Burger Project, Melbourne

Why are we mad for burgers? Because, equally, a burger is a thing to stuff down without a thought for where its ingredients came from, as well as a witting flirtation for those who are more fastidious with their food choices.

A burger is the perfect meal-in-a-bag for people in a rush – which is all of us – and has more gravitas than a sandwich (even if it is a kind of sandwich). It teeters around $10, the benchmark for a cheap eat. 

But, more fundamentally, it's a throwback to a simpler time, most likely when we were kids and eating a burger meant it was probably the weekend: good times. So, yes, there is room for another burger outlet.

This one is from Neil Perry and partners, which you probably already knew due to Perry's profile as a restaurateur and cookbook author, and from the success of Burger Project's three (and counting) Sydney restaurants.

Melbourne's first (and counting) is in the newly minted St Collins Lane retail centre (once was Australia on Collins), which launched on May 12, up on the second floor and is the first (and only so far) operator in the what-will-be a food court.

There's no retro diner dreaming in this set-up; it's production-line fast-food all the way, albeit with nice spotlight fittings, a wine list and real, traceable ingredients. You know the drill: look up at the giant menu, then look straight at the smiling counter-person, order, take your buzzer, take a seat.

When ordering, think in whole-meal terms and commit up-front to fries (would you like chipotle chilli salt or Sichuan pepper salt with those?), a drink (salted caramel milkshake, Lord Nelson Three Sheets pale ale) and dessert (vanilla soft-serve with Valrhona ice magic, a sprinkle of coconut and crushed meringue); you may lose your seat if you leave it to order a second time.

The burgers are ingredient focused but not gourmet. Look at the classic ($8.90): a beef pattie, chopped white onion, house-pickled cucumber, lettuce and tangy sauce in a bun.

The menu's other seven beef burgers are basically the classic with add-ins, like American cheese, beetroot or bacon. Plus there are free-range chicken katsu (juicy, crumbed and fried breast fillet) burgers: one spicy, one not; and a crumbed whole mushroom burger.

The thin, irregularly round, hand-shaped beef patties are seared and sealed, yet jumbly loose and fall-apart juicy. The taste took me back to childhood dinners of meaty rissoles (I didn't have burgers growing up).

Burger Project uses Tasmanian beef from cattle that are matured for 36 months (the average life of a cow is 12 to 18 months) to allow flavour to develop. Like around 98 per cent of Australian cattle, these are grass fed, which produces leaner meat than grain-fed cattle.

There is acid in the pickle and contrast in the crunch of lettuce. The soft buns are toasted inside and sturdy enough to hold it all together. It's a fine burger.

We're going to fall back to fast-food icons now and again, so they may as well be full, multi-dimensional versions that do the classics proud.

Do … Visit childhood in the chocolatiest, straw-clogging thickshake you've had in years.

Don't … Take the free dipping sauce (mustard, tomato) unless you really want it; save another little plastic container from hitting the bin.

Vibe ... Flash fast food.