Australians Can Now Get Heston Blumenthal’s Plant-Based Fable Burger In 140+ Locations

Australian diners can now grab one of Heston Blumenthal’s plant-based burger creations in over 140 locations of Grill’d across the country. One of them will be a limited-edition Heston Fable Burger, made with Fable Foods’ vegan mushroom patty and created exclusively for the restaurant chain. Three other plant-based burgers made with Fable’s mushroom meat will also be on offer, including one more of Blumenthal’s creations. 

Australian burger chain Grill’d is serving up four new plant-based burgers made with Fable Foods’ mushroom meat, two of them created by Michelin star chef Heston Blumental. One of them, the Heston Fable Burger, will be limited to just 4,000 burgers for an exclusive booking-required experience. 

Heston Fable Burger 

The burger is made with Fable Foods’ shiitake mushroom-based meat, tofu, cucumber, fresh slaw and hoisin sauce, sandwiched between a buttery brioche bun. It’ll be “delivered to the table under a smoke-filled cloche with silver service touches”. 

Served alongside white miso mayo, Grill’d Famous Chips and a premium wine pairing, local beer or alcohol-free beverage, the exclusive experience comes at $35 per person. While Fable’s mushroom-based meat is vegan, the other ingredients, such as the bun and mayo do contain dairy, so the dish is suitable for vegetarians.

Meat-free diners can order the “Vegan Fable Southern BBQ” and “Vegan Fable Spicy Cheeseburger” options on the Grill’d menu at no extra cost. These options switch out for vegan mayo and vegan cheese, and they don’t come with any additional cost. 

It’ll only be served between August 8 to 22 across five Grill’d locations in Windsor and Hawthorn in Victoria, Wintergarden, and Carindale in Queensland and Scarborough, Western Australia. 

‘Tastes just like slow cooked meat’

Commenting on his special Fable Peking duck-inspired burger creation for the chain, Blumenthal said he “never thought I would allow another restaurant to serve one of my very special burgers.” The celebrity chef went on to describe the burger as the “star of the show”. 

“The Fable pattie has a rich, satisfying mushroom flavour that tastes just like slow-cooked meat, complemented by the pluminess and spiciness of hoisin sauce, fresh texture of Japanese slaw and lightly grilled tofu,” Blumental continued. 

“It has all of the umami, all of the satisfying things that you would expect from a burger but there’s no meat in it. Mouth-watering, 100% natural, satisfying, and just delicious.”

More plant-based Fable burgers

While the Heston Fable Burger will only be available in limited quantities at select locations, Grill’d is also rolling out three more plant-based burgers made with Fable meat. These will be added to the menu at all 142 locations nationwide. 

One of them will also be made by Blumenthal, called the Fable Spicy Cheeseburger by Heston. Fable’s mushroom meat patty will be topped with aged cheddar cheese, Spanish onions, Dijon mustard, dill pickles, egg mayo and the chef’s special fire-roasted spicy tomato sauce. 

The other two burgers include the Fable Truffle Burger and Fable Southern BBQ Burger. All burgers contain egg and dairy, and are suitable for vegetarians but not vegans. 

Grill’d founder Simon Crowe described the chain’s menu expansion as the “next step in our mission to discover a whole new world of flavour and challenge the status quo with innovative, healthy and mindfully made products.”

Crowe added that Fable’s meat, which contains only 100% plant-based ingredients “tastes just as good as the real thing”. 

Fable’s mushroom meat

Unlike other food techs that typically use soy and wheat, Fable’s entire range of GMO-free and gluten-free plant-based meat is made with a base of mushrooms. It contains 65% minimally processed shiitake, in addition to coconut oil, tapioca flour and gluten-free soy sauce.

Fable’s range was developed by two of the startup’s co-founders, fine dining chef and mycologist Jim Fuller and organic mushroom farmer Chris McLoghlin. The Sydney startup’s founding team also includes Michael Fox, the former Shoes of Prey co-founder. 

Fable Food, along with a number of other homegrown players like v2food and Fenn Foods, are driving Australia’s fast-growing plant-based industry. In 2020, retail sales of the sector jumped a whopping 46% year on year. Fable is capitalising on domestic demand, but has also revealed plans to launch in other markets, including Singapore and Malaysia. 

Lead image courtesy of Grill’d.