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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Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore NSW 2048

Name: Salisbury Hotel

Address: 118 Percival Road Stanmore NSW 2048
Burger: Wagyu Burger

Price: $15 approx (with chips)

Description: Typical pub fare.




My mate Tom lives in Stanmore. After looking to go to the Empire Hotel in Annandale (previous review) one night for dinner, we found it was rather busy. We settled on the Salisbury Hotel, a place nearby to his place, and somewhere we had both eaten at before.

The popularity of Wagyu these days is amazing. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that most pubs advertise any beef as Wagyu. It's fairly obvious when it's not Wagyu. The beef is not juicy, and there is very little fat. Obviously, I decided to go for the Wagyu burger anyway. Tom went for the Lamb Shanks, which were a special. He was fairly happy with his choice.

Average looking burger, with a clearly over-toasted bun, and small number of chips.

The burger arrived fairly quickly. It looked OK. The bun was over-toasted, and the small number of fries was surprising. Some of the ingredients were falling out, and looked fairly limp and not-so fresh.

Looked OK...ish.

The contents were as follows (from top to bottom):

• Sauce (tomato)
• Cheese
• Pattie
• Beetroot
• Tomato
• Non-Iceburg Lettuce

Beef:

The beef was dry. Very dry. While the pattie was a decent size, it was one of those over-seasoned patties which had obviously been mixed with bread crumbs, egg and who knows what else. It had a very faint beef taste - mainly oregano, grease and bland. Very average. I would really question if this was a Wagyu pattie. 

Cheese:

Continuing a common theme of ignoring cheese, this burger had a slice of processed non-melty cheese hidden above the pattie. I couldn't taste it. It wasn't melted enough and really added nothing to the burger. It's 'absence' though was quite noticeable.

Bun: 

The tip top supermarket hamburger bun strikes again! This one was old (2-3 days, I'd say). As you can see, one of my finger marks is obvious. The top of the bun fell away straight away, with no force. It was mealy, and tasted like frozen bread. Really not good.

Extras:

The Salisbury played it safe. Tomato sauce, cheese, tomato, beetroot and lettuce (although a different variety than most places). This didn't really take away from the fact that the produce was not fresh. The tomato looked dessicated and was mealy/soft. The beetroot was fresh, although not quite as fresh as what you will find at other places. The combination was ok, the quality of ingredients was not.

Fries:

There weren't many. The ones I did get were hot and fresh. Very crispy on the outside, and somewhat over-cooked on the inside. They were good, but not normally how I like my chips. A good pub chip.

Verdict

Go for it. The food at Fat Fish (I can't comment on the fish, only the burgers and chips) is decent, albeit slightly expensive. The staff are friendly, and that helps. It's definitely worth a try if you haven't eaten there before, and you're in the area after something quick. I'll eat there again (I've eaten there several times), as it's always enjoyable, but never an incredible experience.

Meat

2.5/5
Cheese
1.5/5
Bun
1.5/5
Extras
2/5
Fries

3/5

Total:

2.1

(Have something else if you go there)

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Fat Fish, Annandale NSW 2038

Name: Fat Fish, Annandale
Address: 109 Johnston St. Annandale NSW 2038

Burger: Burger With the Lot

Price: $11 - $12 approx (with chips and a can of drink)

Description: Known for cooking up fresh fish, less so for your traditional Australian take-away fare.




As well as some pubs nearby, there are several traditional take away places near me. There are quite a few close by, which is great for me. They are better known for cooking up fresh fish, but I don't like seafood. They also make a few burgers, wraps, and have a great selection of salads which look great,

After a long shift, I decided to grab some food from Fat Fish, as I really couldn't be bothered cooking. You know how it is! I went for the "Burger with the Lot". It was a fairly standard burger with the lot, similar to most take-away shop burgers. It came in a cardboard box, wrapped in paper.

I was very hugry, so I'm surprised that I managed to take a photo before I started eating!

Nice looking burger!

It was actually a very attractive burger. The pattie looked juicy, and it wasn't falling out of the bun, like many burgers do. There also looked to be just the right number of extras.

It contained (from top to bottom):

• Onion
• Cheese
• Pattie
• Lettuce
• Beetroot
• Tomato
• Sauce

Extremely well constructed burger - an often over-looked parameter.

Beef:

It was quite obvious that the burger patties are made on premises, and not long before they are cooked. They are fresh, and of a good quality. The pattie itself was a good size - not too thick (so that numerous binding agents are needed), and not too thin so that you don't really get any meat. It DID have some binding agents in it (I'd say just some egg), but it tasted mainly like beef. It was juicy and flavourful. All in all, a good pattie.

Cheese:

Unfortunately, the cheese was almost non-existent. I'm fairly sure it was there (I can't remember 100% to be honest, and if it was good - I certainly would remember). There's not a whole lot I can say to be honest. Fat Fish usually add pre-sliced, processed cheese (not the individually wrapped stuff - the harder, less melty cheese).

Bun: 

The buns at Fresh Fish are good. They are almost certainly the supermarket-type tip top variety, but they were fresh and didn't fall apart. Having said that, they didn't add another dimension of flavour, and as such weren't remarkable. 

Extras:

The extras were standard. Fresh lettuce, beetroot and tomato. There were also some partially caramelised onions on top of the pattie. A good combination. They were all relatively fresh, but not outstanding. The onions could have done with some more cook time, in order to bring out the sweetness. The tomato sauce was minimal, and therefore didn't really add anything to the burger.

Fries:

The chips came in a separate box, but were part of the meal (which also came with a drink). Coke for me, as always! The chips here are always very fresh (in fact, you can see them cooking them to order). They are almost always under-cooked, but I love my chips like that. Although they put a lot of chicken salt on them, they are very tasty, although slightly oily. A good chip.

Verdict

Go for it. The food at Fat Fish (I can't comment on the fish, only the burgers and chips) is decent, albeit slightly expensive. The staff are friendly, and that helps. It's definitely worth a try if you haven't eaten there before, and you're in the area after something quick. I'll eat there again (I've eaten there several times), as it's always enjoyable, but never an incredible experience.

Meat

3/5
Cheese
2/5
Bun
3/5
Extras
3/5
Fries

3/5

Total:

2.8

(Worth a try)

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