Yo My Goodness, Glen Waverley by Benny

The wattles are flowering, spring is just around the corner. We all know what this means – you can no longer put off all of those garden jobs that you have been ignoring all winter. And if you’re lucky, you might be able to co-opt a friendly helping hand (or two). Thus it is that Broadhands and I, fresh from a hard morning in the garden, join up with Bilby Blue and head off for a well-earned lunch.

L-R: The Black Pearl, 12th Hour and The Reaper burgers

With burgers on my mind (See Burger Project, Burger Block, Three One 2 One, billies) we are headed, somewhat surprisingly, for a frozen yoghurt parlour. Word on the street is that Yo My Goodness is offering some pretty good burgers from its Glen Waverley store (and at the time of writing, only the Glen Waverley store). Why would a frozen yoghurt place be offering burgers? I have no idea. But it takes just a glance at the large overhead menu to pique our interest – a good range of burgers with a tempting range of flavours and accompaniments. The beef is Angus, the chicken is ‘southern fried’, soft shell crab and pulled pork are rather interesting alternatives, and even vegetarians get choices.

‘Choice’ is a big thing at YoMG – in a rewind to the traditional fish and chip shop, the customer can design a bespoke hamburger by judicious use of the ‘Add on’ menu – cheese, bacon, egg, pineapple, pulled pork etc. You even have a choice of bun – milk bun sprinkled with seeds, black bun made with squid ink (and it really is ‘inky black’), red bun from an injection of beetroot, and a gluten free bun, also sprinkled with seeds. Add nine different mayos – such as cashew vegan, chipotle, habanero, sriracha and ‘secret’ – and five different types of topping/accompaniments for the chips and you have enough choice to induce the agony of indecision.

However, as this is our first visit, we stick with the menu: Broadhands goes with The Reaper (double beef, double maple bacon, double cheese, jalapeno and onion jam, reaper mayo, with a Carolina reaper chilli “injecta”, all on a black bun); Bilby chooses the 12th Hour (slow cooked pulled pork, Asian slaw, basil mayo); and I opt for The Black Pearl (tempura battered red chilli soft shell crab, Asian slaw, coriander, basil mayo, sriracha, on a black bun). We share a serve of Southern fried pizza fries (YoMG secret southern spices, cheese sauce, fried pepperoni, jalapenos, tomato and onion salsa, and sour cream).

After a not-too-long wait our order is ready, and the burgers look great – the intense black of two of the buns looks stunning. Broadhands declares his Reaper to be very good: although he found the black bun initially a bit confronting, it tasted good, and the burger itself was quite lively from the jalapenos. The “injecta” is a syringe filled with Carolina reaper chilli sauce so you can add as much or as little as you want. (pic of the Reaper up top, right hand side)


Bilby’s 12th Hour has a generous filling of tender pork, perfected matched with the slaw and mayo. She declares it excellent, with a good bun.


My Black Pearl is a spicy seafood delight, the tempura batter crisp and light as it should be. The chips are quite satisfactory, the topping very good.


For drinks, YoMG offers a large range of shakes. Broadhands sticks with the classic chocolate – excellent chocolate flavour, not too sweet and counteracts the jalapeno heat from his burger just nicely. Bilby has lemon with crushed shortbread and I choose peppermint with crushed Oreos. They are both quite good, very smooth and creamy, but just a bit too sweet for our taste.

Verdict

We really liked it.

Overall

These are pretty good burgers, with the added enticement of having lots of choices, not just in the burgers, but the mayo, the fries, the buns, and the shakes. And we didn’t even try the yoghurt.

Find it at

Yo My Goodness
Ground floor
65-67 Kingsway
Glen Waverley
Phone 9560 2288