If you live in Canberra and burgers are a regular aspect of your life, you will have heard of (and more than likely will have frequented) the burger bosses – Brodburger, Grill’d and The London Burgers and Beers. They offer a ridiculous variety of meaty choices and as you would expect, in this day and age, a pretty yum line up of vegetarian options for the non-meat eaters too.
But in chatting with a vegetarian friend of mine, who occasionally salivates at the smell of cooking bacon, she reckons there are two things where it’s important to ‘get it right’ for the vegetarians out there. Firstly the bun and then the cheese (this is paramount). She also vehemently says, and I quote, “any joint selling a vego pattie consisting of potato and frozen peas deserves a quick anaemic demise”. So, with these basics in mind, I’ve found a couple of lesser-known Canberra cafes who I think are far from any demise of any sort.
Northside
My Rainbow Dreams is a quaint cafe in the Dickson shops where vegans, vegetarians and health addicts flock to from all over Canberra. Run by a group of like-minded mediation students, the café offers four very different vegetarian burgers that can morph into vegan and gluten free options too. The ‘buns’ are a win in that you can choose from capeseed rye and Turkish baps. The only set cheesy option is grilled haloumi, but there’s no reason you can’t ask to swap this over for feta or Swiss cheese…should you prefer. Potato and frozen peas are non-existent here-it’s all about slabs of marinated tofu with Tuscan bean pate, spice lentils slick with peanut satay sauce and handmade falafel patties. If you do opt for the Indian spiced lentil burger, you may as well order a mango lassi while you’re at it. Terrific combo!
Southside
Ink Bake Grill (IBG) is new to the Canberra scene. Tucked away in a sunny courtyard in Deakin, the café opened her doors earlier this year and since then has been like honey to a bee for all the medical and not-for-profit businesses in the area. Come lunch time, there’s often a line out the door and that’s partly due to the burgers on the menu.
Choose between a beetroot and black bean burger or the fat field mushroom burger. Either way, big ticks to the buns – Chris, the French trained pastry chef, is up early and baking buttery brioches ready for the lunch hour. The beetroot option comes stacked with rocket, quinoa salad, juicy toms, a homemade beetroot mayo and walnut dressing. The shroom burger is encased in Gouda cheese (the paramount bit), topped with Spanish onion, toms, cos and a homemade chipotle mayonnaise. Both come with seasoned chunky chips that knock flat any last hunger pangs.
