Spot Burger

January 2016: Spot Burger closed in March 2015. 

January 8, 2015

We've had our eye on Spot Burger for a while - it opened up over a year ago as Il Gobbo, went quiet for a while and then reopened with a new name but the same basic premise: vegan junk food served out the front of a tattoo place in Essendon. With our trusty junk-food liaison officer Clamps in tow we headed off one Thursday night to finally check it out.

It's an unassuming space - basic tables, a few rock posters on the wall and a pretty fast-foody sort of vibe. The menu is all vegan and all Americana: 6 burgers, 4 hot dogs, a sub, the usual fries and nugget sides plus shakes and a few desserts. It's mock-meat heavy and pretty affordable (nothing over $10) - think Lord of the Fries in the suburbs.

The three of us decided to stick with burgers. I went for the volcano: a TVP-based patty with mock bacon, vegan cheese, hot sauce, jalapenos and onions ($10, right in the photo below).

I was pretty  happy with this - the patty had some nice charred crunchy bits and held together pretty well. The bacon had a bit of crispiness as well and the mix of chilli sauce and jalapenos made sure that there was plenty of flavour. Clamps went for the Calabrian, a mock chicken patty with bacon, cheese, onion and bolognese sauce ($10, left in the photo above). It was a big, messy feast - bolognese sauce on a burger is a genius idea. 

Cindy couldn't resist the Sailor Jerry, Spot's version of a fish burger with a battered mock fish patty, cheese, lettuce, onion, pickles and herbed mayo ($10).

The fish was a standard pre-packaged version, but it worked pretty well in a burger, with a good slathering of tartare-style sauce and pickles adding some tang to cut through the batter. She also ordered a chocolate shake ($6, also vegan) - it was sweet and frothy and not particularly subtle, but a worthwhile burger accompaniment. We shared some chips as well ($7), which were crispy, salty and generously portioned.

Spot Burger is a welcome addition to Melbourne's increasingly diverse vegan junk food scene - it doesn't offer a vastly different product to Lord of the Fries, but it's great to have something like it in Essendon, where the vegan options are probably a bit thinner on the ground. I'm keen to sample their hot dogs one day, but the location will mean that we're only occasional visitors to Spot.

____________

The Good Hearted, Veganopolous and vegawesome! were all impressed by Il Gobbo when it first opened, but nobody seems to have blogged it since the name change.

____________

Spot Burger
305 Keilor Rd, Essendon (in the same premise as Down to Earth Tattoos)
9379 9540
menu
facebook page

Accessibility: The entry from the street is flat and there's a reasonable amount of space inside. Tables are a mix of high bar stool style arrangements and regular low tables. We ordered at the table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.