Kelly loves cheeseburgers. And we have both missed them
since we left our home in Canada
almost a year ago. But cheeseburgers do something for Kelly that goes beyond
simple fondness. In fact, when asked, Kelly will cite his all-time favourite
food as not lobster, not filet mignon, but yes – cheeseburgers.
So it stands to reason that while in Brisbane
and running some errands separately, Kelly found “the burger joint to end all
burger joints” and enthusiastically told me about it.
“Their burgers are huge. I mean really huge,” Kelly said,
hands trembling as he showed me the size in a “I once caught a fish this big”
exaggerated fashion, with a twitch in his eye that I knew wouldn’t subside
until he had tasted one of these gourmet burgers.
I knew our destiny for dinner. It was going to be burgers
ala Burger Urge.
I have to admit, upon entering this small friendly place, I
could immediately see Kelly’s attraction. You can get a cheeseburger anywhere,
but finding a really good one is more of a challenge.
So when we saw that Burger Urge’s menu consisted of nothing
but burgers, we figured they know what they’re doing.
In chatting with the friendly owner who claims to have
gained only 12 kilos since opening the restaurant a year ago based on a diet of
a burger a day, we again affirmed that we were in the right place.
“Everything is homemade – well, except the cheese. We don’t
have cows,” said the owner. “And the cranberry sauce. I don’t know what
cranberries look like, and frankly I’m not sure they exist,” he said, keeping
us in stitches with his quick wit. He had taken to saying that we’re from
“Canadia,” since he couldn’t make sense of why we would call ourselves
“Canadians”, illicitly throwing in the extra “i” like it meant nothing.
Choosing between the gourmet toppings offered and the
selection of beef, chicken, lamb, and vegetarian patties (including a
portabella mushroom cap) required a bit of help from the expert himself.
“The Chicken Avo Bacon,” (avo is the nickname for avocados
in Oz – they love their abbreviations here), “Lamb Haloumi, and Portabella with
a chicken breast thrown on top are the favourites here,” we were coached.
Once we agreed on two burgers with the promise of splitting
them, we also agreed on getting an order of both regular and sweet potato chips
(fries).
When the chips arrived to our table I realized this was
going to be a meal of epic proportions. We inhaled our way through the huge
bowl, only to receive our burgers shortly thereafter.
And for once, Kelly didn’t exaggerate how big they were when
he described it with his hands. They were really that big. The “salad” thrown
on top of the patty was a legitimate salad, that could have nicely fit in a
bowl and been eaten on the side. The toasted Kaiser bun was one of the largest
I had ever seen. And the burgers, with homemade pestos and toppings (save for
the cheese and cranberry sauce of course), were out of this world.
Kelly doesn’t even like lamb, but devoured his selection
like it was going out of style. We rolled out of there immensely satisfied and
still smiling at the great conversations we had. Next time, we’ll spring for
the “mean milkshakes” the owner claims to be the deliverer of, but which we
couldn’t possibly have consumed along with our dinner.
Next time…hmmm…we weren’t planning on going back to Brisbane,
but have found ourselves saying “next time” to a number of people we’ve met and
places we have been to in Queensland.
