All good things must come to and end...
And now, the end is here, and so we face, our final burger...
Our friends, we say it clear, we state our case... OK, OK... I can't find a word to rhyme with burger and let's face it, this could go on forever.
But yes, the Burger Quest team is sad to say that after twenty good weeks we have decided to end our Quest. It's been a lot of fun and we're really stoked that so many of you stuck it out with us over what's been nearly six months of burger adventures. It's been a LOT of fun and we've definitely enjoyed the ride! :)
BUT. All is not yet lost. We do have one final adventure to share with you, and tonight we are whisked to the heart of Adelaide's up and coming culinary centre in Waymouth street, finding ourselves in the upstairs loft at Press.
This restaurant is flippen awesome. I haven't been here before, but everyone who has absolutely raves about it. Their food is supposed to be great, and I must say, the vibe straight up is very cool.
Before we even have a chance to look at our menus, a board of bread and soft, spreadable butter with a pinch bowl of salt is brought out to us. We are all suitably impressed. It's rare for restaurants to bring out bread these days without charging $9 for two measly, stale slices... but here is some sensationally fresh bread, crusty on the outside and soft in the middle and oh god I'm drooling again just thinking about it. Chicken says, "I LOVE (and can you please write "LOVE" in capital letters?? Thanks) a place that gives you bread before you even order. **Knocks on table** They've started on a good note here."
Tonight it's just the original three - Hungry Hungry Hippo, Chicken and yours truly (Els Bells, for those of you who may have forgotten). All three of us order the Press Burger, which our waitress advises us has a beef patty, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato, mayo, tomato sauce, pickle, confit onion and cheese, served with a side of onion rings. Now, usually I would opt to have the onion taken out, which Chicken did, but tonight I thought I'd go all out and have the burger as it was supposed to be. In hindsight I wish I had removed the onion, because it wasn't cooked through properly and here I am two hours later, reaping the consequences. Sigh. But I digress.
We also ordered a side of fries (which were a little pricey for $8.50 but it's a fancy restaurant so I guess you have to expect it) and we all sit with bated breath for our burgers to arrive.
And what a reception when they get there. We all look at our burgers, look at each other, look at our burgers again and we're practically drooling. Chicken announces immediately, "before you even take a bite you can smell the beef. It's smoky. Smells DELICIOUS!"
I did sample one of the onion rings, but they're just not my thing. I'm not so keen on them and would probably have preferred a small handful of fries instead.
Our friends, we say it clear, we state our case... OK, OK... I can't find a word to rhyme with burger and let's face it, this could go on forever.
But yes, the Burger Quest team is sad to say that after twenty good weeks we have decided to end our Quest. It's been a lot of fun and we're really stoked that so many of you stuck it out with us over what's been nearly six months of burger adventures. It's been a LOT of fun and we've definitely enjoyed the ride! :)
BUT. All is not yet lost. We do have one final adventure to share with you, and tonight we are whisked to the heart of Adelaide's up and coming culinary centre in Waymouth street, finding ourselves in the upstairs loft at Press.
This restaurant is flippen awesome. I haven't been here before, but everyone who has absolutely raves about it. Their food is supposed to be great, and I must say, the vibe straight up is very cool.
Before we even have a chance to look at our menus, a board of bread and soft, spreadable butter with a pinch bowl of salt is brought out to us. We are all suitably impressed. It's rare for restaurants to bring out bread these days without charging $9 for two measly, stale slices... but here is some sensationally fresh bread, crusty on the outside and soft in the middle and oh god I'm drooling again just thinking about it. Chicken says, "I LOVE (and can you please write "LOVE" in capital letters?? Thanks) a place that gives you bread before you even order. **Knocks on table** They've started on a good note here."
Tonight it's just the original three - Hungry Hungry Hippo, Chicken and yours truly (Els Bells, for those of you who may have forgotten). All three of us order the Press Burger, which our waitress advises us has a beef patty, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato, mayo, tomato sauce, pickle, confit onion and cheese, served with a side of onion rings. Now, usually I would opt to have the onion taken out, which Chicken did, but tonight I thought I'd go all out and have the burger as it was supposed to be. In hindsight I wish I had removed the onion, because it wasn't cooked through properly and here I am two hours later, reaping the consequences. Sigh. But I digress.
We also ordered a side of fries (which were a little pricey for $8.50 but it's a fancy restaurant so I guess you have to expect it) and we all sit with bated breath for our burgers to arrive.
And what a reception when they get there. We all look at our burgers, look at each other, look at our burgers again and we're practically drooling. Chicken announces immediately, "before you even take a bite you can smell the beef. It's smoky. Smells DELICIOUS!"
I did sample one of the onion rings, but they're just not my thing. I'm not so keen on them and would probably have preferred a small handful of fries instead.
So, what did we think of our last ever BQ burger??
Bun 8/10
Chicken: "Asthetically it was beautiful to look at. I loved the size - it was small, but high. It was a REAL burger bun, not a stinkin' wholemeal spelt gluten free thing!!"
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "It has a beautiful colour. It was warm, had seeds, held the burger together right to the end and didn't fall apart."
I thought the bun ticked all the boxes. It was nice and soft, but still toasty where it needed to be. It was rich and buttery, but fluffy and light too. I have the feeling this may have been a Breadtop bun, but unlike previous ones we've come across, the filling in this burger was of a high enough quality and flavour so as to perfectly complement it.
Patty 9/10
Chicken: "My only comment is that I think it is a real meat lover's patty. It's good quality with a meaty smell even before biting into it."
I think the patty has a great steakiness to it. It's top quality beef - delicious, smoky, tender, perfectly pink and juicy. This patty is hard to fault. Had it been JUST a bit thicker (and I'm only being picky because I like my meat on the thicker side) it would have been perfect. I'm scoring it on a par with Street ADL, although I do think that patty was superior, but only just.
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "It had that perfect combination of smoky and juicy. It was smoky outside and pink inside, exactly how a good patty should be."
Value 6/10
Chicken: "You know what? We have had some $#!++y burgers for a lot of money. As far as burgers go, this one WAS a lot of money, but it was anything but a $#!++y burger."
Personally, I think that for a burger, $18 is still a lot of money. For a burger of this quality, I'm not exactly mad, BUT it's still on the pricey side. The restaurant is lovely though, and we do have to expect to pay restaurant prices.
Chicken: "It's a restaurant where you have a tablecloth, and there's table service, and you don't have to order your burger off a stinkin' blackboard. It's a burger on a restaurant menu, and it's a restauranty burger."
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "The cost with fries included works out to around $22 per person. It's a top quality burger, but the price can't compete with simliar burgers. This burger didn't stand out above the rest to warrant the price tag, despite the restaurant being nice."
Balance & Composition 8/10
For me, this was bang on. There was a bit of everything in each mouthful - hard to fault it. Would've liked more pickles (I'm not even convinced mine had any) and I would've left out the onion, but the burger was well put together and easy to eat.
Chicken: "What I liked is that everything reached the edge of the bun, but nothing hung out the edges." (OK, hers was perfect - just ignore that bit of prosciutto hanging out the side of mine in the photo hehe)
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "This one ticked all the boxes; everything had the right amounts, the shape was nice - it was tall and round, but the diameter wasn't too wide."
Chicken: "It stood tall like it was humble and proud. No, actually it wasn't proud, it was confident."
Flavour 8/10
Chicken: "I have a downfall. I loooooooooooove prosciutto. I could have it every day, but in a burger? It was too fatty. I had to pull it out. When you have bacon, the fat gets rendered down a bit and the crispiness can make up for the fattiness, but the prosciutto didn't quite do it for me. Aside from that it was perfect. It was so perfect I didn't even mind the Coles mesclun mix. In fact, this burger is too fancy for iceberg lettuce."
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "All the flavours were quite subtle. The main flavour that stood out was the smokiness of the beef. The sauce was not strong, the cheese was very mild, the whole thing lacked fireworks. Everything was good, but it didn't reach the heights I kept waiting for."
Chicken: "Absolutely everything that burger needed was provided. Nobody said that they wished we had more sauce, and this comes up more often than you'd think!!"
I thought the steakiness was tops. The richness of the bun was complemented just right. My burger absolutely lacked pickles though, which made me really freaking sad.
Overall 7.8/10
Chicken: "I would love to come back here, but to try literally everything else on the menu. That pappardelle dish with blue swimmer crab has my name written all over it!!
I think the Press burger met my expectations. It didn't exceed them, but it was definitely a very good burger.
Hungry Hungry Hippo concedes that while this was definitely a good burger, it didn't quite meet his expectations (which may or may not have had something to do with me talking it up a bit).
Press* can be found at 40 Waymouth Street, Adelaide
And a final word...
Hungry Hungry Hippo says, "After 20 burgers, to me personally not only did Burgastronomy taste the best, it was also one of the cheapest, which I think is phenomenal. Please let it be known that I have no affiliation with Burgastronomy but they sure do make damn good burgers."
I think that after all these weeks, at the very least Hungry Hungry Hippo and I agree that the burgers from Burgastronomy are by far, hands down the best and among the cheapest, too. We both still have really great memories of that place and have been back for more burgers since, having tasted the beef burgers, the chicken burgers, mild ones, spicy ones, the fries, the sweet potato fries, the jalapeno poppers, and goodness knows what else, and the moment anyone asks me where they should go for a burger, I don't hesitate to say Burgastronomy.
So here we are, at the end of our Quest, and we would like to thank everyone who has joined us for the ride. We still had so many places left on our list, but I'm a bit sick of burgers, Chicken is pregnant and her taste for burgers is fleeting now at best (so please join me in wishing Hungry Hungry Hippo and Chicken all the best and our millions of congratulations on expecting their first Chickopotamus at the end of the year!!!!) and Hungry Hungry Hippo could have gone on and had burgers week after week for years on end - possibly even forever - if we would join in.
Thanks again guys, and peace to all of you.
Els Bells (and on behalf of Chicken & Hungry Hungry Hippo) xxxxxxxxxxxx
Bun 8/10
Chicken: "Asthetically it was beautiful to look at. I loved the size - it was small, but high. It was a REAL burger bun, not a stinkin' wholemeal spelt gluten free thing!!"
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "It has a beautiful colour. It was warm, had seeds, held the burger together right to the end and didn't fall apart."
I thought the bun ticked all the boxes. It was nice and soft, but still toasty where it needed to be. It was rich and buttery, but fluffy and light too. I have the feeling this may have been a Breadtop bun, but unlike previous ones we've come across, the filling in this burger was of a high enough quality and flavour so as to perfectly complement it.
Patty 9/10
Chicken: "My only comment is that I think it is a real meat lover's patty. It's good quality with a meaty smell even before biting into it."
I think the patty has a great steakiness to it. It's top quality beef - delicious, smoky, tender, perfectly pink and juicy. This patty is hard to fault. Had it been JUST a bit thicker (and I'm only being picky because I like my meat on the thicker side) it would have been perfect. I'm scoring it on a par with Street ADL, although I do think that patty was superior, but only just.
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "It had that perfect combination of smoky and juicy. It was smoky outside and pink inside, exactly how a good patty should be."
Value 6/10
Chicken: "You know what? We have had some $#!++y burgers for a lot of money. As far as burgers go, this one WAS a lot of money, but it was anything but a $#!++y burger."
Personally, I think that for a burger, $18 is still a lot of money. For a burger of this quality, I'm not exactly mad, BUT it's still on the pricey side. The restaurant is lovely though, and we do have to expect to pay restaurant prices.
Chicken: "It's a restaurant where you have a tablecloth, and there's table service, and you don't have to order your burger off a stinkin' blackboard. It's a burger on a restaurant menu, and it's a restauranty burger."
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "The cost with fries included works out to around $22 per person. It's a top quality burger, but the price can't compete with simliar burgers. This burger didn't stand out above the rest to warrant the price tag, despite the restaurant being nice."
Balance & Composition 8/10
For me, this was bang on. There was a bit of everything in each mouthful - hard to fault it. Would've liked more pickles (I'm not even convinced mine had any) and I would've left out the onion, but the burger was well put together and easy to eat.
Chicken: "What I liked is that everything reached the edge of the bun, but nothing hung out the edges." (OK, hers was perfect - just ignore that bit of prosciutto hanging out the side of mine in the photo hehe)
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "This one ticked all the boxes; everything had the right amounts, the shape was nice - it was tall and round, but the diameter wasn't too wide."
Chicken: "It stood tall like it was humble and proud. No, actually it wasn't proud, it was confident."
Flavour 8/10
Chicken: "I have a downfall. I loooooooooooove prosciutto. I could have it every day, but in a burger? It was too fatty. I had to pull it out. When you have bacon, the fat gets rendered down a bit and the crispiness can make up for the fattiness, but the prosciutto didn't quite do it for me. Aside from that it was perfect. It was so perfect I didn't even mind the Coles mesclun mix. In fact, this burger is too fancy for iceberg lettuce."
Hungry Hungry Hippo: "All the flavours were quite subtle. The main flavour that stood out was the smokiness of the beef. The sauce was not strong, the cheese was very mild, the whole thing lacked fireworks. Everything was good, but it didn't reach the heights I kept waiting for."
Chicken: "Absolutely everything that burger needed was provided. Nobody said that they wished we had more sauce, and this comes up more often than you'd think!!"
I thought the steakiness was tops. The richness of the bun was complemented just right. My burger absolutely lacked pickles though, which made me really freaking sad.
Overall 7.8/10
Chicken: "I would love to come back here, but to try literally everything else on the menu. That pappardelle dish with blue swimmer crab has my name written all over it!!
I think the Press burger met my expectations. It didn't exceed them, but it was definitely a very good burger.
Hungry Hungry Hippo concedes that while this was definitely a good burger, it didn't quite meet his expectations (which may or may not have had something to do with me talking it up a bit).
Press* can be found at 40 Waymouth Street, Adelaide
And a final word...
Hungry Hungry Hippo says, "After 20 burgers, to me personally not only did Burgastronomy taste the best, it was also one of the cheapest, which I think is phenomenal. Please let it be known that I have no affiliation with Burgastronomy but they sure do make damn good burgers."
I think that after all these weeks, at the very least Hungry Hungry Hippo and I agree that the burgers from Burgastronomy are by far, hands down the best and among the cheapest, too. We both still have really great memories of that place and have been back for more burgers since, having tasted the beef burgers, the chicken burgers, mild ones, spicy ones, the fries, the sweet potato fries, the jalapeno poppers, and goodness knows what else, and the moment anyone asks me where they should go for a burger, I don't hesitate to say Burgastronomy.
So here we are, at the end of our Quest, and we would like to thank everyone who has joined us for the ride. We still had so many places left on our list, but I'm a bit sick of burgers, Chicken is pregnant and her taste for burgers is fleeting now at best (so please join me in wishing Hungry Hungry Hippo and Chicken all the best and our millions of congratulations on expecting their first Chickopotamus at the end of the year!!!!) and Hungry Hungry Hippo could have gone on and had burgers week after week for years on end - possibly even forever - if we would join in.
Thanks again guys, and peace to all of you.
Els Bells (and on behalf of Chicken & Hungry Hungry Hippo) xxxxxxxxxxxx