November 2, 2013
We were aiming for a pre-market breakfast on Saturday morning, but by the time we got going and dragged ourselves onto the tram we were both too impatient to take a detour up to Elceed or Twenty and Six Espresso. Our initial fallback plan was to swing by Invita, but a bright orange sign pointing down an alleyway convinced us that it was more of a burger kind of morning.
Mr Burger are part of Melbourne food-truck madness, with a fleet of trucks serving up burgers all over the city (although the fleet looks to be one down at the moment). One of their trucks is parked semi-permanently in a little alleyway just off Therry Street by the Queen Vic Markets. It's a good setup - there's plenty of tables and chairs, music blaring and just a generally pleasant vibe (at least at 11:45 in the morning).
The menu is super simple: there's two meaty burgers and the Mr Veg (falafel pattie, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard, mayo and tomato sauce, $10). Chips come in either $3 or $5 sizes. The felafel pattie is vegan, but the buns are egg-washed, so vegans might be better off at Beatbox (full nutritional info for Mr Burger is available here). Both Cindy and I had a vague fear of the felafel pattie - they're often a bit dry. This wasn't a problem with the Mr Veg, it tasted like a decent felafel mix and had an excellent texture. Even if the pattie had been dry, the condiment explosion served up by Mr Burger would have covered it up pretty well - I'm completely in favour of combining sauces, and this combo is pretty classic. In fact the whole experience was working the classic US burger vibe - a super puffy and sweet bun, rudimentary salads, pickles and a big pile of mushy sauces.
If you've got a craving for junkfood and have already worked your way through the LotF menu then Mr Burger is worth a shot - their trucks pop up all over the city (check their website for locations), their prices are reasonable and the food hits the mark nicely.
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There's a lot of enthusiasm for Mr Burger out there. I Spy Plum Pie, new international students, Ebezilla's Food Blog and It's an expensive but delicious habit all enjoyed the veggie burgers, while Burger Friday, Burp! Appetit, I Am Famished, EAT AND BE MERRY FOR TOMORROW WE DIE(T), The Burger Adventure, Yellow Eggs, Ramen Raff, the indolent cook, Naomi Bulger, rojak rojak, mostmagnificentburger, VCLUXE, Footscray Food Blog, The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar, Gastronomical ramblings, consider the sauce and scatteredroundtheworld loved the meaty options.
Let Me Feed You: Melbourne,and MEL: HOT OR NOT were a bit less impressed.
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Mr Burger
Therry Street, Queen Vic Markets (plus many other locations)
9329 7304
burgers $10http://mrburger.com.au/
Accessibility: Will vary by location. There's a flat entryway to the courtyard at the markets. Tables and chairs are high and you order and pick up your meal at a very high truck counter.
The egg washed buns are a bit disappointing, my feeling is that if you are offering a vegan burger, then make the whole thing vegan. Like going to a place that have a great vegan mains menu but no vegan dessert :)
ReplyDeleteHi veganopoulous - yeah, I gather that the patty is probably vegan more by accident than design. But one of our facebook followers mentioned that they'll wrap the vegan fillings up in a lettuce leaf on request.
DeleteI hold the same fears you do about falafels, so I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't dry too!
ReplyDeleteHi Liz! Yep, it's an impressive patty - I reckon it would hold up even without all that sauce. :-P
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