Shake Shack

Have you ever had a really good burger? I'm not talking about fast food processed-meat-and-yellow-cheese sandwiches here. I mean real beef, gooey cheese (I like Gruyere, but just about anything without the word 'tasty' as a prefix will do), salad (ruby red tomatoes, crisp spinach leaves or lettuce, roasted capsicum and eggplant, fried onion) on a freshly baked bun...it's one of the most perfect meals you could ever hope to have.

I'm a huge fan of Sydney burger joints like Burger Bun (the Aria burger is just about the best vege burger ever) and Burger Fuel (both the Newtown and Kings Cross locations). So I knew I had to try a burger from Shake Shack while in New York. I'd heard about it via Grub Street (no surprises there). Situated in Madison Square Park, in Chelsea, it was launched by celebrity chef Danny Meyer. It's known for its burgers and the eponymous shakes. We headed there one sunny Monday afternoon following a morning at MoMA.

Despite the warnings that we'd have to wait in line for up to an hour for our burgers, we were pleasantly surprised when it only took around ten minutes. Being a purist, I ordered the Shake Burger - beef, lettuce, tomato and "Shack Sauce". Being a vegequarian, Caliban ordered the only non-meat burger on the menu - the 'Shroom burger: a deep-fried, cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom with lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce. We shared fries and drank homemade lemonade.


The burgers were delicious - the bun was soft, the meat was tender and not overcooked, the sauce lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, within around 20 minutes of consuming them, we both needed to visit the bathroom. Sorry, Danny Meyer. I have a feeling our gentrified little tummies were too immature for this fat explosion. It was fun while it lasted, though.

For more on Sydney burgers, see Good Living's Simon Thomsen rate the best here.