Mos Burger

Sometimes you just need a burger. After a long day of sightseeing, we ended up at Tokyo Tower for dinner and treated ourselves to Mos Burger – Japan’s native burger chain. Playing on the novelty of a store at the Tower, Mos Burger only offers the ‘Tokyo Tower Burger’ at this location – a 14 layer beast that apparently is the chain’s tallest burger. Obviously we had to try it. I was quite impressed when the burger came out that it actually looks like the advertised picture, something that fast food rarely does in Australia. The layers included two buns, onion rings, lettuce, two beef patties, mayonnaise, tomato, two layers of chopped onion, ketchup, bacon and two layers of a hot sauce that added a really nice kick to the whole thing. The patties were thin by Australian standards, but had good flavour for a non-gourmet restaurant and the onion rings added some great texture. The toughest part was working out how to eat it – there was no way to squish it down and get a taste of all layers at once without some serious oozing. Not elegant, but tasty and very filling, plus the added novelty factor, of course.

Mos Burger, 4 Chome-2-8 Shibakoen, Minato, Tokyo Japan                  http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/eng/foottown/2f_food_07.html

Grease Monkey

Patience is not a strength of mine, so when I saw that Grease Monkey, whose black garage shutter had been teasing all of Braddon for months, had opened, I couldn’t wait to go – so I didn’t. I grabbed my book, joined the (fairly long) queue to order, then took a perch at the stool along the front window to await my burger experience. I chose the ‘Greasy’ – their basic burger, with a beef patty, lettuce, cheese, onion, pickles and Greasy’s sauce plus tomato sauce and mustard. All the burgers come with chips, and whilst I did wait quite a while for my food (they were very busy), the portion was great value for $15. The burger itself was on a soft bun (oh the joy! This is what burger buns should be!), although I was surprised at how thin the patty was – the burger crumpled down a lot for ease of eating. But the flavour – oh yum. I am a huge fan of pickles and there were plenty, and whatever is in that Greasy’s sauce, it was gold. The chips were nice and crispy with a flavoured salt (chicken? peri peri?) on top. I really appreciated the uncomplicated menu and will be back to try the other burgers for sure.

Grease Monkey, 19 Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT                              http://www.greasys.com.au/

Bean & Grain

I do love a good pre-work breakfast, and that’s what my friends and I found at Bean & Grain. I couldn’t go past the breakfast burger, with bacon, spinach, fried egg and potato rosti – mmm, rosti. My soy hot chocolate come out first – it was served in a glass but didn’t come with anything to stop me burning my hands, so I had to wait a bit for the glass to cool before drinking it. The chocolate was nice although I could still distinctly taste the soy, so probably not the best soy hot chocolate in town, but warming and sweet for a chilly morning. The burger came out on a lovely round plate and when I cut it in half the egg yolk oozed everywhere – perfection! There was plenty of bacon, although I would have liked more of the tomato relish that sat in a tiny dollop on top. The rosti was a bit soggy and the grey colour looked a bit offputting, but it did add to the overall flavour, even if it wasn’t as visually appealing as the sweet potato rosti my friend got with her mushroom stack. We left very full (I couldn’t quite finish my meal) and warmed through.

Bean & Grain, Fyshwick Markets, 12 Dalby Street, Fyshwick ACT                            http://www.beanandgrain.com.au

Meating Room

I met my friend at the Meating Room in Weston for dinner a couple of nights after their opening, and was immediately impressed with the fitout and the atmosphere. The place was full of all sorts of groups (families, couples, groups of friends) at 6:30pm on a Sunday. We were seated in lovely armchairs and ordered a few things to share. The tapas came out together – arancini balls with a garlic sauce and pulled pork sliders – and really that would have been enough dinner for the both of us. The arancini was the highlight for me – with a crispy panko crumb and full of veggies, parmesan and rice, they went perfectly with the garlic sauce and were great value with 12 pieces on the plate. The sliders (2 in a serve) were tasty to start but the flavour faded after a few mouthfuls (not enough BBQ sauce?) – the pork was tender but my friend’s slider was very oily. Finally our Meatingroom pizza arrived – it was clearly made on site as the shape was imperfect, but the base was lovely and crispy and the topping was full of meat – chorizo, bacon, salami, pulled pork and beef – so good. The staff were exceptionally friendly and I look forward to many more cozy evenings exploring their menu.

Meating Room, 45B Liardet Street, Weston ACT                        http://meatingroom.com.au/

Mr Papa

Mr Papa has been around for a few years now, appearing at events like The Forage regularly, but this was my first visit to their semi-permanent home at the Hamlet in Braddon. I was also Dad’s first visit to the Hamlet, so we ordered an empanada and a chanchito (pork roll) to share and give us room to try other things. The friendly ladies at Mr Papa happily chatted to Dad in Spanish while they prepared our food, and gave us a sample of the sauces they offer to try – the green one (I can’t remember the name) was to die for and we got a small tub of it for our empanada. The empanada was beautiful and fresh, with pastry that wasn’t too thick and lots of filling. The tangy lime sauce made the dish though – I’d highly recommend getting as much of it as you can because it was so, so good. The chanchito was slightly less exciting – there was a lot of bread, and whilst the pork was tender, I found that the raw onion dominated the flavour. The sweet potato slices were a great textural contrast though. I’d definitely get the empanadas again!

Mr Papa, the Hamlet, 16 Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT                                           http://www.mrpapa.com.au/

Lonsdale Street Eatery

Lonsdale Street Eatery (LSR’s alter dinner ego) is one of the many serious meat-offering establishments of Canberra. They offer BYO (no corkage charge – we also had to BYO bottle opener!) and have a lovely outdoor seating area, perfect for warmer nights. We went on the first night of their new menu, and the waitress was really lovely about tracking down details for us when we had questions. In the end, we chose the buffalo wings, the ‘pitt bull’ hot dog and the royale with cheese burger, all served in fun, branded, disposable packaging. The wings were amazingly crispy and whilst they didn’t have as much meat on them as other wings I’ve had, the flavour more than made up for it. Caution – the spicy dipping sauce was too hot even for my chilli-loving Dad. The ‘pitt bull’ hot dog was quite good – I enjoyed it more than the one I’d had at Broddogs – with a good kick from the horseradish slaw and jalapeno salsa. But the pick of the bunch was the royale with cheese – this is the mother of all cheeseburgers, with a pillowy soft bun, dense, meaty patty and oozing melty cheese. So, so good.

Lonsdale Street Eatery, 23 Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT                         http://lonsdalestreetroasters.com/

Brodburger

Brodburger is another Canberra institution, and one that locals either love or hate. Love for the incredibly fresh, filling and flavoursome burgers, or hate for the outlandish wait times, even after it moved from a dodgy caravan by the lake to a proper store at the Glassworks. I’m firmly in the love camp, and Brod is one of the Canberra must-visits I recommend to visitors. The classic Brodburger is a thick beef patty with the most delicious aioli, tomato, lettuce and a choice of blue, brie, swiss or cheddar cheeses. It’s incredible that such simple ingredients can be so tasty! Another favourite is the Brodchicken, which includes a moist chicken breast, bacon, avocado, and of course the aioli – this has become by go-to order, and on this occasion I ordered it with a side of chips. Note, make sure you’re really, really hungry if you plan to eat it all! I would also recommend either planning for around a 40-60 minute wait at peak times, so going when you’re not in a hurry, or pre-ordering by phone about half an hour in advance. Brod is a Canberra favourite for a reason, and most locals agree that the food makes the wait well worthwhile.

Brodburger, Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Ave, Kingston ACT   http://www.brodburger.com.au