$10 Burger and Beer!

That's right.. it's burger time again!

This time at the famous Espy Hotel in St Kilda. Where this writer has spent many an unsober night watching bands both good and bad and drinking overpriced pots of beer.

But the beer doesn't have to be overpriced when it only costs $10 and comes with a burger and chips!

And a damn good burger and chips it was too! The beef patty was very nice well seasoned with just the right amount of herbs and spices. Plus the usual cheese, tomato and a nice, crisp whole leaf of the good old iceberg lettuce. It was good to see for a change. Chips were reasonably plentiful, crisp, well cooked and came with a nice chili mayo. To quote Samuel J.. now that was a "damn tasty burger!" and don't forget it comes with a pot of draught beer that you would otherwise pay $4.50 for!

Sorry Gypsies, but now this is probably the best burger deal so far. And on a Monday night, you can start with cheap burger and beer, then instead of drinking the ridiculously expensive pots of beer, head up to the Prince of Wales at 8 o'clock for $2 pots and free pool!

A perfect cheaparse night out on a Monday!

A Burger With The Gypsy

So Hungry Jill and Starving Jack went down to St Kilda on a Tuesday night to see what they could find in the way of cheap arse dining.

And they found themselves at a new-ish little place on Acland St called Gypsies. An unassuming and unpretentious but nice enough looking cafe/bar/restaurant.

It was $10 burger and chips night, with $3 VBs and $3.50 wines. A guitarist was setting up for open mic night as well, but they both agreed, he should have turned his mobile phone off before he started playing!

But anyway, the burger: Yes it was quite good. It came with a decent amount of chips and was served on a nicely toasted bun with lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon and egg.. However I had mine without the egg. There is also a choice of beef, chicken or vege options, and me being the traditionalist that I am, decided to stick with beef. The patty was a bit crumbly although tasted fresh and had enough herbs mixed through to make it more than slightly interesting.

I would say it was definately worth the $10, and a great deal with the cheap drinks as well. So do yourself a favour, go down to St Kilda on a Tuesday night and check em out!

And the best $3 chicken parma so far!!

A 3 DOLLAR chicken parma?? Surely that can't be! Oh yes it can.. all you need to do is order a pint of beer.

Well actually the pints at Cushion Lounge in St Kilda on a Tuesday are only $4. So for a $10 parma and pint deal, you're only paying $6 for a quality parma, chips and salad. Make sense? Good!

Now, down to business..

Yes it is the best chicken parma yet. No pre-bought, pre-crumbed, frozen chicken nuggets here. This was a REAL breast of chicken! (gasp!) Probably around half the size of the usual serving, but I tell ya, it was enough. I was more than satisfied with my meal, was full, though felt slightly ill afterwards. But I've resigned to the fact that any kind of parma will do that to me now, so it's all good.

Yes it was nicely prepared. No ham and possibly a bit light on the sauce and cheese, but I don't think so. It was still the best parma I've had while doing this crazy thing.

The chips where nice and the salad consisted of baby spinach, a slice of tomato and a chunk of cucumber. Towards the end I found a few slivers of carrot, which made me laugh, but all in all, it was a damn fine meal. Only $10 and comes with a pint of beer! (possibly swappable for something else but I'm not sure)

On lively Fitzroy St, St Kilda, so if you're ever out on the piss on a Tuesday night and need a cheap feed to fill the gut, this is the place to go. We'll be back!

The best $10 steak I've ever had in my life!

That's right. I have found one of the better cheap deals around town. A delicious 300g Porterhouse steak, with creamy mash potato and a nice peppercorn jus. Only ten bucks!

Where and when? Tuesday night at the Dan O'Connell Hotel in Carlton. An old but cosy and inviting pub just down the road from Father Flannagan's where we were a while ago.

And so.. let me me tell you about this steak. Oh my.. it was damn good. Very good in fact. When it arrived at the table, it did look a bit scary, but once I tucked into it, I couldn't believe how tasty and well prepared it was!

The mash was nice, creamy and soft. And the steak itself was a decent 300 grams, quite a quality cut of meat and cooked just how I like it. But it was the peppercorn jus that made it stand out. None of this Gravox with some peppercorns thrown in. This is the real deal. I'm guessing it's prepared overnight by slowly stewing beef bones with some red wine, bay leaves and of course the peppercorns. But I'm only guessing. Still, it was very very nice and I most likely will go again for another one, but only if they'll still ten bucks or I get mine for free for doing such a nice write up! *nudge*

There is also a pool table, $10 jugs of draught and open mic night at 8:30 which was quite umm.. amusing to say it nicely. ;)

But 10 out of 10 for the 10 dollar steak. My only critisism is that there may have been a touch too much of the jus, but it was definately no big deal. It was absolutely superb, and I'm not just saying that because I want a free one next time! So do yourself and your friends a favour and check it out, you will most likely not be disappointed. With the open mic 'contestants' however, I make no guarantees! ;)

To be sure to be sure..

there be five dollar meals at Father Flanagan's Irish Pub on a Monday night! So Jack and Jill went up Punt Hill and down Smith St to see what it was all about, and this is what Jill had to say..

The ambience is Irish for sure, complete with Irish bar staff as you would expect. Now I am not a bar devotee so I don't have a lot of comparisons to make, but this place had a nice homely/warm feel to it. Shame there was only one pool table as I would have been up for a game but the whole time we were there the table was occupied, but if anyone is any good at Table Tennis you're in luck.

We ordered our $5 dinner (Mine was a Parmy and Jack had a Beef Burger) - we were warned upon ordering that it was not the usual Chef that was cooking. However I was most pleasantly surprised when my dinner arrived. The thing I noticed even upon ordering was that the Parmy was to come with chips and a salad. Indeed it did. It was a little on the small side, but for a $5 buck dinner I was very happy. The chips were many, the salad well, Jack ate that, the parmy itself though tasted like, well, Chicken! much to my surprise (I have eaten a few that um... just tasted like crumbs over the past few months hanging with the boys) It was covered in a nice piece of ham and some very tasty Napoli sauce and enough cheese to cover it well.

Upon completion of my meal I was not hungry. I am sure I got a much better feed from "The Father" than I would have received from a fast food take out joint. However I get the feeling that Jack thought the Stein of Beer (1ltr) was the best part of the food and beverage experience... poor Jack he always seems to zig when he should have zagged!

Yes Jill, you are quite right. I haven't had much luck recently. But this time I wasn't going to succumb to temptation by the Parma Devil, especially in Father Flanagan's house. So I took a chance.. but in the end my burger was not very impressive. Just have a look at this photo..

See that little bread roll on a plate in the distance there? That was my 'beef burger' with cheese and chips. They weren't lying though because that's all that was on it, besides a little bit of sauce. Fortunately, and thanks to Jill for allowing me to not let good salad go to waste and insert some tomato and lettuce into it to make a monster of a burger even more gigantic than it was before.

It actually wasn't that bad, just a little tiny little bit on the small side. But of course for 5 bucks what do you expect? I still know where I would go for a top quality 5 dollar dinner that so far has shat all over every establishment I've been to. But I'll keep it to myself and say nothing more other than I'll be back there soon!

Likewise old Father Flanagan deserves another visit. The interior is as Jill said, very homely, cosy and very Irish. I loved it and I will be back to try either the $10 mains on Wednesday, or the $10 T-Bones on Sunday, and of course.. wash it all down with 1L of draught. Mmmm..

Hopefully the lovely girl in the red skirt that was playing pool with 3 of her friends will be there too. *wink*

And finally a big thanks to all of the fan who made the effort to come and check the place out, have a meal and a laugh at the silly hat (my beanie) competition.. I guess I win! Woohoo!