Eating Out: Grill'd

Burger chain Grill'd has long been a haunt of vegans, with the ability to make some of their burgers vegan by leaving things off, and especially for their delicious chips. But Grill'd has lately really embraced the vegan revolution. First up, they introduced a 100% vegan veggie burger with salad. Not the most exciting, I know, but really delicious. But this year they also announced two new burgers - the all vegan Vegan Cheese Burger, and the misleadingly vegetarian but not actually vegan Hemp Therapea burger. To make way for these two new burgers, they did take some other vegetarian burgers off the menu. So there are currently three veg*n burgers (one 100% vegan and two easy to veganise) on their menu. Plus their chips, did I mention their chips?

Vegan Cheeseburger:

This burger actually had to be retinkered, into a vegan cheeseburger 2.0. The first version had a super weird patty, that was kind of chalky. It was not the greatest, and I honestly don't know how anyone ever approved it in the first place. It is the first photo below, and you can see that the patty looks a bit dry and weird. In an amazing turn of events, Grill'd actually listened to their consumers and reformulated their patty, so now all the cheeseburgers are the 2.0 variety. The new patty (which you can see in the second photo) is much better, though still not quite as good as a lot of the other burger patties out there (such as Fenn and Fries). It is a bit soft, and relatively thick. If they smooshed it a bit flatter to get a better grill and crispy edges, it would be better. But still good. The burger also has ketchup, mustard, vegan cheese, vegan mayo, onions, and dill pickles. Get extra pickles.





Hemp Therapea Burger:

When they announced the new vegan cheeseburger, they also announced this burger. They were prominently advertised as plant based, however it turns out that in the original form this one is not completely so. Early on, several vegans got caught out because it has a non-vegan tzatziki on it. You need to request them to use vegan mayo instead. It was quite misleading marketing on their part. The patty on this is hemp and pea, and is quite nice and sweet. It also has avocado, lettuce, beetroot, basil, and vegan mayo when you ask them to make it vegan. I had it on good authority that it is best with pineapple added, so that is what I did. I really enjoyed this burger, it is a nice fresh change from the cheeseburger. And I like the pea in the patty. This time I foolishly tried their sweet potato fries, which are always overcooked and soggy. I don't know why I ever stray from their perfect perfect potato chips, see above photos.



Veggie Vitality (RIP):

This was actually my favourite burger, but just in writing this post I have discovered that it is off the menu. So consider this in its memory. It was a patty made from beetroot, sweet potato, spinach, and quinoa, and also had avocado, pineapple, carrot and cos lettuce. This was before they had vegan mayo or vegan cheese. I would add some beetroot and some pickle to it as well. It was just such a lovely fresh burger. And now, it is no more. RIP, my burger friend. (A moment silence as well for the falafel burger and mushroom burger that also have gone. I didn't eat either of them, but I have friends who miss them).



Garden Goodness Burger:

This is one of their original vegetarian burgers. A veggie patty with beetroot, avocado, salad, relish, mayo, and cheese. As a vegan, you would take of the mayo and the cheese. So, I haven't actually had this burger since they introduced vegan cheese and mayo. In my head, I thought the veggie vitality was still on the menu, and this one had gone. But writing this post has taught me otherwise. As a vegan, you would now be able to get vegan cheese and mayo on it. Before they introduced veggie vitality, this was the main burger I got from them. And it is a good veggie burger. At some point, I will try it again with the vegan options on it. Here is a badly lit photo of the burger from a time I had it before (minus cheese and mayo). With pineapple and dill pickle added, of course!



Grill'd has lot of locations, check their website.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



We had this little kid in at work a couple of weeks ago and they were just too cute!