THE GROUNDS OF ALEXANDRIA

CHEESEBURGER ($15 with chips)

Beef / cheese / onion / tomato / lettuce /pickle on a brioche bun 


The Grounds at Alexandria is a big sprawling place where you can head indoors and either sit down for a restaurant style meal or grab a takeaway order from the cafe bar, or simply walk around the outdoors area, soaking up the atmosphere and choosing something from the many options available. There is a bit of everything here, the various stalls offer up (among other items) bakery sweets and treats, BBQ-style hot dogs, ice cream sandwiches, freshly on-the-spot cooked doughnuts, spiced nuts or grilled "breaky" favourites.

And so it is that today i've gone for the outdoor grill and selected their cheeseburger.

As previously mentioned, we can only score the burger here, but make no mistake, the chips that come with this burger are as good as chips get. Nice thick cut fries, well cooked with a nice seasoning yet not overly salted. And their banana smoothie is one of the best smoothies i've ever had! 

And the burger?

Well, it's kind of like the sort you'd get from an old school hamburger shop, and I liked it. The bun was fresh and soft, the patty was cooked to perfection and the fresh tomato, lettuce and pickle made it a very good lunch option. They certainly did not skimp on the salads either, each mouthful was full of fresh goodness that complemented the taste of the meat and cheese. I wouldn't say the cheese was a let down, but it didn't come across tasting like the best quality cheese. However it was melted really well so that it gelled with the beef quite easily, leaving any concerns on the quality of cheese easily forgotten about.
The only complaint i'd have about the burger is that it was missing sauce. By simply adding some tomato sauce this could have been a top burger, so if you do get this burger, remember to squirt some sauce on your burger when you collect it - they have all varieties of sauce bottles on the counter.

So overall a very good burger.

Dan the burger man's Score: 4/5

BURGER PROJECT

Paul & Dan had:

CHEESE & BACON BURGER ($9.50)

Beef / cheese / bacon / pickles / onion / tomato / lettuce / "secret sauce". 

Dan says...

OK, so let's just start off by clarifying that all we can base our scores on here is the actual burger, not about the hype, not about the 45 minute wait, not about the rubbish chips and chicken wings on the side.

So let's get to the burger...

I was expecting big things, but to be honest...I shouldn't have. The burger was ok, but just that - ok. Not great and not bad, but just....ok.

While my complaints about burgers in the past have centred around the buns and the greasiness, i can positively say that this burger didn't suffer from those qualities. The bun was soft and tasty, and the filling was in no way too oily or greasy. And it had a good amount of lettuce, tomato and onion. It was also a decent sized burger for the price...not huge, but who needs a huge burger, you just want a good sized burger that fills you up, and this burger ticks the box there. 

So what let it down? Well, there was no pickle for starters. For some reason they forgot to put the pickle on my burger. But that's ok, we all make mistakes, that's why pencils have erasers. My biggest problem was the taste. The bacon flavour should have been an addition that enhanced the overall flavour, and not the dominant force that it was. By making the bacon taste dominate the overall flavour I couldn't really get a taste for the beef pattie, and definitely couldn't get a taste for the "secret sauce". What did the sauce taste like? I don't know, it was kept a secret.

So overall, i'd say this is the best burger so far out of those I've reviewed for the Sydney Burger Blog...but by no means does that make it a star in the universe of burgers around Sydney. I know i've had better. 

Dan's Score: 3.5/5

Paul says...

It was a busy day at The Burger Project and the staff were under pressure. Someone may have forgotten to put the pickles on Dan's burger, but someone forgot the salt on my chips! But, as Dan says, it's all about the burgers and Dan lucked out on the pickles. 

Given the Burger Project is a Neil Perry creation, it's hard not to make a comparison to Perry's Rockpool burgers, and for me, just like the Blackmore's Full Blood Wagyu, this burger wouldn't be the same without the pickles. 

The beef patty was cooked medium, the way I like it, and it's a decent size for the price. The thing you will notice about this burger compared to most, is the difference that quality fresh ingredients make. You can't be a pickle hater when they are served up fresh.

I really enjoyed this burger, despite having a brief moment where I thought it tasted like a quality Quarter Pounder (maybe it was the raw white onion). This is a no fuss traditional style burger, just with quality ingredients. It's big on flavour, and if we were taking value into account, this could be one of Sydney's best burgers. Despite being more than twice the price, Rockpool's David Blackmore's Full Blood Wagyu isn't twice as good as this burger, but it's definitely worth the $24, and it's still the best burger in Sydney.

When it comes to quality and value, The Burger Project has the burger chains covered. When the Burger Project expands across Sydney, it will make for a good alternative to Grill'd.

P.S. If you are hungry, give the chips a miss and get the "Double" beef patty burger.

Paul's score: 4/5

Kim had...

SPICY PORK BELLY($9.90)

Crispy Free Range Pork Belly, Salted Chilli, Pickled Slaw and Lettuce 

Kim says...

Well it’s been a very long time since my last blog and new burger around Sydney CBD. So what better way to get back into it then to try out a burger at the Burger Project. 

Today I had the Spicy Pork Belly, I thought I’d be a little adventurous and try something besides the usual cheese and bacon that the rest of the team were having. My first impression (after waiting in line for 30mins to order and then an additional 15mins for my food) was this reminds me of a Vietnamese pork roll. Which would have been GREAT if I ordered a pork roll, but even if it was a pork roll, I would have felt let down as it wasn’t that great either. 

To start with, where was the SPICE? Yes there was chilli, but it was so sweet that I couldn’t taste any actual chilli (I think this is probably due to the pickled slaw). When I see the word spicy in something, I expect it to at least make my tongue tingle. The crispy pork itself, well, there was definitely some crispiness but I felt there wasn’t enough of it or enough meat. I would have loved more of the crispy pork skin to meat ratio. But I guess you get what you pay for.

I think this burger would have been better off as a roll. My rating for this burger 2 stars out of 5. If it was a roll, I’d probably go with a 3 only. But try it and judge for yourself. 

Kimzy



Kim's Score: 2/5

ROYAL ALBERT HOTEL SURRY HILLS

ROYALE WITH CHEESE ($14 including a basket of crinkle cut fries and tomato chili sauces chips)

Beef / lettuce / tomato / cheese / tomato sauce / mustard / sliced pickles on burger and whole pickle skewered on top of burger. 

About time I got out of the Pyrmont Point Hotel, so off to the Royal Albert Hotel in Surry Hills to try their "Royale With Cheese". Obviously taking it's name from Pulp Fiction, the burger reminded me of what that movie's "Big Kahuna Burger" looked like and (may have) tasted like. Basically, it was one nasty little greaseball!

No beating around the bush, the burger was tasty. The meat was cooked well and tasted good, but it was super greasy. The sauce/mustard/pickle combo made for a very tasty little artery clogger, but there was so much sauce! Probably no surprise that those same attributes led to it being a very sloppy burger. Each bite was causing the bun and beef patty to slide about and not hold it's form, which made it hard to eat. It was made even more difficult to eat with the sauce dripping out all over the chips!

As I may have mentioned in a previous blog, I am a big fan of pickle on a burger, so it was good to have not only the sliced pickles on the burger, but also the whole pickle to finish the meal off with. Also, the spicy dipping sauce that came with the chips was really good!

So overall, not bad, it had some good points, but I can't score it too high as it was just too hard to hold onto while eating, and while I'm well aware you don't get a burger for it's health value, this one was just a bit too greasy for me.

Dan's Score: 3/5

Pyrmont Point Hotel - Portuguese Style Chicken and Bacon Burger

Portuguese Style Chicken and Bacon Burger ($19 includes chips)

with cucumber, tomato, grilled bacon, house made sambal aioli, guacamole & mixed leaf all on a damper roll. 

As my last blog on this site was from The Pyrmont Point Hotel, I thought it best to try a different burger. So today I went for the Portuguese Chicken Burger.

Was it better than the last burger I had here? Unfortunately, not really.
I had high hopes as i'm a firm believer that any food that includes the words 'chicken' and 'bacon' on the ingredients list is not doing too much wrong. And while the "Portuguese" flavour was good and had a bit of kick, the same problem occurred from last time...the bun was too tough. This pub needs to get a new baker to supply their buns, because it is the major drawback on any burger i've had here. The chicken was a little dry too, but only slightly, and was tasty enough to have been forgiven had it not been in combination with a bun that was dry and tough.

So overall, a good tasting burger, but again hard to chew through. If only this place would get better bread, they'd make a lot more dough.

Dan's Score: 3/5

Pyrmont Point Hotel - Pyrmont Point Beef Burger

Pyrmont Point Beef Burger ($19 includes chips)

char grilled beef pattie, caramelised onions. gherkins, beetroot, tomato, swiss cheese, mixed leaves, house made aioli and tomato relish on a damper roll 

Guest blogger Dan tells us about his burger experience.

The Point Hotel's beef burger was not the best burger I've ever had, but certainly not the worst. It could basically be described as your "everyday, run-of-the-mill pub burger".

So what was good about it? Well, I love a pickle on a hamburger and this one did not skimp on the pickle. I also enjoyed the combination of both raw red onion and the caramelised brown onion. Nice. The Jarlsberg was also fresh and tasty too....it's always good to see decent cheese on a burger instead of the poor old kraft singles you get a lot of the time.

The burger did have some drawbacks to it though. Namely, the bun. What should have been a badass damper roll, this burger was housed in a tough, low-grade bakery bun which made it hard to get through at times. Also, as you can see in the picture, there was a bit of blackened char on the pattie...some folks like it that way, but not me. Like Hank Hill always says; "taste the meat, not the heat".

Overall, not a bad burger which went down pretty well with a beer or two, but a few little improvements could be made to take it to the next level.

Dan's Score: 3.5/5

Pyrmont Point Hotel

59 Harris Street, Pyrmont 
www.pyrmontpoint.com.au

Cafe Morso

Pulled lamb burger ($17 includes chips)

with yoghurt, olives, feta, cucumber and tomato

It doesn't look like a burger, but they call it a burger, so that's good enough to give it a try.

This burger has plenty of texture and flavour, but it felt like there was something missing. Perhaps a little chilli or sauce would have made it more enjoyable.

The pulled lamb burger is a special, so don’t expect to see it on the menu all the time.

Paul's Score: 3/5

Cafe Morso

Lower Deck (west side), Jones Bay Wharf

Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont 
http://www.cafemorso.com.au

 

Rockpool Bar & Grill

Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney

66 Hunter Street Sydney NSW 2000

02 8078 1900

rockpool.com 

David Blackmore's Full Blood Wagyu Hamburger ($24)
with Bacon, Gruyere Cheese and Zuni Pickle

This burger has to take the top prize as the best in Sydney. Our only other 5/5 burger was at The Meat & Wine Co*; the Blackmore's burger is in another league 6/5.

I can't think how this burger could be improved, the beef patty is generous, tasty and cooked to perfection. Even the pickles are good! You wouldn't consider slapping them against the window.

This was my first burger with a brioche bun and it really makes a difference. I wouldn't risk spoiling a good thing, so leave the lettuce and tomato on the side.

Paul's Score: 5+/5

*We were unable to replicate our original The Meat & Wine Co experience when we tried the same burger at The Meat & Wine Co Southbank Melbourne.

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