and better and so decided that the small dumpy Angus, with terrific eating qualities, wasn’t good enough for them and so began adding genetics from other larger breeds, mainly European types of Black Limousin, Gelbvieh etc with lean meat and extra muscling. These were able to be added to the Angus stud book after a few generations but the new animals, whilst black in colour (please note English English not American English) have very little to do with what the Angus breed looked like as recently as the 1960’s.
Unfortunantly REAL HEREFORD appear to be headed the same way with just three or four herds left.
Not Neil, Bad Lieutenant
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Neil, the broad may just justify a visit toCanberra. Sounds great.
Tim, hope the burger turned out well. Ifeel like a Steak tartare coming on.
Injera, I think it was 2 or 3 years ago that Danny’s opened in St Kilda. I’m not sure how well they are doing down there. Maybe this week I shall cycle to the original for the authentic experience.
Bad Lieutenant,
It doesn’t please me. It’s a shame to see all these breed bloodlines diluted.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Did someone say Anus was unAustralian?
Still, pretty narrow demograph for the Anus Burger, nevermind Angry ones…ok, I’ll stop now.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Gosh, they really are coming clean if they’re not hiding the fact they put anus in burgers anymore.
On that note, as a Bourdain fan I recommend you check out his No Reservations Namibia episode. It is gold.
But back to the serious business of burgers – I quite like Plan B’s offering too.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
Forager, Got it ” a foot long section of lightly charred poop shoot”. A welcome distraction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQlxFiX4d2k
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
I’m not sure if it’s still there but I doubt it.
There used to be a little burger joint on the throughway to the beach from Hastings St in Noosa Heads. It was called Betty’s Burgers and she concocted these giant towers of meat, bread and sauce that were just perfect for an adolescent boy with the appetite of a third world country.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
There’s a plague of high-end burger joints over here in Perth at the moment. Jus Burgers is leading the charge-2 stores so far & more to come.
This comment was originally posted on Tomato | The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.
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