date of visit: Saturday 5 March 2016

This was actually our second visit to Fudd’s. The first, quite a while ago, wasn’t very successful. We dragged along a tired and reluctant child and paid the price. However, during the week preceding this visit, Master 5 announced he wanted a hamburger on a bun with ‘all the additions’. This was spurred on by the fact we’d served him homemade hamburgers without a bun. Because he doesn’t like bread.

This provided us with the opportunity to return to Fudd’s when everyone was in the mood for burgers. On a Saturday Fudd’s is open all day so you can head in at any time which is just perfect for anyone with a small child. If you are planning on arriving at a more conventional meal time, I’d recommend booking. Both times we’ve been there’s been no shortage of punters by the time we left. However, if you’re turning up at 5 – 5:30 – you’re probably OK!

As this is a burger joint, the menu is dominated by burgers. When we arrived, there was a special on house-made onion rings with house-made ranch dressing. They weren’t cheap – $13 a serve (!) – but we were sold anyway. The onion rings came out first and were delicious (crispy, actual rings of onion that tasted of onion … not the pappy reconstituted onion you sometimes get) and were followed swiftly by our burgers. The cheeseburger for Master 5 (who not only doesn’t like bread but also doesn’t like cheese …), the grilled chicken burger for me and the Texas BBQ for Andy. Andy and Master 5 also had sides of chips. Chips don’t come with your burger as standard – you need to order them.

I didn’t try anyone else’s burger so I’ll speak only for my own. My chicken was well cooked – plenty of chargrill flavour but not dried out in any way and the burger was loaded with salad and the sauces. There’s definitely an argument that the aioli could have had a stronger hit of garlic but the decision to tone that down might have been made in the interests of broad appeal. My only criticism of my burger is that the bun was not quite robust enough to manage the sauces and meat juices and I ended up with burger spread all over my plate and abandoning my hands in favour of cutlery. If you’re bothered by messy hands this may not be for you.

Meal demolished, we came to pay. The bill hit $76 (3 burgers, 2 sides of fries, onion rings and a couple of beers). My gut reaction was that that is not cheap for burgers. But on reflection, I’m not sure my gut reaction is right. Firstly, there were three of us. Master 5 eats the same as an adult so this works out at $25 a head. For dinner. Freshly made, tasty dinner. If you were wanting to economise, you don’t have beer – the beers are local craft beers so they’re not cheap and in our case would have reduced the bill to about $20 a head.

If I’d written this review two weeks ago I would have said Fudd’s was expensive. And while, yes, it’s expensive when compared with heading to local multinational burger chain (ahem), in real terms it’s not expensive.

You get friendly service by staff who clearly have an interest in the business. You get freshly made food that’s tasty, portions are generous (you won’t be hungry) and you have a choice of interesting beverages. So $25 a head for that is not outrageous at all.

Fudd’s
3/40 Sandpiper Crescent
Aberfoyle Park SA 5159
phone: (08) 8270 3833