January 9, 2015

Jerry’s Burgers ‘n’ Shakes

Agnes kensington, suburb

It’s not just me who’s pretty much stopped going to fine dining, right? Food trends have become much more casual over the past couple of years, haven’t they?

Or am I just being lazy? Because I seem to be frequenting much more casual places – for example, burger eateries – than before.

Jerry’s Burgers ‘n’ Shakes opened late last year in Kensington Village and it should be no surprise that they sell burgers and milkshakes. The fit out is – well it’s odd. There’s exposed brick walls, astro turf, a chandelier and the menus are shown as framed pictures on the walls.

There are a whole of burgers (44 + 6 salads) and even more shake flavours (55!) to choose from. Alastair and I have visited a couple of times now, and the first time we visited I was a bit overwhelmed by all the options and ended up going for something really weird (for me).

On our first visit, for some reason I decided I wanted a fish burger, of which there are six. I opted for the Bang-pop ($9.90) which had a Thai fish patty, rocket, red onion and coleslaw and a sweet chilli aioli dressing.

I don’t know why I ordered this when I don’t like sweet chilli sauce. There was rather a lot of sauce, and since I’m not a fan anyway, it was all rather overwhelming. But that’s probably my fault for ordering incorrectly.

For the bread, there’s a choice between a brioche bun and white burger bun. I decided on brioche, which unfortunately I found a little dry.

Alastair ordered a lamb burger – the Bluey’s ($9.90) which had a lamb patty, blue cheese, tomato, cos and red onion. He also had it on brioche.

We shared a milkshake. As mentioned, there are lots of flavours, so we went with the classic (aka the best milkshake flavour that could ever exist): peanut butter brownie ($6.90). It was good.

We also shared a large serving of fries (~$7.90 from memory) which is actually way too large for two people. We couldn’t even eat half.

On our second visit, although I did think longingly of the peanut butter milkshake, we tried a different flavour: caramel popcorn. This one was on the sweet side, so I’m really glad we shared.

My order this time was a pork burger – Hot babe ($9.90) which had a crumbed pork patty, sauerkraut, jalapenos, horseradish and swiss cheese. This time I opted for the white bun, and I liked this bun much more than the brioche. There was quite a lot of sauerkraut and horseradish, which was quite sour and sharp. Near the end I did find it a bit much, but I enjoyed it up to that point. Although next time – I swear – it’s going to be a plain beef burger.

Alastair’s burger was also a pork one – Pork belly ($8.90) which had pork belly glazed with light soy sauce, chilli, garlic and rosemary with Vietnamese coleslaw.

We were smarter this time and had a small serve of fries. Their fries are like fish and chip shop fries – basically they’re no frills. Some people will like that, and some won’t (I personally don’t mind it). If you eat in, there’s various sauces by the counter you can grab and use: tomato, chilli, bbq and chicken salt.

Jerry’s isn’t earthshattering or a ‘cross town for it’ kind of place, and yes, I’m sure there will be inevitable comparisons between this and that burger place in Footscray, but I still think it’s okay as a reasonably priced neighbourhood joint. Not everything in life has to knock your socks off, let’s all chill out – it’s just burgers. 🙂

Also, I do have two tips to finish with: choose the white bread, and only ever order the small fries.

Jerry’s Burgers ‘n’ Shakes
482 Macaulay Road
Kensington VIC 3031
Phone: 03 9372 1687