Lately, Wednesday nights are burger nights for Consider The Sauce. So off we trek to Ballarat Road at Braybrook.
We’ve tried Burgernomics previously – a few days after the joint opened – but it was all too busy and crazy at that point.
On a lovely midweek night, things are a lot more orderly, and we’re keen to see what’s on offer.
BURGERNOMICS
- 286 Ballarat Road, Braybrook
What we find is a small, tidy, fast-food cafe with a fairly typical menu of burgers and variously souped-up fries – think cheese, bolognese, nachos, and so on.
The small crew on hand are upbeat, smiling and doing a top-class job.
Turnaround time – from ordering to eating – is about as brief as possible, and way shorter than some places we could mention.
While I mostly disapprove of the many leaning towers of customised burgers I see splattered across social media these days, I choose not to deny Bennie when his eyes light up at the blackboard special of the Bulldog Burger ($14.90) of beef, fried chicken, double cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo and BBQ sauce.
In truth, while his Bulldog Burger is substantial, it still manages to stay within manageable proportions.
Bennie’s unsure about the compatibility of the cow ‘n’ chook – but is thrilled with his burger nevertheless, and particularly the wonderfully crisp and big slab of chicken.
He downs the lot.
My own Baconator ($10.90) with extra beef patty ($3), too, is excellent – though the extra patty is hardly warranted, given I don’t quite manage to finish eating my meal.
The beef is plain but good, and all the trimmings and dressings are fine.
We’ve become a little cynical about the use of brioche for burgers – or brioche-style buns – finding them often either dry or used as an excuse to go small. These are both fresh and of regular burger dimensions – yay!
Our “beer-battered” fries ($3) are fine, but somewhat superfluous given the girth of our burgers.
So … we’ve enjoyed a very good burger dinner.
But as Bennie says: “They’re only burgers.”
So we’re not going to claim “best in the west” status for the Burgernomics fare.
But we are happy to include them among our short list of faves in the west, alongside Burger Business, Gemelli and Zigzag.
Kenny Weir is the founder of Consider the Sauce, the definitive guide to eating in Melbourne’s western suburbs – www.considerthesauce.net
