It should be said from the outset that I’m not a fan of plain cheeseburgers. To me they are a childish, unadventurous thing to order. I was once a picky eater, and making the efforts to grow past that is one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. A burger is always better with a bit of lettuce and tomato. And so the Plain Cheeseburger (along with the Hawaiian pizza) is a prime example of a food that reminds me of a time when I was afraid to eat outside my comfort zone. I would never order one unless there were extenuating circumstances.
Today there were extenuating circumstances. A social Friday work lunch meant I was overruled in my choice of lunch venue, and I was drawn to the plain cheeseburger on the menu out of a morbid and professional curiosity - I wanted to start off this blog with a baseline to measure others from.
The burger was $17 with chips, as a lunch special (It’s unfortunately the only burger option in the lunch specials menu). A very reasonable deal in terms of money-for-edible-matter.
Maybe it was thanks to the schooner of beer that I polished off before my food arrived, but the burger was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The bun was soft and nicely toasted, and the burger patty was the thicker, barbecue style with a very nice chargrilled, smoky flavour to it and some crispy edges (even if it was a little dry). I was impressed also by the heavy tang provided by a generous amount of pickles and yellow mustard which complimented the other simple flavours well.
Overall, a solid burger. It wasn’t able to break free of its one-dimensional ingredient list, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, especially for a cheap pub burger.
Rating: 2/4
Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ogwbpUJupxCTMaCe7
