happy birthday kl!

This weekend has been a whirlwind of eating and baking and it all started of with KL's b'day dinner on Friday night. The b'day boy didn't have any dinner plans and whilst we were already getting together the next day for hotpot, 9 of us thought we'd go for dinner with the b'day boy. The Counter in Crows Nest was suggested and whilst J rang to try and make a booking and couldn't, we were reassured that a table for our size would be available.

Getting to The Counter, there was quite a crowd lining up and when I spoke to the guy at the door, we were in for a half hour wait. It wasn't a huge hassle as we were all coming from work and half of us had turned up at that point. To be honest, the wait ended up being 15 minutes and by the time we were seated, we were still waiting for some of our friends to arrive. 

It was my second time at The Counter. The first time I went for one of their standard burgers, this time I thought I'd have a go at building my own. The waitress gets us to put our times on the order to help service.

Without having to look at the drinks menu, I'd already decided I was getting one of these - the Apple Pie Milkshake! (I hear that a whole slice of apple pie gets blended into this). Actually, J decided he wanted one so...

Between us we also got the Peanut Butter Milkshake (lusciously thick and surprisingly not too overpowering - I was half expecting the shake to get stuck to the roof of my mouth which is what usually happens when I have peanut butter but this shake has all the flavour of peanut butter without it sticking!) Anyway, they have a Shake of the Month which I noticed a minute to late else I probably would've gotten it, it's a Cherry Pie Shake (which hopefully will be there the next time I head over).

We got entrees for the table to share. Here are the Sweet Potato Fries which I think are a bargain - only $3.25. We got chips and onion rings also - we all had our favourites but my one tonight were these sweet potato fries.

The Counter Burger (which is what I had the first time I was here).

My custom built burger which in hindsight, is not so different to your regular burger. It took me awhile to select everything and I'm ashamed to say, I built a rather boring burger (it was tasty though!) - my combo was a 150g beef patty (cooked medium), imported swiss cheese, beetroot, dill pickle chips, grilled onions, lettuce blend served on a hamburger bun and served with a roasted garlic aioli. I'd have to say that my friend P was a bit more adventurous and went for a hard boiled egg, olives and brussel sprouts combo - hats off to you and your burger!

Speaking of boring, J doesn't do much better. His combo looks much like mine except that he's gone for a 300g beef patty (cooked medium rare). He struggled with it as did all the other boys that went for the 300g patty. 150g is decently enough.

We were there from about 7.30pm till when the kitchen closed (which was probably about 10pm). We weren't hassled to leave but around us, tables came and went - this place sure is busy! Our waitress was friendly and attentive - when she saw that our meals hadn't come out, she dashed into the kitchen to check and little things like asking for a few glasses of water, without asking she got the whole table water. 

I do enjoy coming to The Counter and yes, I might have a slight obsession with burgers at the moment and yes, I'm not real creative when it comes to building my own burger, but I think this place has got something going and it turned out to be a great place to celebrate a friend's b'day.

Hope you had a great b'day KL!