Deus Cafe

Pop ups are all the rage, so being the outrageous guys we are, we decided to try a burger pop up. This pop up is the meeting of burger minds from Pub Life Kitchen and Barrio Chino. Being in particular need of comfort food, we knew we were in for a treat.

The burger presentation was outstanding. As soon as this morsel was presented to our table, all our cares were gone.

The buns were as we like them- soft, firm and glossy. The milk buns were a hit with us!

The first bite was not disappointing. The amount of lettuce was just right to sound a crunch. The tomato didn't add anything to the burger. 

However, the meat patties were a bit of a let down. They were a little dry for our liking. We love the juice of the meat patties that we eat to run down our fingers all the way to our elbows as we eat. This did not happen. The flavour was nice- a smoky char grilled flavour tasted delicious. But the dryness subtracted our overall enjoyment. We expected more from a joining together or 2 fantastic burger joints.

The sides were great. Onion rings were the best! Served with a smoky tomato sauce that had some kick to it. Dirty fries were good, but not enough.

The cafe has good ambiance, spacious, and a great place to visit. Glad for the experience, but not the best in Sydney, despite the joint efforts. Pub Life Kitchen could learn how to do a double Cheese burger from this experience, and they should dominate the patty making more than they have.

Ostrich Burgers in South Africa

We’ve tried moose burgers before, and steer burgers, so it seemed like the next evolution in our unique burger tasting experience should be this.

Incidentally, this picture was shot in the same park where months earlier a woman was eaten by a lion. Yes folks, we do risk our lives to bring you this blog.

Something more akin to chicken was expected, but ostrich meat looks more like beef. The presence of the tarragon mayo made it difficult to discern the flavour of the ostrich burger.

The ostrich burger patty itself was rather lean. It lacked that strong, distinct beef flavour, but had its own delicate, gamey taste to it. Ostrich meat is similar in texture and taste to beef, but not as strong. There is a much lower fat content as well, simply because ostriches store fat outside their muscles, not inside like in beef. Ostrich meat has virtually no fat content whatsoever.

This makes for a rather bland burger patty. It had a slight beefy taste, but sweeter than beef. What was noticeable was the leanness of the patty.

Not sure if this will take off as a burger trend. One thing burgers are all about is the fat content of the meat.

Because you’ve just eaten just a lean burger, you can finish it off with this.

Enjoy.

Cheeseburgers at Pub Life Kitchen

Comfort food. We'll be back. Again & again.

Blame Canada... Again!!!

And we're back...

The Glenmore Burger. Stay Away

We went from the best to the worst in a week.

After sampling the heavenly Bar Luca's Blame Canada, we were taken to the opposite place. Perhaps we were spoilt. But the burger we ate next was a major let down. But let me back track.

The Glenmore Hotel in The Rocks was recommended to us as a place for good burgers. Sure, the rooftop bar is fun, the view is great, and the burgers were highly recommended to us.

Enter us. Our stomachs were rumbling for some burger deliciousness. Longing for for a succulent beef cheesy goodness on a soft fresh bun. Perhaps a slight crunch of lettuce or pickle. Our hopes were high. But they were soon to be dashed.

Our order- the Glenmore Burger. We were so confident. So trusting. Only to be bitterly disappointed.

Our burgers came out together. One burger had the disappointing look of having the cheese NOT melted to the patty. A major no-no in our books.

The other burger seemed to have no cheese at all. We asked the waiter about it. He took it back to the chef. Within minutes it was brought back to us. The waiter said ‘the cheese is here’. And… wait for it…

He actually lifted the top of the burger with his naked hand and showed us the cheese on the burger. I kid you not. He touched it!!!

We could not believe it! We should have stopped this whole charade right there and then. But our appetites got the better of us.

The first bite? We noticed the stale buns.

We took note of the sausage-like consistency of the burger patty. The patties seemed like they were cut off from a dog-food log. Perhaps our coats would shine afterwards. The rubber-like consistency was sickening. Too dry. Truly awful. Brought you you by My DogTM and PedigreeTM.

The bun was also stale. It felt like we were given the stale leftovers at the end of the week.  We felt so violated.

We get that prices are increasing everywhere and that Sydney is an expensive city to live in… but wait for this- 2 burgers, 2 pint sized beers, one order of wedges… for $71??? What the?!!!!

Was this worth blogging about? We considered leaving this blog off. But if it helps others to avoid a burger at the Glenmore, it’s worth it. Just go for the rooftop views and you’ll be happy.

Blame Canada, Bar Luca

Burgers at Bar Luca have been the talk of the town so we decided to go and see what all the fuss was about. Bar Luca doesn't particularly look like your typical hipster burger joint- the word 'Burger' is no where in the name of the place. But as we walked inside, it was clear from the lunch orders that the patronage were there for only one thing- a good, hearty, heart stopping burger. Exactly the same for us.

 

It did not take us long to decide upon our order. The Blame Canada has been getting great reviews over at Fatty's Burger Appreciation Society. The menu describes the Blame Canada like this:-

BLAME CANADA 200g wagyu beef pattie, maple glazed streaky bacon, poutine & maple aioli

We have to admit to not knowing what 'poutine' is. But the thought of maple on our burgers intrigued us. 

Being the hungry boys that we were today, we decided to order the double. We were pleasantly surprised when these burgers were delivered to our table.

 

Upon savouring the initial beautiful presentation of this burger, we were then left to wonder how our watering mouths would approach the first mouthful. This burger was a tower to be attacked! We decided upon a course of action. One burger would be taken apart at the top and consumed in layers, whilst the other would be cut down the middle and attacked from the side.

The first bite was beyond wonderful. Once we got past the meaty goodness of this burger, the next thing we noticed was its sweetness. The maple aioli was a magnificent feature of this burger. The sweetness of the maple blends the flavours together well and made us keep coming back for each mouthful.

The fries were well presented, but we both prefer a bit more chunk to our potato. Chunky chips are good chips in our opinion.

However, being the pickle lovers that we are, we would be in burger paradise if this burger came with a huge pickle on the side for us to chomp on between burger bites. Having some onion on the burger wouldn’t go astray either.

The sloppy factor was high- we each went through 2 napkins, but the overall taste sensation more than made up for this. We were so happy afterwards that we went into a burger coma.
It wasn’t until towards the end that we noticed the chips that were stacked in the base of this burger. We had seen pictures of this before, but we appreciated it later when we researched what ‘poutine’ is.

A quick Google search reveals that poutine is a Canadian dish, consisting of crisp fries, a beefy gravy, and cheese curds. Truly a Canadian delicacy!

Having discovered this, our taste memory went into overdrive as we recalled how this added to the burger. The saucy goodness of the poutine at the base of this burger complemented the sweetness of the maple aioli well and it contributed to the overall sheer delight of this burger experience.

We would even go as far as to say that this is one of the better burgers we have sampled in Sydney. Bar Luca, you’re onto a winner here. We will definitely be back. Blame Canada!