Grand Angus Burger, McDonalds Alderley

Now I don`t think this post should be rated safari status, but I`ve felt compelled to try the
new Angus Beef range of burgers currently on offer at Maccas. In other parts of the world the McAngus has been very popular, and if I can believe my beef industry contact Matty H, McDonalds sales have gone up 30% since the burger was released for sale in Australia.

So I feel it my duty to report on this new addition to the McDonalds line-up. A bachelor weekend at home alone is the perfect time!

Here is what the burger looks like freshly unwrapped


First impressions - this indeed is a tidy looking burger, and if the oblong shape is not completely groundbreaking it has been a long time since McDonalds have released anything in this format. The Grand Angus burger contains an Angus beef patty, fresh red onion, a solitary slice of tomato, a pickle, some 'gourmet' salad mix, which is actually seems to be iceberg lettuce and a few shreds of baby baby spinach ( just like on the lean beef burger ), thick rich mayonaise and on a good looking flour dusted "sourdough" bun.
The addition of raw onion is a good one, and it brings me to reminisce about what lifts a Hungry Jacks whopper - the fresh onion and mayo. So whilst the burger does`nt look like a whopper, it does have whopperlike characteristics. This is the lasting impression the burger left on me - that it tasted like a whopper, but not quite as good. Now I don`t eat whoppers anymore - I remember back in uni days when whopper`s were $1.65 and we`d pretty much live on them. through the late 90`s I'd often snack on whopper juniors. This burger reminded me of the whopper. Anyway more on that later.

So from the blurry profile view you can see a reasonable thick pattie - i reckon it was about a cm thick. You can also see a slice of cheese on the top and bottom of the pattie.

So I bit into the burger and noticed how light and spongey the "sourdough" bun was. The pattie itself, while allegedly being "Angus" beef, was not really discernable in flavour from any other McDs pattie i`ve ever eaten. In fact, the taste of the burger was unremarkable, if not, an obvious fatty flavour like you know you are going to regret eating it.



So about midway I broke into the mayo and this burger tasted like a half rate whopper but with Maccas style grease. There was no relish, sauce or mustard on the burger, and I felt it could have been seasoned more - seeing the marketing department had labelled this "Grand". I don`t rate this burger even as worthy of a must try - If I was to eat McDonalds I would stick to a the classic Big Mac and save my beef pattie cravings for a real burger from a real restaurant.
On the positive - for $6.45 my hunger is satisfied and I`m not craving more grease. 4/10

XXL Burger, The Broadway Hotel

Big Burger Nirvana found in inner city Brisbane!! The Broadway Hotel at Wooloongabba has a new Burger Bar kind of restaurant along with a cook your own steak menu. The Burger Menu is called 'Oh! Burger It!' and the XXL Burger with double giant wagyu patties would have to be the star. This burger is a giant, so only attempt it if you are hungry.

Burger Porn Deluxe!!

This is the burger that rekindled my desire to blog burgers. Ive been trying to lose a bit of gut, with some success, hence the lack of burgerventures documented lately.
Anyways - Great burger, awesome pattie - obviously too big to fit in your mouth but topped with bbq hickory sauce, well cooked bacon, proper tasty cheesy and some gourmet lettucey mix.

Fantastic! 9/10 and yes I ate it all.

Double Lean Beef Burger - Macca's

Ahh yes, it can be done - if you were ever curious, or wanted a guilt free double beef burger experience - maccas can do a double lean beef burger. The problem with lean beef burgers is that the patties taste microwaved, indeed the entire burger has a plasticy sensation to it - right down to the exactly 3 strategically placed genetically modified baby spinich leaves. The tangy sauce is good though. 6/10

Purple Gorilla Burger, Purple Gorilla Wooloongabba

Back after a long spell I thought i`d catch up on a couple of burgers a ate before my break, until i ate the Broadway XXL i`ll review shortly. I moved to wooloongabba on a contract job after getting sacked by RPData. Purple Gorilla had recently opened up at Gabba Central Apartments and of course looked interesting enough to warrant a sampling of their wares

Taking the reviewers option - I ordered the prize purple gorilla burger - billed as : Prime Beef Pattie, Bacon, Mamma`s Relish, tasty cheese, tomato, beetroot salsa, dill pickle, baby rocket mix and aioli - all for $10.90.

Here is the burger as presented


A close up - i was keen on tasting the beetroot salsa but as you can see from this picture theres barely a smidge on there.


Midway, a flat, lettuce and bready affair
Beetroot on burgers is an Australian tradition ( if you are reading from overseas ). The beetroot salsa was an interesting take, but on this particular day the salsa, aioli and relish were a bit light on, rendering the burger a bit dry. I ate this about 6 months ago - so with a bit of hindsight advantage i`ll rate the burger 7.5 - Worthy of a try and i feel a bit sorry for the store for its terrible location.

New York Burger, Global Burgers, Brisbane City

Global Burgers is a new style gourmet burger chain just opened in Brisbane city. They offer burgers named different cities of the world with different toppings. Being a traditionalist i opted for a New York burger - topside beef, tomato relish, onion rings, grilled cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and mayo. I was pleased with the option for white or wholemeal rolls ( I opted for wholemeal ) and also the fact that they server beer. The burger was 9.95, beer was about $5 so a pretty sweet deal right across the road from the Casino.


The burgers come on big white platters. There was quite a bit of salad amplitude, this time caused by 3/4 inch thick onion rounds. When I saw the menu I thought there were onion rings as an additonal side but in reality it was fat cut onion rings as burger filling. These rings made the burger much higher than it needed to be, making the burger hard to manouver and sink you teeth into.



The fat cheese slices were awesome, and the bread was moist and soft ( I know it does`nt look like that ). The addition of mayonnaise and iceberg lettuce made the burger taste hungry jack whoppery. The pattie also could`ve been at least half as thick again IMHO.

Overall a tasty burger, good value, and let down by the thick onion rings, patie that could`ve been fatter, iceberg lettuce and a slight excess of relish. However, the cheese, roll, presentation and beer! made this burger very enjoyable and worthy of its gourmet status. 8/10

Hungry Jack`s Quadstacker

After all the press, and against my better judgement, I journeyed out to the sophisticated Hungry Jacks at Herston to meet the GBST boys and to sample the 71g`s of fat that is the hungry jacks quadstacker. 4 patties of beef, 4 slices of plastic cheese, HJ`s fake ass bacon and some BBQ sauce. Approaching the counter I felt wrong, like what I imagine its like for a married man walking into a brothel. All kinds of wrong. What was further unsettling was the disinterest of the waitress when I placed my sinful order. It was all too easy. Below is what I unwrapped.

It was smaller than I expected, a whole heap of fat and lard wrapped up in a small dishevelled package, a proton enegry pill of grease if you like.
In all truth the first bite or 2 of burger tasted pretty good - as you might imagine. Tasted just like a bacon double cheeseburger with the addition of some smokey bbq sauce which was tasty. Laurie ate one of these, large fries and a large coke to wash it all down. He looked a bit green at the end. I had a coating of grease over my mouth and face that felt like it took days to get rid of.
In the end I was kind to myself and pulled out a couple of patties and the bacon and ate the rest - saving myself a few g`s of fat. Overall a pretty bad burger due to the grease that would have sold very well due to the publicity - 3.5/10

Beef & Bacon Burger, Ascot Provisions

Jarrod recommended I try the burger from Ascot Provisions located on Racecourse Rd, Ascot. Seemed like a perfect thursday lunch adventure, and Mark V was keen for a lime milkshake, so we ventured out to try the burger.
The Beef and Bacon Burger is served with onion jam, chips and salad for $16.50. It seemed like it took ages for our food to come out, there were steak sandwiches flying past to tables that sat down well after we did but anywaym the burger hunger greweth until my plate arrived like so -


.A split top burger on turkish bread, heaps of bacon, onion jam relishy stuff, some seasoned mayo, tomato, spinach leaves, cucumber and a fat rissole style burger pattie. The pattie is hard to see underneath everything else.

This burger was extremely hard to pick up. Cucumber does not assist burger cohesion, and i ended up with most of the salad fallen out on my plate. The burger also dripped copius juice so much so that once i had picked it up I could`nt place it back down on the plate due to the pool of juice.

The pattie was the highlight of this experience - a rissole style pattie, well seasoned and cooked. Provisions were also generous with their bacon, and this was also well cooked and not too fatty.
However there was no relishor sauce besides the mayo and onion jam, I could`ve done with some. A slice of cheese from provisions fridge could also have set the burger off. But thats the benefit of hindsight i suppose. Otherwise a medium satisfying experience, top pattie, poor construction. 7/10