The Stuffed Beaver / Fat Ruperts – Bondi

Bianca: Burger dates!! They’re now my new favourite thing in the world. I’ve managed to move every possible catch up with friends from the unfortunate ‘breakfast/brunch’ time, to fit into my perfect world scenario where the lunch menu kicks in and I can get my burger fix. I see this as no fault of mine, more the restaurants and cafes for deeming my burger eating prowess at 10am, odd?

Joining me on my adventure today was Arryn, half of the duo over at http://www.artacoeats.com/ . In my mind today I had two clear-cut goals, eating a burger and stopping in for a dessert/perv a few doors up at Fat Ruperts.

The Stuffed Beaver offers up some of the usual drinking food suspects, burgers, nachos, hot dogs and wings all with a Canadian twist.

I’m always pleased when I can take the backseat when it comes to ordering, especially when it involves ordering a lot of food. My weak and humble protesting of ‘It’s too much food” was really just there for obligation lest I seem like a lump. I also completely bypassed the “Eat Beaver” littering the menu, moving along!!

One thing Arryn and I completely agreed on, was the ordering of the ‘Classic Poutine’- Fries, gravy and cheese $14.99. If there’s a must order when you make the trip to the Stuffed Beaver, this is it. Perfectly cooked chips, crispy on the outside despite the slathering of gravy. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t believe traditional cheese curds were used, this seemed more of the grated tasty cheese variety, which is fine, it still worked and was equally delicious. I just don’t want any die-hard Canadians to come after me with hockey sticks, stereotypes? Check!

We also couldn’t go past some dam nachos, in the form of the ‘Carne Nachos’ – w/chilli con carne, cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and salsa ranchera $14.99. These were rather lacklustre, I’m a Mexican food lover from way back and these certainly didn’t stir any strong longing for my former food flame. The con carne was tasty and I really enjoyed the kick from the jalapeños but the nachos were mostly left untouched.

Rounding out the frou frou before the main event, we also got a serving of ‘Toms Hot Wings’ – w/ranch dressing $11.99. Now, I don’t know who Tom is but if I’m being honest, Tom can keep these wings. As some people may know, this lazy pants does not enjoy foraging for her food,  meaning most things involving bones. Fried Chicken has recently become acceptable but little wings? Nein! If the flavour was there I’d make the exception but these were particularly vinegary with the word ‘Tabasco’ being bandied around quite a bit from Arryn.

And the last of the food from the Beav, ‘The Americana’ – Bacon Cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato, mayo & pickles $14.99. I requested the burger come without lettuce, easily the best additions to burgers I’ve been making lately. Happy with the cheese melt and the crispy bacon, the bun was a simple bakery bun which was suitable despite my preference for milk/brioche. Ultimately the patty was a let-down, it needed more of an oomph with some elevated seasoning. We both also picked up on a strong charred flavouring. For my Facebook FBAS I’d give it a 3/5 pickles.

After two and a half hours of eating and gas bagging, we made the long arduous trek, 8 doors or so up to ‘Fat Ruperts’. I’d been ogling Chef Cass Cruickshank’s cheesecakes on social media and so when it came to desserts our minds were easily made up. We did get a bit of tude when we arrived at 6pm expressing our desire just for sweets, never the less, it dampened nothing – we were about to have cake! We shared the ‘Brownie’ – Gluten free chocolate brownie, peanut, caramel, ice-cream $15. Now without tooting my own horn, I happen to think I make some wicked good brownies but this was unlike any brownie I’ve eaten before. Fudgey and gooey, without knowing it was gluten-free there would be no give-away what so ever. Peanut butter is always a winner in my books so loved the addition. I actually preferred the brownie to the cheesecake which I was surprised by.

And finishing off our day of eating ‘The PB & J’ – Peanut Butter Cheesecake w/berry curd, pb&j crumbs, Irish cream butter, banana cake + raspberry paper $15. Considering my love for peanut butter this didn’t blow me away like I was expecting it to. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it. The piquant berry curd was a stand-out and contrasted nicely with the creamy rich cheesecake. I didn’t get any banana flavouring whatsoever from the B+R paper, it reminded of a fruit roll-up. I enjoyed the scattering of the crumbs aside the c/cake but prefer a traditional cheesecake with the biscuit as a base. Just because you get a more uniform differential taste in each bite.

And that wraps up ARTACOeats….For Food’s Sake.

Bianca