Phat Brats, Fitzroy

Just like how Melbourne has no shortage of Malaysian and Mexican food now, there’s also a variety of choices if you want to have a good hot dog or snag. There’s Snag Stand right outside Melbourne Central, Massive Wieners which serves cheap classic hotdogs with delicious toppings and then there’s my recent visit to Phat Brats.

Phat Brats is situated on busy Brunswick Street in Fitzroy so it has no shortage of foot traffic. Although parts of the shop felt rather like a regular fast food store that you might find in America, the bare paint stripped red bricks serves as a reminder that it is indeed part of the Melbourne dining scene.

The hotdogs available on the menu all sound mouth watering and irresistible, making our choices rather difficult. After staring at the board for quite some time, I decided on the pork and sage dog ($8.90) with pork and sage sausage, braised apple, red cabbage, shaved fennel, puffed pork crackling and aioli. All of these ingredients are classic pairings with pork so I thought it was a safe and delicious choice. I was right.

The sweet and juicy red cabbage and refreshing fennel slices cut through the pork very well, making the snag a lot lighter and tastier. There was no shortage of aioli and the puffed pork crackling gave a nice crunch, although I would have preferred it if it was real crackling.

Yuye ordered the Beer soaked bratwurst ($8.90) which came with local beer soaked brat sausage with sautéed onions, sauerkraut, Bavarian mustard and green pickle relish. The sauerkraut and pickle relish provided a good zing to the dog and we both loved the taste of it. I couldn’t really tell if it was beer soaked though since the other flavours of the dog overpowered what may have been a beery sausage.

We had originally wanted to order the ‘brewski’ set for $16.90 where you get a get of dog, beer and side of fries. However, since we really wanted to try the chilli fries ($7.90) and there was no option for an upgrade, we decided we’d just order things separately with sadly no beer to accompany the meal. In hindsight, the beer would have been a great idea!

I was totally glad that we ordered the chilli fries though because it was absolutely delicious. One of the better fries I’ve had in Melbourne that’s for sure. The ‘fries’ were no regular fries you’d find at fast food joints, rather it’s very crispy and seasoned. It came with the best spicy ground beef and chilli sauce along with hot jalapeños. It was a fiery and delicious concotion of flavours which had us needing a drink but also left us with great satisfaction.

I would have been disappointed if we didn’t order the chips in fact. As although the dogs were fantastic, they were quite small for the price and without the chips, we would still have been hungry. Phat Brats is still quite worthy of a visit though since I couldn’t really fault the taste of the dogs we had and the chips left me with massive cravings which I’m feeling even now…

I had really wanted to try their dessert dog but alas I was way too full to fit it in. Must leave it for my next visit.

Question time: Do you normally like to order set menus or individually?

Phat Brats
Phone: (03) 9419 5526
320 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
http://www.phatbrats.com.au/