Tonight’s dining experience took me to the Pastoral Hotel in Dubbo. They recently started having a “Freak Burger” night on Wednesdays. It’s one of those themed nights where each week they serve up a different Burger and shake.

It was great to be joined by the beginnings of what I feel will become a regular eating party. Well to be honest they didn’t join me but rather led me. They were who told me about the Freak Burger Wednesday nights. They’ve also put me onto what will be our next dining experience in Dubbo so keep an eye out for that.

When I arrived I made my way upstairs to the restaurant and found a couple of them were already seated out on the balcony. I forget how nice it is to sit out there and have dinner. It’s a lovely atmosphere, very comfortable, and nice to overlook the street below.

Once the final member of our dining party arrived we were ready to order as we already knew what we wanted… and that’s when it happened. A mysterious thing that occurs in some hotels that I just don’t get. We enquired about the Wednesday night burger only to be told we couldn’t order it here but had to sit downstairs and order at the bar. She asked how many were having the burger and when we told her 3 of us we were informed they make an exception for one at times but as there were 3 we’d have to go downstairs. She wasn’t rude but very nice about it, she was polite and apologised but it was confusing to me.

There were only a couple of other tables with diners at them as it was still early. I couldn’t understand the thinking behind making us go downstairs but figured maybe they were made in a different kitchen or something. So downstairs we went.

On the way down we politely stepped aside though as a waitress was trying to get down the stairs. She was carrying some of the very burgers we were about to order. They were made upstairs! At this point I’m giving up trying to work out the theory of ordering at the bar and sitting downstairs. Though I’d still love to know the reasoning behind it.

So we ordered, got seated and waited.

The wait time was good, maybe 15 minutes or so. Nothing to complain about there. We ordered 3 of the Freak Burgers and a Pastoral Burger.

Firstly the main event, the Freak Burger. This week on the menu was “The Piggy Bank” which was:

• Grilled Chorizo
• Double Bacon
• Pulled Pork
• Sweet Barbecue Sauce
• Rainbow Slaw
• Nugget Topper
• Brioche Bun

Initially I wasn’t sure we had received the right order as other tables were receiving theirs on those cool chopping boards a lot of places are using these days. But no they were ours. So presentation wasn’t as good as I was hoping but I can forgive that, they must have run out of boards, but it’s a pub meal so I’m more interested in the taste.

Then a fellow diner pointed out that the nugget topper didn’t go with the theme. This burger is all about pork but the nugget is chicken. Good point. But also I’m like meh, it’s a nice little appetiser, it was a quality nugget too despite looking like it could be a no frills one.

Now, the burger! It did taste great, a really good combo of ingredients. The pulled pork in that sauce was very tasty, I wanted more, but the burger didn’t need more. The chorizo, I love chorizo, great ingredient here, though I had a slight problem with it as my teeth couldn’t break the skin of it entirely. So I had to get a second hand in there and hold it while I bit it off. A small price to pay for chorizo though. I don’t know if this could have been fixed through a cooking technique as it happened to others too, but it’s not a massive deal to me.

Overall it was a really good burger. I’d eat it again, I’d recommend others eat it, I just wouldn’t go so far as to go around town preaching to others how they have to go there and eat this burger as it’s the most amazing ever.

The chips were good chips too! Overall it was a good meal at a satisfactory price and I’d go back and order it again.

Then there’s the guy with the cool name and his Pastoral Burger. I don’t tend to mention names online as people sometimes don’t like that. But just know that it’s different and cool. Anyway, his burger.

The Pastoral Burger

• 150g Angus Beef Patty
• Bacon
• Caramelised Onion
• Cheese
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Beetroot
• BBQ Sauce

So it’s your classic burger, with a good meat patty and caramelised onion rather than just plain old chopped and barbecued onion. He rates it, he said it was a good, tasty, burger. So if that’s your thing, a classic burger, this is a good place to get one.

Just as a little side note, they had a season specific milk shake.

I’m going to give them a free pass on this one and not take it into account when considering my overall experience of the Pastoral Hotel. Let’s just call it a little brain fart on their behalf.

They charged $10 for it.

This is an idea that originated elsewhere, and there they used the larger Easter bunny, but unfortunately the Pastoral went for the smaller size. So it didn’t fit enough actual milkshake in it.

I personally think that $10 is an alright price point on this, but I say use the large bunny, and us it as an attraction to get people through the door. Don’t worry about making a decent profit on this, if the larger bunny doesn’t allow that, but just use it to get the customers in to then purchase a meal as well. But maybe I’m over thinking this and I certainly don’t own a Hotel so not sure how much my opinion on profits count.

I say check out their Facebook page though, the milkshakes they advertise as serving other weeks look fantastic! And their burgers look to contain saucy goodness that may lift a person’s overall rating of the Pastoral Hotel.

So my rating?! (Excluding the bunny experience as mentioned)

I give it 3 tasty-burgers-made-upstairs-but-only-served-downstairs out of 5

The Pastoral Hotel

110 Talbragar Street, Dubbo, NSW 2830

02 6882 4219

www.pastoralhotel.com.au

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