The AB Hotel, Glebe

Name: AB Hotel.

Address: 225 Glebe Point Rd. Glebe 2037

Burger: Wagyu Burger

Price: $18.80

Description: An up-market pub, in a trendy inner-west suburb of Sydney

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During one of my parent's trips to Sydney to see me, they stayed in Glebe. Glebe is a trendy suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, very close to the city. Although I was busy completing assessments for university (equine anatomy is NOT fun), we thought it would be good if I took a break. We walked down Glebe Point Road during the afternoon, and had a look at the AB hotel. 

The AB is quite 'trendy'. I'm yet to go there when they're busy, but it seems to be a popular place. The menu is extensive, and pretty damn cool!

The burger consisted of: 

• Bun
• Beef Pattie
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Caramelised Onion
• Beetroot
• Cheese
• Bun

And for what it's worth - I didn't try the matched wine or beer. It was one in the afternoon. While that may not preclude one from drinking normally, equine anatomy essays do!

So on to the ratings!

Beef:
Decent. Thick - just how I like it. 

This was a wagyu burger - a very popular type of meat from a certain breed of cattle. I am yet to find one burger which displays the true merits of wagyu. If you want to experience wagyu, get a steak. Wagyu is known for its high marbling, so any cut (even those considered lean in other breeds) taste AMAZING. So in short, this pattie could have been from angus, murray grey or even holstein fresian! I probably wouldn't have known the difference. 

As for the make up of the pattie - a few too many herbs, but the thickness of the pattie made that irrelevant. The thickness meant that there was some good umami flavour. But some bites were overwhelmed by oregano and garlic. I paid for beef, damnit!

Cheese:

Well the 2 people other than me that read this will know that I love my cheese MELTED. The images show that the cheese wasn't melted. It was as hard as I am every time I see Julia Gillard on TV (sarcasm, all). I can almost guarantee it came from one of those hard plastic cases that holds 12 slices of coon cheese. You can eat 3kg of that stuff, and still not taste cheese.

So needless to say - the cheese didn't add a damn thing. Disappointing. 

Bun:

A decent sesame seed topped bun. It didn't fall apart until the very end. And that was impressive, due to the slut load of 'extras'. So, it was nothing to complain about, but it didn't really scream "I'm awesome, put me down your throat".

Extras:

As aforementioned: Lettuce, Tomato, Caramelised onion, and beetroot. Fairly standard. I say that, because caramelised onion has gone from 'gourmet' to usual these days in Australia. And for some reason, beetroot is apparently 'normal' on a burger here. 

It really didn't need these things. Beetroot is sweet as tits. Burgers don't need to be sweet. And coupled with the caramelised onions, some bites were like eating fairy floss. That's great if you're at the movies watching something as awesome as twilight, or a one direction concert, but it's not for me. 

Fries:

The fries were quite sexy. They weren't shoestring as per the menu, but they weren't Amanda Vanstone either. That means they were crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. Pretty good. But the oil they cooked them with probably had someone's testicles in there recently. So there were some negatives, some positives - you decide which is which.

Verdict:

A damn good burger. The thickness of the pattie meant that there was enough meat to overcome the whore-ish application of herbs. It didn't scream wagyu - but no burgers do (unless someone can suggest otherwise!). 

The extras were decent. They didn't take away too much from the burger experience, but they didn't stand out. The cheese really needed to be melted. It should have been as soft as the AFL was when they delivered their verdict to the Adelaide Crows and Kurt "the hack" Tippett during their recent chearing/salary cap/draft tampering hearing. One can hope, I guess.

It's a 'good' burger. It's not exactly a classic, but it's also not one of those burgers that fails due to over-zealous ambition. I would probably get it again, provided nothing else on the menu struck me as being awesome.

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Meat

3./5

Cheese

1.5/5

Bun

4/5

Extras

3.5/5

Fries

3.5/5

Total:

3.1

(Good choice, not the best choice)

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North Annandale (New Menu)

Name: North Annandale Hotel

Address: Cnr. Booth & Johnston Streets, Annandale NSW

Burger: Mini Sliders

Price: $N/A

Description: Local watering hole with standard pub-fare

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Yet again, I had dinner at the North Annandale Hotel. At the time of this review, the menu was substantially different to the one at the time of previous reviews of the same venue. This is due to new management. 

As is the style these days, the North Annandale now offers "sliders", or mini burgers. As the normal burger at the time (since changed) was the same as the last review, I got the sliders as a starter, before my main meal. 

The ingredients were simple, but tasty. They were:

• Bun
• Cheese (?)
• Beef Pattie
• Caramalised Onion
• Pickle
• Bun

Beef:

Small. Simple. It wasn't laced with the evils that are eggs, breadcrumbs and herbs etc. Tasty!

Cheese:

Minimal. I think it was cheddar. And if you have to question it, it can hardly be outstanding.

It was melted well, and gave a bit of a salty flavour. But I'm a salt slut, and it didn't really cut it!

Bun: 

Small burger = small bun! But a positive - the bun wasn't as wide as the rest of the ingredients were. So no bun-only bites. Can't really complain too much!

Extras:

Pickles. Caramalised onions. The onions were actually nicely cooked. A lot of places that claim they put caramalised onions on their burgers put raw onions on their burgers. Not a bad thing, but false advertising I say.

I like pickles. I even like the word pickles. Combined with the onions, and the (slight) saltiness of the cheese - great!

Fries:

Sad face.

No fries. This was ordered from the bar menu though. And it makes sense. Perfect food for those who are sitting at the bar, and find it hard to use a knife and fork, or hold a proper burger together (GENIUS!). Because of this, I won't factor fries into the total score.

 

Verdict:

A sexy snack. It won't fill you up, but it's a great starter to share. I live about 100m from the North Annandale, and I'm considering going over there as I write (the fact they sell beer may have something to do with it!). It's not a traditional burger, but tasty nonetheless! Nom nom nom.

Meat

3.5/5
Cheese
2/5
Bun
3.5/5
Extras
3.5/5
Fries

N/A

Total:

3.1

(Drunk snack? Hells yeah!)

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T.G.I. Friday's again!

Name: T.G.I Friday's

Address: Marion Shopping Centre, Marion, Adelaide - South Australia

Burger: Ultimate Jack Daniel's Burger

Price: $23.95 (with fries)

Description: Well-known American chain, with typical American fare

After a great first experience at T.G.I. Friday's in Adelaide, I decided to visit the following time I went to Adelaide. Although the menu is quite expansive, I had to go for another burger. The Jalapeno Burger I had last time was great.

This time I decided to go with the Ultimate Jack Daniel's burger. My mate had this burger the last time I visited TGI Friday's. He said it was great, so I had to have a go. 

A bit pricey for a burger. But it does come with a fair few ingredients. And it's huge.









The burger was pretty damn big!

• As per the menu above, the burger contained:
  • Bun
  • Toasted Bun
  • Fried onion rings
  • Bacon
  • Jack Daniel's Sauce
  • Monterey Jack Cheese
  • Beef Pattie
  • Beef Pattie
  • Lettuce
  • Bun

The sexy part. Apologies for the extremely poor quality shot! 

Beef:

As with last time, the beef was pretty damn good. Not too heavy on the seasoning, and a great beef flavour. Perhaps best of all though, there were two patties! You'd be pretty picky if you could complain much about these.

Cheese:

Monterey Jack. Sharp, salty. And very melty. I know melty isn't a word, but I'm making it one.

Perfectly melted, lots of it. I could taste the cheese. It didn't go missing, as it does in many burgers. I would normally say it could have done with a little more, but this burger had quite a few non-traditional additions, so it actually worked well over all.

Bun: 

Although the bun was fairly standard, it was toasted to perfection. It also had sesame seeds. It added a great crunch and toasted flavour. Other burger vendors: Y U NO DO THIS?

Extras:

At first, I wasn't so sure about the list of extras. Onion rings and Jack Daniel's (a sweet barbeque sauce) are not so common. But they work oh-so-well together. They worked perfectly together. The sauce wasn't overwhelming (like many BBQ type sauces are), and the onion rings were extremely tasty and beautifully crunchy. The lettuce added a bit of freshness. When combined together, they worked amazingly well. One complaint however - there could have been more bacon. As you can see in the first picture, there was only one small piece of bacon. Having said that, it was very well cooked. Crispy and bacony delicious.

As you can see, the sauce was on the side. A great idea. It allowed me to control the amount of sauce on my burger. I don't like too much, as I want to taste the meat and cheese. Fantastic!

Fries:

Once again, they were fantastic. Fresh, tasty and perfectly salted. Can't really ask for more.

Verdict:

If you weren't convinced by my last TGI Friday's review, please listen this time! A great burger, regardless of the fact it's far from traditional. The only problem with this burger: It will make it very hard to decide whether or not I should try something new during my next visit to the place.

Meat

4/5
Cheese
4.5/5
Bun
4/5
Extras
3.5/5
Fries

4.5/5

Total:

4.1

(DO IT!)

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Update: Burgers and more!

Hi all.

We've decided to start doing reviews of foods other than burgers. While we are still devoted to finding Adelaide and Sydney's best burgers, we thought we would review other fast food/dine out creations while we're at it. Burgers aren't always available, or we've reviewed them before. So enjoy!

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T.G.I Friday's - Marion, Adelaide - South Australia

T.G.I Friday's - Marion, Adelaide - South Australia

Name: T.G.I Friday's

Address: Marion Shopping Centre, Marion, Adelaide - South Australia

Burger: Jalapeno Burger

Price: $19.25 (with fries)

Description: Well-known American chain, with typical American fare

T.G.I Friday's is a huge American chain. It's one of those much-maligned chains, notorious for poor quality food, albeit in large portions. TGI Friday's in ubiquitous in many areas of the US, particularly New York City (in my experience, anyway). I visited one with my sister and best mate "Buddha" in  2009. I loved it.

There are a few TGI's in Melbourne. When I heard they were opening a store in Adelaide (my home town, which I visit a few times a year), I put it on my list of things to do.

 I'm glad I did. Jalapeno burger for me. I'm a burger purist, but I do love a bit of spice. 

The burger, in all of its gloriousness.

As per the menu above, the burger contained:

• Toasted Bun
• Jalapenos
• Pico de Gallo
• Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• Tangy roasted green chilli sauce
• Beef Pattie
• Lettuce
• Side of Guacamole
• Bun

The cross-section. Delicous (trust me)

Beef:

The beef tasted like beef. Good start. It was juicy, tasty and plentiful. Oh, how I wish all burgers were as slutty in the beef department.

The only thing that could improve the beef, would be more beef. Mmm, beef.

Cheese:

Shredded
Monterey
Jack

For those of you who haven't experienced the delight that is monterey jack cheese: I feel sorry for you. But I shall explain. It's American. It's melty. It's slightly sharp. It's very salty. It's everything you want in a burger cheese. As George Costanza from Seinfeld said: "If it were socially acceptable, I would drape myself in Monterey Jack cheese". He may have said velvet. I don't remember.

Bun: 

Soft. Sesame-ish. Held together, and actually had a good flavour. About as good as you could get.

Extras:

Not your usual pub/cafe/chicken shop extras here. The Jalapenos weren't excessively hot. The Pico de Gallo was fresh and tasty. The chilli sauce was very tasty and not over bearing. This burger tried hard. But it succeeded. And for that reason, I would love to have its babies.

Fries:

Great! No American eatery can survive without doing fries right. Very fresh, and very tasty. And not too salty. Although I managed to shove half a dozen (awesome) potato skins down my oesophagus before diving into the burger, I managed to polish off the fries. Mainly because they were so damn tasty. I may even cheat on the burger extras for these things.

Verdict:

Go and get one. TGI Friday's, although not your high-class joint, serves up some fantastic food. Burgers, Tex-mex, amazing fries. What else could you want? There's even a bar! One of my favourites in Adelaide. Just goes to show that the "big boys" can serve up something pretty special. It's just my hope that they can maintain this, as they are fairly new to the Adelaide market.

Meat

4/5
Cheese
4.5/5
Bun
4/5
Extras
4/5
Fries

4.5/5

Total:

4.2

(GO NOW!)

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An un-named Cafe - World Square, Sydney.

An un-named Cafe - World Square, Sydney.

The cafe, at World Sqaure. To the left of the left-most pillar.

Name: Can't Remember (not worth remembering)

Address: Cnr. Liverpool & Pitt Streets, Sydney

Burger: Beef burger

Price: $16-$18 (with fries)

Description: A cafe in the expensive part of the city, with a very limited menu

This review is from a cafe I visited with my parents while they were last in Sydney. It was a few months ago, but I've been busy with uni. Holiday time now, though!

We were shopping for a new TV for myself near world square, and got a bit hungry (after we found it near impossible to find a good deal). My Dad saw a nice coffee machine, so decided that the above mentioned locality should be the place we have lunch. The cafe was located on the same block/complex as world square. I don't remember the name, but it was very small inside, and had a few outside tables.

The coffee wasn't bad, apparently. That was the only thing that wasn't bad though. Apart from the can of "V" I guess - it was cold at least.


The burger was similar to any other cafe burger.. in ingredients anyway.

"Burger"

The contents were as follows:

• Bun
• Onion
• Egg
• Beef pattie
• Lettuce

Beef:

A more accurate description would have been "wet cardboard". In fact, I would much rather eat wet cardboard, as not only would it taste better, but its nutritional value would likely have been much higher. You could probably put a dozen clowns in a room with a pile of mattresses, and they'd likely be able to come up with something more convincing.

The beef was VERY dry. It was tasteless. It was quite obvious that beef was a minor component, with bread crumbs and I'm guessing some sort of desiccant being the main ingredients in the pattie. 

Cheese:

I love cheese. I'm harsh when it comes to cheese.

THERE WAS NO CHEESE! Burger? This wasn't a burger? It was a meatloaf with egg and lettuce between bread! Someone call those clowns. If there's any of that pile of mattresses left over, please....

Bun: 

Bland, dry. It did perform it's main function though: holding everything in. But without cheese or any type of sauce, it's job was damn easy.

Extras:

"Caramelised" onions. Egg. Lettuce. Lack of effort.

The only 4 extras that came with this burger. The onions probably met the grill, said "what's up" and left. They were raw. The egg on the other hand, stuck around with the grill a bit longer.

The lettuce, was wilted as as soft as myself whilst trying to choke down this abomination.

And, the lack of effort? Well that speaks for itself.

Fries:

The fries were fairly average. Dry (yet still oily), bland yes overly salted. How they managed that, I have no idea.

Verdict:

You are probably better off dusting off the yellow pages, opening it to "Clown" and hiring a handful of jolly (albeit creepy) entertainers and asking them to fashion a burger out of the aforementioned, althoughcomfortable ingredient. At least it would be entertaining.

Avoid, at all costs. Even if you're starving to death.

Meat

0.5/5
Cheese
0/5
Bun
2/5
Extras
1/5
Fries

1.5/5

Total:

1

(Mattress time)

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Toxteth Hotel, Glebe NSW

Name: Toxteth Hotel

Address: 345 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW

Burger: Beef, Bacon and Cheese Burger

Price: $16 (with fries)

Description: A nice little pub in Glebe with British and American food

My parents were in Sydney, from Adelaide recently. They were staying in Glebe, so I went to visit them and we decided to eat near to their hotel at the Toxteth Hotel. 

The Toxteth is a really nice pub. The TAB is contained within the bistro area however, which can prove to be amusing. The menu is quite different to most that of most pubs. Although there is an obvious British theme, the menu is half British and Half American (with the exception of a few typical Australian pub dishes such as Schnitzel Parmigiania). Although the Chilli dog looked great, I went for the Beef, Bacon and Cheese Burger. 

The contents were as follows:

• Bun
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Pickles
• Beef
• House made bourbon BBQ sauce
• Mustard

Beef:

The beef was good. It was medium to well-done, and fairly beefy. Despite this, it wasn't all that flavourful. It was a good pattie, but not one that would draw me back.

Cheese:

Unmelted, and bland tasting. As is common from pubs, it was standard supermarket sliced cheese, although not the better (for burgers) highly processed cheese. I could taste it, and as such it added something to the burger. But, like the beef, it didn't really make me think twice.

Bun: 

The bun was a rather small brioche bun. It held together very well, and also tasted quite good. All in all, it was a good bun, albeit slightly over-toasted.

Extras:

The standard lettuce and tomato on this burger were decent. Not extremely fresh, but not old either. The burger had both mustard and a home-made BBQ sauce. I love mustard, but I'm always skeptical about BBQ sauce on a burger. They worked OK together. The pickles added a good crunch and flavour. I do love pickles on burgers.

Fries:

The fries were very oily (as is evident from the photos). They were soggy though, so I was fairly happy. They were well seasoned (I don't like a whole lot of salt). I'd have them again, but wouldn't rush out for them. A decent serve of fries, but nothing more.

Verdict:

A good pub burger. Although there were no individual standouts (in terms of the parameters I reviewed above), it worked well together. It just wasn't amazing. I wouldn't be upset if I had to have it again, but I'd definitely try something else next time. My Dad had the chilli dog, which he said was good, but far too small. Maybe a couple of those!

Meat

3/5
Cheese
2.5/5
Bun
3/5
Extras
3/5
Fries

3/5

Total:

2.9

(Worth a shot)

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Burgerlicious Newtown, NSW 2042

Name: Burgerlicious (Newtown)

Address: 215 King Street Newtown, NSW 2042

Burger: Cheese Burger

Price: $11.40 (with chips and a bottle of water)

Description: A "Gourmet" burger chain

I had the beer munchies after a few beers at Kelly's in Newtown. I was going to stop off at a tex-mex place on the way to Tom's car, but it was busy. Luckily, I walked past burgerlicious, and my decision was pretty much made for me. Burgerlicious (in my opinion) fall between your local take-away shops, and the famous fast food chains such as McDonald's and Hungry Jacks. They are similar to some of the burger chains in the USA which fill this gap, namely Fatburger, In n' Out and Five Guys.

I decided to wait until I got home to eat. It was only a 5 minute drive, but it seemed like 5 hours. The smell emanating from the bag was amazing, I was pretty impressed when I took the food out of the bag.

Cheese Burger and chips - with melty cheese!

The contents were as follows:

• Bun
• Grilled Onions
• Angus Beef
• Cheese
• Pickles
• Tomato Sauce
• American Mustard

Mmmmmmm.

Beef:

The beef in my Burgerlicious Cheese Burger was amazing. It was as close to the unadulterated beef you get at fast food chains as I've seen in a non-major chain. It was extremely juicy, very well cooked, and tasted amazing. There were no obvious fillers - only beef and seasoning (salt and pepper). My only gripe - The pattie was slightly small in comparison to the bun. Otherwise - wow. Amazing.

Cheese:

Finally. A burger place which understands the importance of cheese. Not only was it very tasty, and a good size, the slice of cheese was as close to perfectly melted I've come across from a non-fast food burger place. It was salty, creamy and complemented the beef perfectly.

Bun: 

This was a good bun. It was flour-dusted and tasted quite good. It held together fine - very important. It was also quite fresh. This was a good bun - something most places neglect.

Extras:

There weren't a whole lot of extras. This was essentially a typical American cheese burger, with grilled onions. The grilled onions were cooked well, and added to the overall burger experience. The pickles were fresh and tangy, and went so well with the tomato sauce (ketchup) and American mustard combination. A time-tested formula - other places should take not. 

Fries:

Quite good. While not what you would get from this sort of place (half local take-away, half fast food), they were good. They were somewhat soggy - perfect! Great flavour, and seasoned well.

Verdict

Go grab one - even if you're not just walking past! The burger was great. I may think this way because I love my classic cheese burgers, but I'd be surprised if others didn't enjoy it too. The burger had an almost perfect combination of ingredients - with all parts complementing each other, and not drowning out others. 

Meat

4/5
Cheese
4/5
Bun
3.5/5
Extras
4/5
Fries

3.5/5

Total:

3.8

(Go for it, now!)

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