I believe that, as an American, I should be able to walk into any restaurant in America and order my hamburger – that most American of foods – medium fucking rare. I don’t believe my hamburger should have to come with a warning to cook it well done to kill off any potential contaminants or bacteria. ... I believe I should be able to treat my hamburger like food, not like infectious fucking medical waste. I believe the words “meat” and "treated with ammonia" should never occur in the same paragraph – much less the same sentence.
- Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw.
When it comes to the topic of burgers, I'm quite blasè. It's not difficult to make a burger - but it is difficult to make a good tasting burger. Let's be honest, when we eat burgers we are almost simultaneously consumed by both guilt and intense pleasure, especially when it comes to fast food like Maccas or a sneaky trip to Hungry Jacks. So when I do eat burgers, I go for the good stuff, particularly a burger that will elicit obscene groans from you when you eat it.
So today, for my regular lunch date, we paid a visit to Jus Burgers at Fremantle:
Jus Burger is one of the many burger joints in Perth which aim to offer quality, locally sourced ingredients in their food. Which means everything - meat that goes into the patties, down to the bread buns and the vegetables that go into the side salad you pretend you eat.
You can find a list of where Jus Burger source their ingredients from on their website, and their suppliers, all of which are derived, some way or another from WA. Always good to know you are supporting local farmers and suppliers when you have a delicious burger.
Jus Burgers Fremantle is a large store, strategically placed next to the popular Fremantle markets, with really awesome art all over the place - especially the graffiti displayed on their walls, free booklets regarding art events in Fremantle on their lovely, nautical wooden tables and lovely, colourful chairs.
After some discussion, and a lot of help from the cashier (hint: tell the server you are a student in Perth, see what happens), we ordered our burgers, with sides:
Me and my lunch buddy didn't know which to choose between onion rings and chips, so we got both. Life is easy like that.
The first thing I look for in my onion ring or chip is how crisp they are. These definitely passed the crisp test - they were beautifully hot inside and crunchy without being too greasy, lovely to dunk in the accompanying sauces of aioli or tomato sauce. They were almost overdone, on the side of too crunchy, but I'm not fussy as long as I have actually onion in an onion ring and ample fresh potato in a chip.
I got myself a burger as well:
Nothing says you're going to enjoy this meal, like a steak knife through your burger. It even came with a small serve of coleslaw and onion relish, with a teeny little fork. Tiny cutlery make me happy.
My burger was called The Pommy Burger, which is a slang for Pom, which is a slang for what we call the English here. (Do people from other countries call the English Poms or is it just an Aussie thing?) It comes with a thick beef patty, a thick rind of bacon and some cheddar cheese. (Is cheddar cheese English?)
It was delicious, I was basically making a mess while I enjoyed my burger - burger juices dripping all over my plate. Crispy-soft (you know what I mean) charred buns soaking up bacon grease and burger juice, chewy salty bacon, adding flavour to a tasty patty chargrilled medium to perfection and flavoured only by salt and pepper.
You will also notice I don't talk about the vegetable components, simply because I don't care. I'm having a burger, you will forgive me for focusing on the meat between them buns.
My lunch buddy had her usual chicken burger:
My lunch buddy's burger came with a side salad, which she actually enjoys, along with the same tiny platter of coleslaw, onion relish sauce and tiny fork.
To be honest, my lunch buddy only eats this one burger every time she steps into any Jus Burger stall. (She enjoys chicken burgers) That alone should tell you everything you need to know about their chicken burgers, when my lunch buddy refuses to eat anything else but this one chicken burger. She remains loyal to it till this day.
After we had our very satisfying meal, we even went for desserts at Red Spoon.
Frozen yoghurt is my ultimate dessert. (To be honest I say it's my ultimate dessert but I'm okay with chocolate cake.) I also only figured out today, why Red Spoon is called Red Spoon! It was a moment. I have a deep and undying love for frozen yoghurt (Yami Yoghurt in Singapore is the place to go) and I am very, very pleased that more frozen yoghurt outlets are opening up in Perth.
Red Spoon is one of the cheapest so far, a huge cup costs $4.50, and a large costs a dollar more, with additional toppings at 50cents each. I had the green apple yoghurt with chopped nuts, and my lunch buddy had the banana with nuts and chocolate chips. I normally have original because I like the tang of original frozen yoghurt, but Red Spoon doesn't actually have original - closest being Vanilla.
Green apple was awesome, with the tang I was looking for without tasting like sorbet. We sat outside, surrounded by their fake grass carpeting and watched the hipsters go by.
Also, if you have a frozen yoghurt addiction like me, buy a tub (or three) home.
We spent some time just walking around Fremantle, taking in the sights, people watching and generally just having an unhurried, relaxing day, buying tarot cards, browsing books and looking at shoes we can't afford.
I even stumbled (manically ran towards) this bookstore when I saw this:
Jus Burgers can be found at four locations:
Shop 14/75
South Terrace
Fremantle 6160
08 9335 5433
743 Newcastle Street
Leederville 6007
08 9228 2230
Shop 11/189
William Street
Northbridge 6003
08 9227 0668
1 Rokeby Road
Corner Roberts & Rockeby
Subiaco 6008
08 9381 1895
Red Spoon can be found at two locations:
Shop 11
13 South Terrace
Fremantle 6106
88 Marine Parade
Cottlesloe 6011
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