The grass is greener at Burger Patch

Do you find yourself asking 'where can I find a good burger in Chatswood?' Thankfully, there is a little hidden gem of a burger joint that is ready to serve your burger cravings. 

Even with the help of google maps, we got lost finding this place, and almost settled on some ramen instead. But eventually we found this little new burger joint tucked away from the busyness of city life.

The menu has a few great burgers on offer, but the special caught our attention. The Kokraken burger, celebrates the Korean roots of its creator.

It was comforting to see a grill with actual flames that we knew would lick our patties, coating them with smoky flavoured deliciousness. We ordered the Kokraken and the Good American.

When the burgers came, we were not disappointed. The first thing we noticed about these burgers was the size of the meat patties. That's 160g beef patty right there. And yes, that flame grill makes a huge difference. A quick sample of the meat patty revealed a smoky flavour.

It would be very hard to improve this burger. The patties were cooked to perfection, with great quality meat. As we've said before, a hamburger should be all about the meat, and it was certainly the case at Burger Patch. The flavour of this meat had just the right balance of smokiness and char grilled flavours, but not so much that it took control of the meat.

 

There was just the right amount of pickle and onion to crunch through on each bite, and to cute through the juices of the meat patty. The cheese was literally dripping off these burgers as we devoured them.

And the milk buns were perfect- soft and warm, fresh and fluffy.

The sauces on the Good American were a little too mustard dominated. But that's OK- tomato sauce is readily available to squirt more onto your burger if you want.

The Kokraken burger comes with bacon and squid jam, which was surprisingly sweet, and blended in with the burger well, along with the sweet mayo and sweet McClures pickles. The combination of sweetness and meaty sauciness was on point. This burger creation only lasts for 2 weeks, and we're sure we'll be back to sample another.

The bonus touches at Burger Patch are also worth noticing. Towards the end of your meal, you'll be delivered a tiny circular roll of material. Just add water and voilà!  It will expand before your eyes into a wet hand towel so you can wash off all those lingering burger juices from your fingers. You're going to need that too, because there's plenty of sauce leftover afterwards from the juiciness of this burger.

You can even chose to eat your meal outside on the fresh green grass withering one of the mats that are provided. The staff here are very friendly, and wanting to serve your burger needs. A hidden gem in the heart of Chatswood.

Bar Luca lowers the bar

It took us some time to erase the Pepper Pig experience from our burger-muscle-memories (for a full account of that horrible nightmare, click here if you dare...). So we thought it was high time to go back to a good old faithful friend of ours, the Blame Canada.

As usual, the burgers were wonderfully presented

We had mixed feelings upon our first bite. The gravy is very special. Smoky and meaty, quite delicious. 

But the burger buns had changed. They were firmer than we remember, and somewhat cold, like they had come fresh out of refrigeration.

Further bites indicated that Bar Luca has severely lowered the Bar for the Blame Canada.

The meat was dryer and less juicy than we remember. And the cooking was below average. The patty had a terrible combination of being awfully pink and overly chargrilled. The overpowering taste of chargrill dominated this burger.

There was hardly any of the maple aioli, quite different to the wonderful, sweet lavished amounts we had enjoyed on previous visits. The same can be said of the poutine. We wanted to say 'where's the cheese'?

And the maple glazed bacon? We licked the bacon several times, but there was nothing sweet about this bacon. 

This burger used to be a wonderful combination of sweet maple matched with savoury, meaty, sauciness. But not this time- the whole burger just tasted overly salted.

Today's Blame Canada was a sad rendition of this once-great burger. If you have been here before, the memories have been totally blog worthy. But now that we have experienced this poor duplicate, we want to ask Bar Luca, 'what on earth happened?'

Has the ownership changed? Has the kitchen chefs changed? With all the focus and hype about the BL outlets, has the ball been dropped in the place where it all so gloriously started?

As we left, we noted that the crowds weren't what they used to be, and the smoke that normally pours out from this place was missing. Only the black smoky stains remained as something of a remnant, a tribute to a place that once created their burgers so well. 

The word 'Luca' from 'Bar Luca' sign, was also missing, further signifying the lowering of the bar at Bar Luca.

As we walked away from this experience, the powerful aftertaste of chargrill lingered upon our taste buds for hours afterwards, forcing us to wonder what went so horribly wrong.