Burgers and cocktails – what a combination. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that Adelaide does great burgers, with joints such as Nordburger, Burger Theory and Fancy Burger each gracing a place on our top favourite places to eat-out list. And we know for sure Adelaide offers exceptional, quality cocktails at bars around the city such as Maybe Mae, Clever Little Taylor, Udaberri and oh so many more. However, we ask, are there any places that provide the combination of both delicious burgers and divine cocktails under one roof? Well Adelaide, we’d like to re-introduce you to The Taxpayer on Victoria Square, who do just that.
The Taxpayer interior.
Burger restaurant and bar, The Taxpayer, invited us to sample their new menu last week with a VIP cocktails and sliders launch, joining forces with McFuzzlebutt’s Manchen in serving up a range of tasty dishes paired with cocktails to match. We entered the space, mixing and mingling amongst the guests and enjoying gourmet platters of cheese, whilst also helping ourselves to a beverage or two at the bar.
Love a good cheese platter!
The first round of sliders came out, featuring grilled chicken with KI feta, pickled carrot and a squeeze of lemon zest mayo to top it off. This one was our favourite as it offered a classic chicken and mayo combo with the added twist of delectable feta and pickled carrot, yummy!
The Taxpayer paired this dish with the ‘Lady Lauren’ cocktail consisting of Bombay Sapphire, elderflower liquer, fresh lemon juice, rose syrup and prosecco.
Grilled chicken slider and Lady Lauren.
Following this combination came the slider filled with braised pulled lamb slow cooked in pomegranate juice, baby spinach, sweet potato crisp, chilli jam and mint blood orange labneh. Each of the ingredients in this particular slider feature a sweet element, looking at the likes of pomegranate, jam, sweet potato and blood orange. When mixed together, you could really experience that burst of sweet flavour in what would otherwise be a savoury meal. This was a confessed favourite for The Taxpayer’s venue manager.
The pulled lamb slider was served alongside the adventurous ‘Affair in Rome’ cocktail, bringing together Bombay Sapphire, rosemary syrup, fresh blood orange juice, Angostura orange bitters and prosecco.
Affair in Rome cocktail and the pulled lamb slider.
Next came the slow roasted beef fillet slider, with blanched radicchio and barbecue plum sauce. This one’s great for the meat-lovers out there, for it’s mainly just a tasty meat burger. We must admit, the look of the blanched radicchio put us off a little, due to a browny discolouring from the barbecue plum sauce, but never to fear guys because it’s meant to look like that and tastes beyond better than it looks!
It was appropriately served with the cleverly named ‘Thyme for One More’ cocktail, which highlighted an essence of thyme from the garnish in a Buffalo Trace, plum, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup mixture.
Slow roasted beef burger and Thyme for One More cocktail.
The final dessert dish was served and was outstanding in taste and texture. The Belgian waffle was made to look like a sweet burger filled with peach slices compressed in Angostura 5 year old run, vanilla ice cream and white chocolate chilli ganache, which is where the heat and spice came from. Although the ice cream was a tad melty and extremely messy, this did not stop us going in for seconds.
Belgian waffle dessert.
‘The Captain’s Hot Daughter’ was dessert cocktail of choice and, garnished with a chilli split to the shape of a little, red flower, we couldn’t get enough of this spicy yet sweet beverage. Hitting notes on the palate similar to the dessert itself, these two paired effortlessly together in a burst of rich flavour.
The Captain’s Hot Daughter.
You can find The Taxpayer at 193 Victoria Square in the Adelaide CBD, open from 11am to 3pm Monday through to Thursday, Friday 11am to 12am, Saturday 6pm to 12am and Sunday 11am to 3pm.
