National Burger Day, Dandenong Market
From the monster Chompster to the pancake laden Indian Stack Burger, if you can imagine it, someone has probably created it. We were lucky enough to be invited to a special preview event to sample some of the amazing offerings at this year’s burger bash.
The first thing we got to try was the aforementioned Chompster, a limited edition beast of a burger loaded with 4 beef patties, 3 buns, 4 slices of cheese and 2 rashers of gorgeously crispy bacon. Make sure you wear you stretchy pants for this one; there’s a reason you get a trophy for finishing it!
Next up were two Melbourne firsts: the Monster Burger Shake and the can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing Pizza Burger. Topped with a cinnamon donut, chocolate sponge, various fruits, whipped cream, fondant and white chocolate syrup, the Burger Shake is a sweet tooth’s dream, and whichever smoothie you choose (mixed berries or banana and mango) you’ll be getting a rich, fruity refreshment.
Now, the Pizza Burger. Oh my God, just look at the photo. Who dreams these things up? Why have buns when you can use 2 Margherita pizzas instead? A beef patty, cheese, fresh sliced tomato, spinach, herbs and homemade sauce fill up the space in between and the end result is a burger you won’t soon forget. Tasty, great looking and just a little bit insane. We loved it.
To finish off, and to give our poor overworked stomachs a bit of a breather, we were treated to one of last year’s successes, the Dandee Donut Tim Tam Burger as well as the wonderfully cute Cupcake Burger.
Stuffed with a Tim Tam, jam sauce and cream inside 2 steaming hot Dandee Donuts, this was a great choice after the epic food we’d just consumed. Beautifully sweet flavour in the jam and donuts with the chocolate of the Tim Tam adding the perfect final touch, I think this was a favourite of many around the table. The Cupcake Burger we have saved as a treat for later (after taking a million photos of course).
These were just a small sampling of the many options available at an event that expects over 25 000 people to attend, so make sure you’re one of them. And don’t forget to grab your burger passport and get it stamped at participating vendors to get entered into a prize draw.
Finally, if fancy yourself as a pro eater, or are moderately insane, you could try the professional burger eating competition. Be warned though, the Double Chompster Burger makes it’s smaller brother look tiny in comparison. With 8 patties, 8 cheese slices, 5 burger buns, bacon and all the other usual stuff crammed into this thing, you’ll need some serious skills to demolish it. Good luck.
And don’t forget, once you’ve had your burger fill you can explore the 200 stalls of this 152 year old market which, being the second largest in Melbourne, will keep you occupied for hours, and help burn off some of that amazing food.
Check out Dandenong Market’s website to find out more!
Address: Corner of Clow and Cleeland Street, Dandenong
Opening Hours:
While the burger event is a one-off, you can still check out Dandenong Market every Tuesday (7am-4pm), Friday (7am-5pm), Saturday (7am-4pm) and Sunday (10am to 3pm)
Parking: Being in the centre of Dandenong there are plenty of car parks around. We parked at the market car park for $1 for up to 3 hours.
Getting here on PT: The market is about a 15 minute walk from Dandenong Train Station. A large number of buses, including the 802, 862 and 828 all stop nearby.