In deepest, darkest suburban Ferntree Gully, there is a kitschy American diner that makes the best burgers I've ever tried in Melbourne.  I'd never heard of it until my American friend Alaina suggested we visit - prior to that I'd only heard of Misty's Diner and Soda Rock - but since then I've heard it's a popular pig-out spot for people who've been hiking in the nearby mountain ranges!


Captain America's Hamburger Heaven
38 Forest Rd
Ferntree Gully VIC 3156
Ph: (03) 9758 0711
Website

No such virtuous exercise before our visit; no, we just went straight for the pig out!  Captain America's is a big, bright splash of colour on a quiet suburban strip. It's all decked out in red, white and blue with loads of Americana splashed all over the walls.  Although, I must say we were disconcerted by the number of confederate flags we saw! (We counted three).

We shared two starters between four of us: onion rings and Buffalo wings.

Onion Rings - Crumbed and deep-fried, golden brown. Served with your choice of chilli, smokey or rib sauce - $7.50

The onion rings were everything you'd want them to be: crisp, hot and salty, with a tasty rib sauce accompanying.  The Buffalo wings, however, were rather disappointing.  As soon as she saw them, Alaina could see they weren't authentic, and they looked more like sticky Chinese-style chicken wings than crunchy spicy Buffalo wings.  They tasted nice enough, but just weren't Buffalo wings.  Although I have to say, I absolutely loved the blue cheese dressing.

Buffalo Wings Entree - Original recipe from Buffalo, New York, Chicken wings cooked in spicy BBQ sauce & served with a salad and blue cheese dressing - $10.50

After having tasted an inauthentic version, I was then determined to make some myself, which I did the very next week.  Blogpost to come!

American Ice-Cream Soda

And now, the mains.  Drum roll please...!

Two of our group were very ambitious, and each ordered the Wild Thing burger: an epic double-beef patty burger with onion, bacon, mushrooms and cheese. Woah!

The Wild Thing Burger - Double beef burgers layered with grilled onion, mushroom, crispy bacon and cheddar cheese, dressed in our own chilli sauce and U.S mustard. Served with chips - $17.90

Alaina and I were being indecisive and agreed to share a cheeseburger and a chilli dog between us. Win!

Cheeseburger - Topped with crispy bacon and melted cheese, served with tomato, lettuce and chips - $13.90

Chips were good, the burger was great.  I totally love fat chips; they're way better than french fries!  And the burger!  The burger!  The bun was lightly crunchy, with a juicy char-grilled beef patty - burger heaven!

Hot Dog - 1/3 of a metre frankfurt served in a roll topped with onions, bacon, mushrooms and grilled cheese, served with chips. Chilli optional - $15.50

The hot dog wasn't too shabby either.  The menu made it sound like there might be too much going on, but the combination actually worked really well.  And despite the gigantic portions, it was all too easy to eat.  Oops!

And speaking of gigantic portions, we had dessert as well!

First up, something I'd always wanted to try, a key lime pie.

Key Lime Pie - $9.00

Despite its lurid green sauce and immense blanket of meringue, the key lime pie actually tasted pretty good!  Beneath the fluffy meringue was a creamy lime layer and - wonder of wonders - a graham cracker crust.  They taste different from the digestive biscuits I normally use in cheesecakes (which I still love!).  Does anyone know where to get graham crackers in Melbourne? (USA Foods in Moorabin didn't have any the last time I visited).

Service was friendly, but really ditzy - drinks orders went missing, that sort of thing.  All the waitstaff seemed to be very young high school students, so didn't have loads of experience, but it didn't impair our enjoyment of the evening.  We totally loved the burgers as well.  I know where I'll be going next time I need a burger fix!