TAKE ME OUT

THE SEARCH FOR PERTH’S BEST
TAKE-OUT CONTINUES…
WHERE: V Burger, East Victoria Park
WHAT: F.B.A (Full Blooded Aussie) burger + Onion rings
PRICE: $17.80

America is the spiritual home of the hamburger and the undisputed champion when it comes to this bastion of fast food. In that country, the measure of a good burger is often the number of napkins (or serviettes as we’d say) you go through in the process of eating one, five being a decent yardstick.

Working my way through the F.B.A from V Burger took four and a half. Respect.

Since opening a year and a half ago, V Burger has put East Vic Park on the map for serious burger lovers and I know I’ll be beating a path back to the EVP in the not too distant future for another helping.

The V Burger crew don’t muddy the waters with guff about the provenance of their beef and it’s a welcome relief - I don’t need to know the cow’s name was Ethel. Instead, they let their product stand and fall on the basis of taste.

And the F.B.A tasted good, very good. An imposing stack of prime beef, bacon, egg, beetroot, mixed lettuce and cheddar, three bites in and the contents had shifted so dramatically I realised I’d missed the top half of the turkish roll/bun altogether. Either that or I have an undiagnosed underbite.

But you know what, I can live with that. The challenge of eating this monster, with its juices running down your arm, is a big part of the old school charm of this type of food. Gourmet burger establishments, take note.

If I had to find fault, I’d layer the cheese directly onto the patty to ensure a decent melt and I might tweak the homemade tomato sauce to bring out a sweeter note, but this is clutching at critical straws.

But, boy, were the onion rings good. A perfectly pale batter with a satisfying crunch to the bite, it’s hard to imagine how they could be done better. And nicely complimented with a lightly peppered aioli.

The menu reads like a to-do list for the next month and the queues that stretch to the door on a busy night prove repeat business is healthy.

V Burgers manages to walk the line between high-end burger joint and greasy spoon diner and that is their biggest strength. Simple food done well is almost unbeatable and, for that, it’s a V for victory for this place.
BEN O’SHEA

THE SCORE
Taste: 9/10
Affordability: 4/5
Convenience: 1/2
Healthiness: 1/2
Hangover Cure: 1/1
TOTAL: 16/20

WHAT IT MEANS: 0-7 (Last resort), 7-10 (Acceptable), 10-12 (Decent), 13-16 (Recommended), 17-19 (Obsession-worthy), 20 (Move next door)