Lashings at Drummoyne

We were after something a bit more local with some meat patties that had melted American cheese on it.

Lashings at Drummoyne came to mind. We had tried this place once before, but upon entry, we noticed on the menu that there was no American cheese. We asked the friendly staff if they had any American cheese, and they said 'no'. So we promptly left and went across the road for fish and chips (desperate times!)

But this time, we decided we'd try again. Thankfully, Lashings had listened to our desperate pleas, and American cheese now features in a burger which was placed upon their menu.

We took it upon ourselves to order a Double Decker. We especially requested (in separate orders) not for 'tasty cheese' but for the 'American Cheese'. The friendly staff girl assured us that their tasty cheese was the same thing as American cheese, despite there being 2 different cheeses on the menu. This confused us a little but we went with it. The friendly staff girl was pretty convinced that the 2 cheeses were in fact the same thing, so we took it upon ourselves to trust her.

What a mistake that was!

Looking at this burger, it is very pleasing to behold. It presents well, and like a good Lashing Burger, is quite sizeable. This made us feel assured that it would fill our bellies.

However, this cheese was not American cheese but Tasty cheese. We could taste the difference. We know the difference! We wanted the American cheese experience!

The bonus of Lashings is the size of the burgers, and the juiciness of the patties. However their patties do lack the meaty flavour goodness that you can only get at another burger place that we rave about on this blog. (Hint- think Vicks!)

The condiments complimented this burger well, with flavours of mustard, mayo and tomato sauce combing in well. Pickles were plentiful, and the onion was a little sparse but tasty enough. Just enough lettuce to crunch into, but not too much to feel like we are eating a salad instead of a burger.

This is a good burger for us for its prolixity, but like Peter Russell Clark has famously said 'Where's the [American] cheese????'

False advertising about American cheese? You, the reader, may decide.

Betty's Burgers Better get Better

It was burger o'clock on a Friday afternoon- our optimal time for burgers. We needed to fix the grumbles in our bellies. Usually we are in the Darling Harbour area at this time, which has a serious lack of culinary burger delights.

Thankfully, we had heard about a new burger joint that had opened up smack bang in the middle of Darling Harbour. Betty's Burgers is in the newly built Darling Harbour International Convention Centre. We were minutes away from burger happiness.

Betty's Burgers is a newcomer to the Sydney burger scene. Starting in Noosa, Betty's has grown to 8 outlets. The Darling Harbour outlet is the first one to open in NSW. 

We were a little apprehensive to order, wanting to see what the results were before we dived in. The orders indicated that burgers looked reasonably sized, and loaded with character. We decided to place our order with the happy serving staff. They assured us that the burgers were sizeable.

The menu is simple, with beef, chicken and mushroom options. Keeping it simple is good. Burgers don't need to be complicated, especially when so much about modern life is complicated.

Much to our shock, the pickles don't come as a standard on these burgers! We were a bit taken aback and quite disappointed to learn that to add pickles to this order- an ingredient that should be a staple on any burger- would cost us $2 extra to add! How can you do this to us Betty?? We thought you liked us!

You can double your patty for an extra $5 as well.

Ok, maybe this one looks a little bit too much like a vegetable garden. We looked curiously for any snails that may have been lurking within. The initial bites felt like we were devouring a garden salad rather than a burger. Our Mums would have been proud of us.

Mouthfuls later, when we did actually hit the actual burger, we discovered that the buns were brioche-soft and fresh, and held the whole burger together nicely. 

The actual patties were tender, juicy and dripping with fat- so much so that our tables ended up being quite messy. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that we believe that burgers should be all about the meat. The actual meat patty in these burgers lacked character. Not much taste, and they needed more seasoning besides salt. Also, the patties needed a bit more thickness to them to really hit the spot. The whole experience which was overtaken by the rabbit food that dominated these burgers. 

If you are looking to increase your salad intake, then this is definitely the burger for you. This Shake-Shack like experience left us not feeling as full as we would have hoped.

We're off now to get some dumplings to make up for the empty space still left in our bellies.

Lord of the Fries at Inferno Grill

We saw a promotion on Ompty and decided to give this place a try for a change.

The burgers look quite appetising. This burger was a top notch presentation of dripping sauces and melted cheese.

However, after biting into these things, we concluded that they were all looks, no substance. This burger was all about the presentation. They lacked the heartiness we crave for. the whole experience was like biting into chunky gravy between a milk bun. The extra sauces just contributed to this being a sloppy mess, rather than the concreteness that need to sink our teeth into.

Sorry Inferno, we won't be back.

Too much Piggy on the Peppa Pig, Bar Luca

With the newly opened Wynard walk, we made our way from Barangaroo to our good old faithful, Bar Luca. Our radars were tuned in on some good burger goodness.

When we arrived, the specials board greeted us like a new friend, waiting for us to get acquainted.

The Peppa Pig reeled us in. I mean, who can resist Dr. Pepper braised pork? And having watched the cartoons of Peppa Pig with the little people in our lives, we were sordidly wanting to devour this cartoon character that occupied so much of our time.

Gosh these burgers looked great!!! 10 out of 10 for presentation.

Wait a minute.... what's that sticking out on the side of this burger???

Upon closer inspection....

Is that a pig's hair I see??

It certainly was. We seemed to have glossed to part on the board about 'crispy pig ears'. The pig ear cartilage and the pig hairs put us off this burger pig time. Biting into this burger and experiencing the pig ear crunchiness was a little bit too close to biting into something you'd buy for your dog from Pet Barn.

Too much piggy. The whole experience has put us off this burger and also Bar Luca for the time being. 

Could this be Sydney's best burger? Vic's Meat Market

We had heard good things about Vic's Meat Market. We decided it was high time we trotted our burger hungry stomachs over to this place to see what all the fuss was about.

We were greeted with an enthusiastic server, who told us that things were busy today and some items on the menu had sold out. Anxiety kicked in as we questioned whether the beef burger was still available. A sigh of relief spread across our faces when we were told that there were still some patties for us. We ordered the smoked wagyu double cheese burger.

These patties are cooked in a huge smoker, taking 15 minutes to prepare. We were impressed with the set up- smoked patties are the bomb!

As an entree, we decided upon some brisket. This meat was soft and tender, lightly rubbed in spices, flavoursome and good quality. A great start to a burger experience.

The burgers came presented in thin paper.

The first thing you notice about these burgers are the soft milky buns. The sticky melted cheese messily smeared all over the paper told us that we were in for a treat.

We couldn't help but sample some of the sauces that were dripping from this burger before taking our first bite. The sweet tomato chutney oozed from this burger combined with the meaty juices from the patty were just so delish!

Upon closer inspection, we noted the thick patties. This is how a burger should be done folks!

The first thing you notice when you take a bite is the cheeseburger flavours. For us a burger is all about the meat. The meat was high quality and cooked to perfection. The strong meaty flavour of the patty is probably the highlight of this burger. Freshly ground, soft and juicy, subtle smoke flavours and intense beef flavours, this is probably Sydney's best burger patty. Again, it's all about the meat!

On top of that, the buns were soft and held this burger together well. As we continued to bite, we were able to experience the crunch of the pickles and the bite of the maccas-style diced raw onion. And the American cheese! Mhm!

This burger has no salad. The tomato chutney is a nice substitute. Keeping this burger plain and simple has allowed the meat to be the star attraction in this burger.

All of this goes down so well with a thick smooth drink of Young Henry's Natural Lager. We came away filled up but not bloated.

This burger probably saved us $2000 in airfares to travel to NYC. We'll be regulars here for sure. This burger will be hard to beat.

Best on the North Shore- Five Points

Lunch was on, so we decided to head down to Five Points Burgers.

The Manhattan burger presents well. The yellow tinge of melted American cheese, colourful iceburg lettuce, with pickles stashed away inside was enough to make our mouths water.

Definitely a highlight of this burger was the bun. A beautifully soft brioche bun nicely sandwiched these patties and held the whole thing together.

The meat was good quality and tasty, the cheese melted to perfection. We'd love these patties to be thicker, and there to be a lot more pickles. A little raw onion wouldn't go astray either.

We decided we have become salted caramel addicts. This milkshake went down really well and filled all the spaces in our stomach that was not already taken up by the burger. We went home in a food coma.

Burger Challenge at Bare Grill

We discovered today that Bare Grill out at La Parouse have issued a new burger challenge.

Our mouths watered as we watched the customers of Bare Grill attempting to eat this (thanks for sharing Hannah!)

Buy this burger for $45 and eat it within 30 mins and it's free.

Let the training begin.

Of ourselves this post wouldn't be complete without documenting our own culinary treat for the day...