Riding High at Easey's
What happens when you get three mates that love burgers, street art and hip hop?
You get three trains perched five stories in the air atop a building in Melbourne's Collingwood that's called Easey's. This joint must be some kind of world first but putting any notions of gimmickry aside, this hip hop diner is a pretty cool celebration of Melbourne underground culture.
The story goes that the guys started working on Easey's in 2014 and finally opened the doors a year later and in the process gained a huge amount of attention by appearing on all the major Australian television networks. It's definitely a unique destination and the guys have done well to create a lot of hype and social buzz but is Easey's actually any good?
In a word - Yes!
Hitachi's in the sky: It's clever, it's original and it's on point.
On this visit, we arrive to some classic old school boom bap in the form of RUN DMC blaring out across 4 levels of restaurant and eagerly take a ride in the slow but steady lift to the 4th floor roof top area. Stepping out of the lifts lands us in one of the three carriages to a pumping afternoon scene of beer, beats and burgers.
The interiors retain the original train seats with some tables added in, the inside of the cabins are completely clean while the stairwells and wash rooms are utterly trashed with graffiti. The exterior of each of the train carriages change week by week - where artists weave their aerosol magic ensuring things are kept fresh and evolving.
A venue like this could easily be full of pretension and douchebaggery but there is not a hint of either, in fact the staff are friendly and for the most part - even on this busy Saturday look to be having as good a time as the patrons.
The menu is simple and is made up of a series on lines - Burgers, Dawgs and Sides that feature items like - the Easey Cheesey, Melbourne Madness, Chili Cheese Dawg and Sriracha Hot Wings to name a few.
In this instance the choice was made easy by being informed that their famous Melbourne Madness is about to get the axe and be replaced by some new editions.
So Melbourne Madness it is.
By now you must have picked up on the fact that I’ve eaten a lot of burgers lately, so what does the Melbourne Madness at 63 Dirhams give you?
Simple: a double beef patty topped with gooey, melted American cheddar, smoked bacon, jalapenos, pickles and onions, with the crazy addition of dim sum and a potato cake. This is then topped with ketchup and mustard and if it sounds like a mouthful - that's because it is. Where does one even begin to start with such a beast?
Needless to say it wasn't pretty to watch but man it was good. Everything was executed nicely, it was juicy, it was flavorful, it's everything you want a burger to be. It looked good and tasted great.
So while there is definitely a strong novelty appeal to this place, seems that the guys are serious about keeping the burgers tight, making the views and the overall vibe a great added extra.
In all Easey's gets a Must Go! Rating which is based on a smacking good burger at a highly original venue with genuinely engaged staff who know their stuff.
Oh and extra kudos for the novelty of eating a burger in a train five stories up.
Hip Hop Hooraaay for that.
