Phat Brats

My favourite part of a snag in bread when I was a kid, was actually the tomato sauce and snag-​juice stained bread at the end. Maybe I was a carb lover from an early age, or maybe the snags that my family served were crap. Either way, it was the bread that I enjoyed the most and I never really developed an appreciation for this classic combo.
That was until Phat Brats came along and started shoving high quality snags and fancy-​pants (but not intimidating) ingredients in quality bread buns. Great for adults and kids alike, I come here when I’m after a quick, tasty and relatively cheap meal that will keep everyone happy. My favourite plus one is all about the meat on meat options (that would be The Phat Brat and Chilli Dog) while I like the salad + snag option and Miss 3 goes for a plain wagyu dog in bread.
With great lunch time deals and combos available at other times, you’ll generally always get out of here for well under $ 15 a head.

Tasty hotdog but far too small. Go 50m down the road to Bimbo Deluxe and get a dog double the size for half the price.

Mouth-​watering wieners, big meaty bratwurst, succulent sausage… I’m talkin about the food from Phat Brats of course! My gal pal and I missioned here after hearing rave reviews, and to satisfy our curiosity. For $ 16, you are given one of the many brat/​sausages/​hotdogs of your choosing plus some chips aka fries, and a can o beer. We were all about this deal, despite our difficulty actually selecting what wieners we wanted! Beer-​soaked bratwurst with sautéed onion, sauerkraut, spicy mustard, and pickle relish was my choice, while my friend went for the cheezy Kransky, and we were both very pleased with our decisions. You are given the option to have seedy, wholemeal or gluten free bun, and also to upgrade your beer from Melboune Bitter to a bottle of craft for a couple dollars more. Perfect hang out before hittin the bar.

Holy shit this place has some tasty eats!
The chili dog– a Wagyu beef sausage with spicy ground beef, house Chilli sauce, PB cheese sauce and spring onions is UH-​MAZING. It’s spicy as hell, and by the end my lips were on the point of spontaneous combustion.
But let’s not forget their seasoned fries, because they’re pretty damn awesome too. I’ve had a lot of sweet chili mayo in New Zealand and Australia, but PB’s sweet chili and lime mayo still hit the spot as the perfect chip dip.
I think I can safely say I’d be happy eating anything on their menu.

I don;t know how or when I managed to stumble across Phat Brats. Pretty sure it is located in Narnia.
There is nothing better than a hot dog at 3 in the morning after a epic night out.
Great Gourmet Hot dogs and the cheese fries are a must!

Melbourne’s Best Dude Food
BY SHARKING FOR CHIPS AND DRINKS
These posts are a long time coming. My hard drive had a slight meltdown over Christmas so I had to wait for it to come back to life so I could access my photos. But here we are, at last… Dude food went global during 2012. Of course, establishments across America are well-​versed in the pleasures of meat in bread, but last year saw London welcome some heavy hitters, such as Pitt Cue & Co, Dirty Burger, MEATLiquor, Duck & Waffle, and Burger & Lobster. While Melbourne fell for the cardiac-​inducing charms of these beauties:
Why you dirty dogs. In recent years, Brunswick Street has seen several attempts to do quick and tasty street food, but Phat Brats (with its cute sausage dog neon sign in the window) looks set to stay. They guys bring a new set of flavours to the table other than the boring old mustard and ketchup combo — though if that’s what you want, that’s what you can have. They even flaunt all dude food conventions and serve a vegetarian quinoa dog. It pains us to admit it, but it’s damn tasty. The team recently opened Shawcross Pizza next door, and their NY-​style pizzas by the slice are sure to line many a drinkers’ stomach over the coming months.

It’ been a long time coming (I know I know. I’m a late bloomer when it comes to certain things…) but I have finally tried one of Phat Brats’s amazing hot doggie dogs!
It’s midnight, we’ve been drinking quite a bit. actually, that’s not totally true… We’ve been going hard at it for a couple of hours and we’re hungry (by we, I mean I am.). Given that we’re on Brunswick St in Fitzroy, there’s only one place I want to go to — Phat Brats!
I know I’m going to regret it the next day but I don’t care. It’s fate, it’s gonna happen and, even if I wanted to, I don’t have the power to stop it…
We walk in and I go for the Cheesy & Smoked Kransky. First bite… Man, that’s so good!
I know it’s extremely likely that the booze flowing in my veins are causing the Sensory Neurons from my tongue to misfire and send biased signals to my Cerebellum, thus impairing my taste buds.
But you know what? I doubt that that’s what happened and I’m willing to stick w/​my opening: Yay! I’m a fan…

As far as hot dogs go this place is downright awesome. I’ve not probably but did have the best hot dog of my life, my standard for how good a chips can be have been raised to a scary level and the customer service is as good as it can be. Wish I had to work in this area for the rest of my life. I Know that previous sentence is not going to happen.

Confession… On a freelancing day I have been known to choose to work in Fitzroy ’cause it means I can have a Phat Brats lunch!
Their slogan is ‘top notch dogs’, they’re most certainly true to their word.
There is a good range of gourmet sausages available, served in a roll with some fab trimmings. I’m a fan of the ‘naked dog’, without the bread for something a bit lighter. The super foods salad is a really great accompaniment to a naked dog.
Heads up… The Brats’ fries may just be the most delicious you’ve ever tasted.

I came here the other day for a quick bite before a meeting, and it was weirdly quiet. I’m pretty sure that’s because I have meetings at odd times though.
The hot dog that I had was great. But what this place is great at — their fries. Excellent on so many levels.

Here we go again; Bogan food morphing into haute cuisine.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to remember what it is I ordered
after getting distracted by the menu. It happens to be quite
a decent meal option at the depths of the night. (Not too
trashy) with a tidy amount of options available.
With this, snag stand, a gourmet chips shops,
pie face, and fancy fish and chip places, the bogan food
has been flushed out and has nowhere left to hide.
Anyway, the dog itself was quite good and not like
something that would be usually offered in Melbourne.
While they’re at it, they may as well just make a tunnel
from Bimbo Deluxe to this place, as it would certainly
be a more direct approach.

I was psyched to see Phat Brats opening up. I was so excited that I went there a day early, walked in the slightly ajar door and then shuffled out embarrassed when some tradies looked at me… Turns out they weren’t quite finished installing the fitout that day.
Now that they’re open, I’ve been there three times in two weeks. But there are two reasons for that — the main one is because I’m an exceptionally bad eater. The other is that lunchtime options are pretty slim around Brunswick Street.
I love chili dogs. Love them. The first thing I ordered here was a chili dog, but it’s not quite what I would consider a true chili dog. (Shoutout to Cupid’s in Reseda CA). It was good for Melbourne standards though. I’ve since discovered the traditional frank, which is pretty decent.
Also, I went there today and they were playing Straight Outta Compton. So I’m bumping them up to 4 stars.

I was quite excited when I heard there would be a hot dog joint in Fitzroy. I love hot dogs — they remind me of my university days eating at Top Dogs in Berkeley and of baseball games and of chilli cheese dogs throughout American diners. Okay… I really miss hot dogs.
The space has taken over a souvlaki establishment that was popular with the 2 am drunks on a Friday/​Saturday night. I’m glad to see it gone and in its a place something varied and cheap. For $ 8-​$ 9, you have beef, lamb, pork sausages made from locally sourced and natural ingredients served in an original, seeded, or gluten free bun. For the vegetarians, there are also veggie dog options.
I ordered the chilli dog, which sounded like a chilli cheese dog, but wasn’t exactly a chilli cheese dog. It did have chilli and cheese, but it was definitely lacking something. Overall, the dog was good and is a good alternative to a souvlaki or Grill’d if you’re looking for fast, but not bad food. Great addition to this area.