Milk Bar By Cafe Ish

105 Regent Street, Redfern

PH: none

Willow (guest reviewer) had...

Cheese Burger + Classic topping  ($8.00)

Beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup, grilled onion + lettuce and tomato

As a first timer to Sydney Burger Blog I aimed to start with a Classic (Cheese Burger, Lettuce and Tomato) in the hope that I can build up my strength and confidence in coming guest appearances!

Great value for money, kinda liked the way you could pick and choose your own and personalise your burger.

The choice clearly confused Marina as she ended up with a Chicken J

I was the only one to have fries, they weren’t bad...

Would have preferred a bigger burger overall. Did it really need the wooden over sized tooth pick!

Especially as I stabbed my thumb whilst trying to rip it out...

Must have been our waiters first day as he didn’t know whether they had a phone!

Pete tried to crack on to the waitress! She clearly wasn’t as nice as the blond girl who was sat next to Munza on his flight back from Melbourne.

No business cards were exchanged!

Pete’s crumbed Pineapple was missed of his order, however he scored a free Chocolate Milk Shake which was very nice.

Munza ordered a Brownie with Ice Cream. Must have been nice as he didn’t share...

Not knowing the standard that is out there I am going to score my burger a middle of the range.......3

I look forward to my next experience and BB.

Willow's score: 3/5 

Paul & Pete had...

Cheeseburger + Aussie topping ($10)
Beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup, grilled onion + roasted beetroot, egg, bacon, lettuce & tomato

Paul says...

This place prides itself on using free range eggs, bacon, and $5 burgers. If you want speedy service, give it a miss. A 25 minute wait out of peak hour is a little too long. And don't try and order ahead for a pick-up, there is no phone!

The cheeseburger at $5, plus the Aussie topping gave us a $10 burger, still well under the average price we have become accompanied to paying for a good burger. The burger bun and pattie were smaller than your average burger, so you get a little less when you pay less.

The beef pattie was nicely char grilled, but was too small to keep me satisfied. It's a good traditional style burger, but nothing special. I think the grilled relish and bbq sauce on the Bacon Cheeseburger would have finished this burger off nicely.

Paul's score: 3/5

The Meat & Wine Co

The Meat and Wine Co - Darling Harbour

31 Wheat Road,Darling Harbour
(02) 9211 9888

themeatandwineco.com

Our visit:18 October 2012

Gourmet Beef Burger ($25 with chips)

"225g selected primal beef burger patty, grilled, basted and served on a warm bun with baby cos lettuce, tomatoes, onion rings, gherkins, pink sauce and BBQ sauce."

 

Paul says...

With every second burger of late being a disappointment, I started to wonder what you had to do in Sydney to get a good burger.  Is it the theory that you get what you pay for? At an average of over $10, shouldn't all burgers at this price be good?

At $25, the Gourmet Beef Burger at The Meat & Wine Co is the most expensive burger we have had. The wait for the burger was long, but good company and a free bottle of wine (thanks to Citibank dining program) made it bearable.

When the burger arrived it looked impressive. After the first bite I had flash backs to the over char grilled burger from Ribs & Burgers, but that was short lived. The combined flavour of the char grilled patty, pink sauce, BBQ sauce, gherkin and crispy fried onion rings was  perfect. It's so good that each bite feels like it is in slow motion as the sauce hits your palate, followed by the texture of the crispy onion rings and the generous slab of char grilled beef.

It's taken a while, but finally we have found a burger that gets top marks.

Paul's score: 5/5 


Pete says...

This week we went to the Meat and Wine Co Darling Harbour for burgers and everyone had the ‘Gourmet Beef Burger’ which did an amazing job in filling the hole after a long wait though which was a bit disappointing.

This would have to be one of my best burgers to date with it’s good size burger patty not over cooked but still slightly pink (the way I like it), served on a bun with sliced tomatoes, cos lettuce, gherkins, fried onion rings, bbq and pink sauce. I think the fried onion rings and the pink sauce definitely made the whole burger come to life and gave it that WOW factor and to top it off it comes on a warm hot plate so that your meals don’t go cold.

The gourmet beef burger comes with chunky chips and you can expect to pay $25, which in the scheme of things is reasonable considering we got table service with nice decor and ambience.

Thanks to Paul’s Citibank card we also received a free bottle of Cabernet Merlot which was a nice drop.

Pete's Score 4.5 (it would of been slightly higher and making it my highest burger rating, if it wasn’t for the long wait).

Hard Rock Cafe Sydney

Hard Rock Cafe Sydney

Level 2, Harbourside Centre, Darling Harbour

www.hardrock.com/Sydney

Our visit:12 October 2012

Paul had...

Legendary Aussie Burger (6oz) ($16.00 with chips)

Angus beef, cheddar cheese, caramelised onions, crisp seasoned bacon, beetroot, fried egg, lettuce, tomato and pickle

 

After a very average burger at the Hard Rock Fiji last year, my expectations were low. 

The Legendary Aussie Burger comes with a 6 or 10 oz burger patty.The 6 oz. patty was  the perfect size for me. The patty was cooked medium well, just the way I like it. Unlike most burgers we have experienced  there was no special sauce whipped up by the chef.Tomato sauce and mustard was the choice. Being a Legendary Aussie Burger, it had to be tomato sauce.

Everything on this burger was perfectly cooked. While a little messy, the egg yolk found its way through the burger covering the melted cheese, crispy bacon and beef patty. It was a good traditional style burger, I really enjoyed it.

Paul's score: 4/5 


Marina had...

Classic Bacon Cheeseburger $19

I used to be a regular at the Hard Rock Cafe when it was in Crown Street, Darlinghurst. I would order the Classic Bacon Cheeseburger all the time and request thousand island dressing on the side. BTW I should add that I was devastated when the Cafe closed its doors and had not, up until today, visited the new site in Darling Harbour.

Much to my surprise the Cafe was busier than I expected for a weekday and the food was quite good.

The burger had not really changed and came with your choice of American, Cheddar or Swiss cheese, garnished with lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles and served with fries. The beef patty was succulent and the bun fresh so everything was perfect until they told me they no longer had 'thousand island' dressing on offer. The waitress then started to run through what seemed to be a list of every other sauce on the planet (none of which I was interested in hearing about).

I am here to tell you the Hard Rock Cafe's thousand island dressing was amazing, I want to know who made the executive decision to take it off the menu.....not happy Jan....it will be sorely missed by this patron...it just wasn't the same without it...nor was the new location as cool as Darlinghurst. 

No sauce for you

Marina's score: 3.5/5

P.S. Kim & Marina found it hard being famous bloggers in a restaurant popular with tourist.  

The Mean Fiddler

The Mean Fiddler

Cnr Windsor & Commercial Road
Rouse Hills

www.meanfiddler.com.au

Our visit:2 September 2012

Paul had...

Beefburger ($17.00 with chips)

Angus beef, tasty cheese, bacon and homemade tomato relish

 

This is a great little pub. The lighting is dim, so apologies for the poor quality pic. There was no apology forthcoming for this burger.

The bun was rock hard and the bacon was overcooked to the point it was like eating beef jerky. The beef was cooked well and the flavour was ok, but overall it was a bad burger.

Paul's score: 1/5

Three Swallows Hotel

Three Swallows Hotel

342 Hume Highway Bankstown

threeswallowshotel.com.au

Our visit:5 October 2012

Paul had...

Hamburger ($12.00 with chips)

Lettuce, tomato, cheese and beetroot

 

Looks good doesn't it? I'm not sure if the patty was dripping with water or fat, but it wasn't appetising. This burger reminded me of the  Boss Hog Burger from Hog's Breath. The patty was like a bad rissole. Perhaps the name Three Swallows refers to the number of bites you can stomach. It's a poor quality burger, and at $12 it's poor value.  

Paul's score: 1/5

Ribs & Burgers - take 2

Ribs & Burgers

The Star Cafe Court

80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont

02 9518 8825

ribsandburgers.com.au/

Our visit:14 September 2012

Paul had...

Original Burger - Cheese (vintage) & Bacon ($14.00)

160g beef patty, char-grilled and basted, iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickles, and pink & BBQ sauce

 

Our first experience at Ribs & Burgers wasn't ideal as our burgers were cooked inconsistently. We put this down to a busy first week of trade, so we went back and gave it another shot.

I can say that the burgers were still cooked inconsistently. Members of our group that ordered Butchers Choice burgers received burgers cooked from rare to well. On this occasion I went with the Original Burger which is char-grilled.

The short of it - char-grilled is not for me, well not this burger. The taste was a little overwhelming. I was reminded of one of those unfortunate BBQ experiences when you turn a quality piece of meat into a piece of charcoal. 

While I've had a good burger at this place, it's too inconsistent for me. Grill'd is only a few minutes down the road and it's always consistently good.   

Paul's score: 2/5

Kim had...

Dagwood

Well we went back to The Star (Ribs & Burgers) for our burger today – I tried the Dagwood burger – basically the same contents as the original burger with bacon, swiss cheese, egg & beetroot.

The wait for my burger this time was definitely less than last week, so I thought (hoped) that my beef patty would be well cooked…but I’m going to have to say that I didn’t enjoy my burger so much today. My bacon was burnt and patty wasn’t cooked properly - still too pink for my liking, also, due to extra juices from beef patty my bun ended up being soaked a little bit around the edges which made it hard to eat – I noticed that this time around there wasn’t much sauce in my burger which was a disappointment as I really liked the sauce. But I guess it just shows that it really was the sauce that made the burger good.

Next time I will decline coming here for burgers … probably stick to Grill’d if we are eating local…

Kim's Score:  2 out of 5

Until next time!

Kimzy


Marina had...

Original Burger with a Tropical Twist $14

The tropical twist came in the form of swiss cheese and pineapple which accompanied the beef patty, iceberg lettuce, red onion, dill pickles on a sesame seed bun.

This burger was huge and I did like it but the Original Burger with blue cheese from Ribs & Burgers was better.

Blue cheese please

Marina's score: 3.5/5

Ribs & Burgers

Ribs & Burgers

The Star Cafe Court

80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont

02 9518 8825

ribsandburgers.com.au/ 

Paul had...

Butcher's Choice Burger - Lamb ($16.50)

Lamb patty, cucumber, baby oak lettuce with yogurt, mint and cumin sauce, and fruit chutney on a foccacia bun

 

Ribs & Burgers has just opened at The Star, so we thought we would check it out. Maybe stopping in on the first Friday wasn't such a great idea. The queue was long, but it gave us plenty of opportunity to admire the menu. The menu is big, literally. There is a good selection of burgers and sauces, it was hard to make a choice. I decided to go for the Lamb burger. I had a good feeling that it may give my favourite burger, the Baa Baa from Grilled, a run for its money.

The lamb patty was big and juicy and the blend of flavours was mouth watering. This is a good burger. A little more fruit chutney would have been to my liking. Then the flavour would have been perfect. There was only one thing holding this burger back from being on par with the Baa Baa. The patty was a little rare. Across the five burgers we had, every patty varied from rare to medium well. I guess we will put it down to a busy first week.

BTW, the Pink sauce is great with chips.

Paul's score: 4/5

Kim had...

Original burger with a side of chips: $16

I apologise to all our burger blog fans that I’ve been lazy in getting my review up. But with all that has been happening, work, work & more work, I couldn’t spare anytime to write a review…

Anyways, it’s a little too late to write something about the burgers that I had over a month ago, so I’ll leave those and go with what I had last Friday since the memory of the burger is still fresh in my mind.

So this new joint just opened up called Ribs & Burgers – inside The Star food court – they are still new – having only been opened for less then a week when our team paid them a visit, they were so busy that the line to place an order was probably making all the other takeaway owners a little envious, so I can forgive the joint for my slightly undercooked meat patty since I could see how busy they were...

I had the original burger which has a beef patty, iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickles and pink & BBQ sauces in a freshly baked sesame seed bun. Apart from my beef patty being a little too char-grilled (ok burnt in some areas) and a slightly darker shade of pink then I’d care to eat, I thought the burger was actually good – at least the portions that I ate I enjoyed. The sauce on the burger is probably what gives it the real kick. I think without the sauce the burger would have been pretty average.

I wouldn’t mind trying it again as I can see that there is potential for improvements, but if my beef isn’t cooked thoroughly next time, well let’s say that I doubt I’d eat it a third time.

My score: 3.5/5

Until next time blog fans!

Xoxo

Kimzy

Marina had...

Original Burger + Cheese $12

This burger comes with the option of either swiss cheese, vintage cheddar or blue cheese.

I selected blue cheese to have with the beef patty, iceberg lettuce, red onion and dill pickles which was served on a sesame seed bun.

This burger was really good my only complaint was that they were far too generous with the blue cheese and lets face it, it is not for the faint hearted. Blue cheese can be overpowering at the best of times let alone having a mountain sized pile on your burger, that said I really enjoyed the burger and would definitely have it again.

Who cut the cheese ?

Marina's score: 4/5

Beautiful Burgers

Beautiful Burgers

87-97 Regent Street, Chippendale NSW

(02) 9319 3132

beautifulburgers.com.au

Our visit: Friday 10 August, 2012

Paul & Kim had…

Wagyu Beef ($13.50)
cos, mayo, tomato caramelised onion and provolone cheese

Paul says…

After a few weeks of average burgers we needed a good burger fix. So this week it was back to Beautiful Burgers to try something new. Beautiful Burgers have a weekly special, so I was looking forward to see what was on offer this week.

This week’s special was a Portuguese chicken burger with chilli jam. You can’t go wrong with chilli jam! Unfortunately, we just missed out on the last Portuguese chicken burger. That meant no chilli jam!

Beautiful Burgers put a lot of thought and effort into their burgers. Every patty is carefully considered, you never get just a slab of meat. The Wagyu beef patty was no exception. The patty was a blend of Wagyu and Beautiful Burgers secret herbs and spices, well secret to me because I couldn’t quite make out what was in it. But it was tasty and it was cooked perfectly.

The only down side, I had chilli jam on my mind the whole time. Maybe next time!

The Wagyu is a good burger, and ideal if you are like me and want a little more than a slab of meat on your burger.

Paul’s Score: 3.5/5

FUEL

FUEL
The Star
80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont
Fuel Web Page


Paul, Pete & Kim had...

Fuel Burger ($16 with chips)
Prime Beef Patty, Cheddar Cheese, Fuel's Secret Sauce and Salad

Paul says...

Before ordering the FueI Burger, I asked what the special sauce was. It was a stupid question of course, as if they were going to give away their trade secret. After all, everyone flocks to Fuel at The Star just to get the burger with the secret sauce. It's like asking Colonel Sanders what his secret herbs and spices are.

The Fuel Burger is a big burger, but it has nothing on Fuel's God Father burger. The beef was tender and juicy, just the way i like it. The added flavour from the secret sauce was... well, it was MIA. Maybe it was a mild honey mustard or mayo, but i couldn't tell. It's a great burger for a meat lover, but i like a little extra flavour on my burgers.

I was about to mention the sauce that the chips came with, but now i'm thinking that it could have been the special sauce that was meant to be on the burger. If it was, thank god it was a side of sauce. At first i thought the chips were coated in a bacon flavour, but it was the sauce. It's like a blend of tomato sauce, mustard and bacon. It sounds good, but I didn't enjoy it.

Paul's score: 2.5/5

P.S. I need another good burger!

Kim says...

I didn’t know what to expect here, as we all sat around the table waiting for our burgers to arrive I thought, man this better be a good burger, especially for $16.

When the buzzer went off, telling me my burger was ready & that I could go and collect it, I was surprised that the burger came with chips and how big the burger was as well.

As I was eating this massive burger (although small in comparison to Marina’s The God Father burger), I couldn’t taste much of their so called secret sauce, they were stingy on the pickles – everyone kept talking about their pickles in their burger but I had yet to come across mine, even when I was halfway through my burger…I think there was only 1 slice of pickle. Give me more pickles next time!

Everything else in the burger was pretty average, I can’t really remember anything about it that sort of stood out. I guess if you are in The Star and hungry, then give this burger a try. I’d say it was worth the money, especially with the chips on the side! 

My score: 3 out of 5

Until next time,

Xoxo

Kimzy

Marina had...

The Godfather Burger

I think by choosing this burger with two beef patties, Canadian bacon, onion jam, mushrooms, salad and Monterey jack cheese I may have bitten off more than I could chew............literally

The burger was huge, so much so that I couldn’t even pick it up without a landslide occurring.

I had to remove the 2nd patty to make it easier to eat

I must say however that the mushrooms and pickles really added to the taste and overall the burger was tasty but I don't think I could take it on again.

Bigger isn't always better

Marina's score: 3.5/5

Hurricane's Grill

Hurricane's Grill

Harbourside Darling Harbour

(02) 9211 2210

web link

Hurricane's Beef Burger ($21.50 includes chips)
300gm beef -basted and char-grilled, tomato, lettuce, onion and pickle.


The Hurricane's beef burger comes with a choice of 5 sauces

Kim had...

Spanish salsa

I have to start that I love ribs at Hurricanes and considering how nice they are, you’d think the same would apply to everything else on their menu. But it’s not.

I wasn’t impressed at all when my burger came out. They of course have the burger opened so you can see what’s inside it and also so you can put your own sauce onto your burger. I guess that’s fair enough, but I would have expected my sauce to be already inside my burger and extra provided on the side for just in case. On top of that, they provide you with one piece of roughly cut pickles…it’s not even enough to properly cover your whole burger. Same can be said about the tomato, onion and lettuce…although they did supply enough lettuce (just not cut to my liking though) Picture inserted.

So I have to improvise – I cut my pickle slice into smaller pieces and spread them out over my burger. The thing that really annoys me is that the burgers are actually all the same – the only difference is the sauce you put into your burger. This really ticks me off! Paying $21.50 for a burger is a massive rip! Especially considering it’s not exactly the best tasting burger around.

I think parts of my patty were actually burnt as well. Either that or it’s just the grill hasn’t been cleaned in a while. Either way, next time I go to Hurricanes it won’t be for their burgers, it’ll be for their ribs…hmmmm!

My score: 2.5 out of 5

Until next time!

Kimzy


Paul had...
Monkey Gland sauce

I've said before that we only rate the burger, and i'll stick to that, but on this occasion the poor service had an impact on the burger and affected my score.

This burger is for meat lovers. It contains a massive slab of beef and not much else. Considering it's all about the beef, I thought it had to be good. Well, i was wrong! Unfortunately, i didn't get a pic of the burger with the beef patty cut in half. The patty was rare, and i asked for medium to well. Sure, i could have sent it back, but i had already waited 30 min, had the drinks orders stuffed up and witnessed a senior staff member trying to fix up other orders that had been stuffed up. If i had sent it back i'm sure they would have returned with a pizza.

I've been here before and the service was good. The key is to get a regular staff member, not a backpacker that's just come in for a few shifts.

Even when the service was good and the burger was cooked the way i like it, i wasn't really impressed.

Paul's score: 2/5