Short Order Burger Co, Fremantle, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia

Friends who know my deep love and almost religious fervour for Ramen Noodles are often surprised by my lack of regard for the western fast food equivalent - the Burger. It's not that I don't like Burgers of course, its just that I'm so often let down by how ordinary even supposedly gourmet burgers are; the amount of times I've asked myself 'is this that much better than McDonald's?' and answered in the negative vastly outweighs the times I've said 'yes'. My image of the Platonic Form of a Perfect Burger is not particularly unreasonable or unusual either - soft brioche style bun, a flavoursome and tender patty cooked rare to medium rare, cheese and pickles, not overly sauced or sloppy and not so big that its hard to take a bite of. And yet, that perfect combo is a real rarity, with the Merrywell Burger the only burger I've written about on the blog that fits the bill. That is, until now.

Eat No Evil (Pop-Up Restaurant), Mosman Park, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Regardless of best intentions and levels of gluttony, the chances of trying every single truck of the annual Food Truck Rumble in the Perth Cultural Centre is near impossible. Alissa and I had to make our choices, and inevitably some food envy set in when we heard of great dishes from some of the less busy trucks while the half hour wait for a Mac and Cheese Toasted Sandwich proved to be far from worth the absurd wait. One of the trucks that we kept hearing praise for was Eat No Evil, a truck with a mission 'to create a food experience that brings people together, breaks down barriers and gives an interaction with local ingredients and dishes that will inspire you to try something new and really think about what your eating.' Although we had considered trying to find the truck in the ensuing months after the Rumble, a meal from the Eat No Evil truck never eventuated. So when our friends Jarrad and Lexi invited us to a dinner at Eat No Evil's Pop-Up Restaurant at Good Things Mosman Park, we immediately jumped at the chance - what better way to try their food than to order the entire menu in a tasting format for $45 per person, with BYO for a very reasonable $5 a head?

The Old Crow, Northbridge, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

The Old Crow has been on our wishlist for, well, almost as long as we've had an actual written wishlist of places to try. In spite of being open for little over a year, this Northbridge restaurant has built up an enviable reputation for delicious, crowd-pleasing American-inspired Soul Food, and has been a consistent fixture on Urbanspoon's 'Talk of the Town' list (sitting at #1 at the time of writing). With glowing reviews from friends, other bloggers and professionals alike, Alissa and I were pleased a catch up with our friends Justin and Sarah (who joined us previously for a meal at Pleased To Meet You) served as a good opportunity to see for ourselves if The Old Crow lived up to all the hype.

MIX, Perth, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

I'm nothing if not an avid fan of Anthony Bourdain. I watch his food and travel documentaries religiously, and when in Hong Kong enjoyed being a fanboy as I ate the Michelin-starred dim sum of Tim Ho Wan and the incredible roast goose of Yat Lok - two eateries that featured in Hong Kong episodes of either No Reservations or the Layover. When writing about the inaugural Food Truck Rumble in April, I mentioned Roy Choi whose Korean/Mexican fusion food has made him and his food truck business Kogi stars of LA's culinary scene. With Perth becoming increasingly hip to global trends, I assumed the Korean/Mexican trend would eventually find its way here; little did I realise at the time of writing that it had already arrived just a few months before, and that it was called MIX. After being hipped to its existence by some friends, it didn't take long for Alissa and I to find our way down for a Friday night dinner.

The Merrywell, Burswood, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Having little interest in gambling and a dislike for the stop-start nature of East-West travel along Canning Hwy, Alissa and I rarely find ourselves at Crown Perth. With so many exciting restaurants opening in the massive Complex Formerly Known as Burswood Casino in the last few years, our wishlist of places to try within Crown has only been growing and growing, so a day spent with some friends in nearby Kensington served as a perfect excuse to finally get around to ticking one of those establishments off the list. With no reservation on a Saturday night and our fine dining budget already allocated to other meals, the likes of Nobu, Rockpool and Bistro Guillaume would have to wait, with an early dinner of Dude Food at the Merrywell proving to be just the ticket. Having eaten the Mini Burgers from the Merrywell's Dude Food on Wheels food truck at the inaugural Food Truck Rumble, as well a recent meal at Perth burger institution Alfred's Kitchen, I was interested to see just how good the burgers of their brick and mortar establishment would be.

Alfred's Kitchen, Guildford, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

What makes a great burger? Its a question I've ironically pondered far more often than I actually eat burgers these days, and one that I've thought a lot about in the lead up to writing about a burger joint as famous as Alfred's Kitchen. The burger is a dish so globally ubiquitous that it feels like there really must be a Platonic Form of what the ideal burger should be, and yet its something that is so apparently easy to put together high school students can be paid a pittance to make it. Compare that to the hours of work that goes into making a great tonkotsu ramen, and the burger seems almost too easy. In spite of all this, three star Michelin chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal have had a go at making their ultimate burger, suggesting that the quest for the perfect burger is indeed a noble goal, and one more difficult that the fast food production line would suggest. While I certainly have neither the culinary knowledge of the Michelin starred, nor do I claim to have the same level of connoisseurship in regards to burgers that I would claim in regards to ramen, I am intrigued by the idea that there is a burger out there so perfect it transcends its limits - must like how Banh Mi is greater than the sum of its sandwich parts.

Po' Boy Quarter, Fitzroy, Victoria (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Its amazing how far the humble food truck has come as a viable and alternative business model to the traditional fixed address restaurant. Last month my post on Perth's Food Truck Rumble skyrocketed to my most read post in a matter of days, and the Rumble itself was so successful that the queues at peak reportedly stretched out to an hour. Glad I got there early.

Melbourne's Po' Boy Quarter is an example of that success story realised and come full circle. Started as a food truck by a couple of people who wanted to bring some New Orleans soul and culture to Melbourne, the Gumbo Kitchen food truck has been serving N'Orleans soul food since late 2011, and in June 2013 expanded the business to a traditional brick and mortar outpost as part of the increasingly exciting foodie landscape of present day Smith St.

Food Truck Rumble, Northbridge, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

Food trucks have come a long way. For too long relegated to being a source of overpriced meals of low quality served up at events looking to gouge money out of hapless patrons, in recent years there has been a massive global turnaround of fortunes for the humble food truck as a serious alternative to the fixed address restaurant. In Los Angeles Roy Choi and his Korean/Mexican fusion food has turned him and his food truck company Kogi into a west coast answer to David Chang, and when an operator of a food truck is being proclaimed one of the 'best new chefs' in America, you know the role of the food truck in the global landscape has changed.

Thankfully, cultural shifts in Perth over the last decade have meant that instead of dying a slow painful death trying to cross the Nullarbor, global trends are actually making it to the west coast, to the point that we're ready for our very own food truck festival as part of Eat Drink Perth - the inaugural Food Truck Rumble. In a typically Perthian, one-degree-of-separation-from-anyone-in-the-creative-sphere, I met the organiser of the festival, Ai-Ling Truong, just a few days before the Rumble and discovered that not only is she a friend of a friend, but that she is also the blogger behind Food Endeavours of the Blue Apocalypse, a blog mostly focused on her inventive home cooking but also the blog that hipped me to how good banh mi is in Girrawheen. I told Ai-Ling that we were definitely going to be there, and that Alissa and I would be heading in for 10:45 am.
"But it doesn't start til 11...", she said quizzically.
"I know", I said, "but you've gotta have a plan."

Run Amuk Hotdogs Unleashed, South Fremantle, Western Australia (Alissa and Don Eat Australia)

A free Saturday night with nothing planned called for Adventure Time! Alissa and I decided to make use of my free travel on the buses and head into Fremantle for the first time in what seemed like ages. In spite of living fairly close to the Port City, Alissa and I rarely head into Freo so it was a good opportunity to explore the city and suss out new openings or places we haven't visited before. After checking out the op shops and an having an expensive coffee and cake at The Raw Kitchen earlier in the afternoon, we decided to head down to South Fremantle for dinner at Run Amuk, a popular gourmet hot dog joint and south of the river outpost of the worldwide Dude Food trend. Remember that scene in that Simpsons episode where Leonard Nimoy says 'surprise me' when asked about what he wanted in his hot dog? This a place that does just that.