Sunday, February 3, 2013

The Merrywell Upstairs

Burger Reviewed: The Merrywell Angus Burger

Date: 1/2/2013
Venue: Merrywell Upstairs


It seems that we have been breaking a lot of new ground recently here on Burger Friday. In another Burger Friday first, today the Burger Friday Fellows went back to a venue which has already been reviewed and holds a prominent place amongst illustrious company inside the top ten Burger Friday Best Burger list – Merrywell. It should be noted however that today we dined in the upstairs restaurant big brother of the downstairs burger bar. 
Situated at the Jeff’s shed end of the glitzy lights of the Crown Casino (which somehow just attracts pensioners like mosquitos to a blue light), Merrywell is a relative new entry in the burger industry but I must say the Burger Friday Fellows are big fans of their work. Any place that centres their menu around burgers gets a doff of the hat from the Fellows every day of the week.   
Now whilst we have already been to Merrywell before, the integrity of the Fellows dictates that each burger reviewed be judged on its merits on the day, and attempts to shy away from bias and just let the burger do the talking. Having watched the boxing during the week, I like to think of the Fellows as the peoples champs, ala the Daniel ‘the Real” Geale as opposed to the Anthony ‘the mouth’ Mundine. Now while I have been a fan of Mundine in the past (because sometimes the shit he talks is genuinely funny – ie when promoting a previous fight, I quote: “there will be three hits, me hitting him, him hitting the floor and the ambulance driver hitting the accelerator),  his recent antics have seen him elevated into a new level of floggery, with company including the likes of Andy Murray and Bernard Tomic. 
So in the spirit of the Queensberry rules, the Fellows stepped into the ring today, to judge on its merits,  the signature Merrywell Angus Burger with aged cheddar, bacon, secret sauce, caramelised onions, LTO, pickles, fries. What exactly is LTO you may rightly ask? Ladies Tits Out? Unfortunately not. 
When the burger came out, I had the er no shit moment when lettuce tomato, onion, was attached to skewer on the bun exterior. That er no shit moment, or ENS for short, happens when you are oblivious (or naive) to something plainly happening right in front of your face. Kind of like when your female friend asks why all these AFL players seem to have developed acute facial muscle spasms in the offseason, only for you to explain that they are actually chewing their faces off on some special k. Or when your girlfriend asks if you think that a hot girl that has just walked past is goodlooking. ENS you think she is good looking... 
Not discounting that we reviewed the burger on its merits, being that we have already reviewed its little brother, I think it is worth drawing some comparisons to its sibling as a point of reference for our burger brethren. The Upstairs burger is certainly larger of the two (actually a proverbial beast of a burger which one Fellow failed to finish!) and comes out on a brioche style bun, which was almost buttery in texture. For me, this erred slightly on the side of pastry, in the pastry v bread spectrum, but definitively well toasted and fresh. The brioche is probably symbolic of the upstairs burgers just a little bit fancier approach. The other large difference between the burgers was that in comparison it seemed to lack some of the zing which really makes the downstairs burger great.  

Credit for the two types of onion on the burger, being caramelised onions and fresh red onion. For mine, this one two punch worked as well as Brereton, Dunstall in their heyday. Also worth noting was that the meat pattie was cooked to medium perfection. Overall though I throughly enjoyed this burger. Nice to see that Merrywell can create a burger that is quite different to its brother.

In light of the sibling rivalry, I am going to dub this burger the Shane Lee. Whilst obviously related to the its younger flashier brother Brett or in this case Merrywell downstairs, it’s just a little bit more rotund in size, slightly more polished, but with not as much zip. 
Whilst I preferred its younger brother, this burger is nothing to sneeze at. If you are in the area and have a healthy appetite, give it a crack for sure. 
 Burger Friday Rating: 38/50

The Merrywell on Urbanspoon

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