WORLDWIDE CHICKEN BURGER APPRECIATION SOCIETY
Posts in Category: Burger
PADDINGTON INN
Purveyor: The Paddington Inn, Paddington NSW, Australia
Menu Item: Charred Chicken Burger
Price: $19 AUD
Squawk: This is an underrated pub in all sorts of ways. Its unassuming street presence belies its modern and vast interior with various rooms, nooks and chill-out areas. The music isn’t awful and it’s not too loud and the candle light creates accost atmosphere. But you, you would sit on a cold rock, surrounded by stacks of speakers and Drum & Bass pill fiends if it meant you could enjoy a ten out of ten chicken burger, and that’s why we love you. The Paddo does quite a few things right on this burger. For starters the brioche is amongst the best we’ve seen with the perfect amount of char. And they put bacon on it – yay! But like most places in Australia, left all the fat on – boo! The meat itself was actually quite bland – relying on the “surrounds” to do the heavy flavour lifting, sadly they don’t. But hey, they got great beers and friendly staff and you can always reach in and peel that bacon fat off.
Buaawk: The sauce on this one was… um… we forgot, because it was forgettable. But they almost make up for it by plonking a bottle of Sriracha on the table when we ask what they have with kick. The fries are fine, but not worth writing about. But what really irks us, and The Paddo isn’t alone in this regard is cooks who leave all the fat on bacon. Trim it!
– HC
REUBEN HILLS
Purveyor: Rueben Hills, Surry Hills NSW, Australia
Menu Item: Dirty Bird Chicken Chicken Burger
Price: $17.50 AUD
Squawk: This place is cool. Unlike so many places out there that are trying to be cool, this one just is. We love the rugged garage-like interior, the open roller door at the back, the minimalist hard concrete, steel and wood fit-out is understated, but visually impactful. And they play good music at just the right volume. And… they got some very nice bottled hot sauces to choose from too. On top of all this, Reuben Hills is really more of a coffee joint, so you get all those fantastic aromas wafting around. But you just want to know how down and dirty that Dirty Bird really is. They have rock solid foundation with a world-class brioche, one of the best we’ve encountered, but, disappointingly, the middle isn’t worthy of it.
Buaawk: We’re all about simplicity and quality ingredients, and that’s what they seem to be going for here, but it costs them. We’ve had other dishes on their menu in the past (gasp) and they’re delicious, so we’re sad to see this bird don’t fly. The sauerkraut like pickles are a nice touch, but too wet – this burger is like a leaky faucet. The meat is juicy, but bland and without the aforementioned hot sauce to give this chick some wings, it ain’t going nowheres.
Bonus Points: Fantastic interior, vibe, tunes and staff.
– HC
OPORTO
Purveyor: Oporto, Everywhere in Australia
Menu Item: Bondi Burger Meal (Small)
Price: $8.50
Squawk: Fast n cheap. Reliably consistent. Easily found in case of chicken burger emergencies. And they’re not afraid to put a shit-ton of chicken salt on your chips. It may be all chemicals and way to bright yellow to be good for you, but damn its tastes good.
Buaawk: There was a time in Australia when Oporto was considered THE definitive chicken burger. Their unique Portuguese style chicken (spicy, but not painful), great sauce and value for money helped them quickly grow from their original Bondi Beach location into the national chain they are today. But sadly all that growth came at a price. The mass produced bread rolls are mostly air and sugar. The chicken overly processed. Their sauce used to be the “real deal,” but now it’s a colour that cant possibly be natural. And so far, every Oporto we’ve been in has been a mess – dirty trays, wrappers, empty bags and cups strewn all over. Even when the place is empty it can be hard to find a clear place to sit. But hey, they still got that nasty (read: we love it) “chook salt” on their chips.
– HC
THE ARGYLE
Purveyor: The Argyle, The Rocks, Sydney NSW Australia
Menu Item: Southern Fried Chicken Burger
Price: $17 AUD
Squawk: The brioche bun out of a packet, that they could not ruin, was perhaps the only good, but they did not make it so that does not count. Sadly there is nothing good to say about this disgraceful attempt at a chicken burger. The only good thing would have been that it was passable as a fillet ‘o fish burger, but as it was not made of fish I reckon it deserves negative points for having the texture of Flathead.
Take 2. Still Sad.
Buaawk: It said it came with pickled daikon, Habanero butter and “Crisy” Fries (not crispy). Maybe Crisy is the Chef responsible for this excuse for a meal. I’m going to review based on the different experience stages I went through.
Pre-Burger – The description on the menu is misleading. I got excited by the words “Southern” and “Habanero.” There was nothing Southern about this burger, except the rating, and the spiciest ingredient of the experience was my temper.
Delivery to Table – The chicken, as shown, did not even fill the small brioche bun which made it look immediately like a Macca’s $1 burger.
Eating – Like I said. it tasted like a fish burger. I am not sure why, I think it was the slippery bread-crumb batter that fell off as you ate it. The chips were 100% like Macca’s fries so they at least complimented the look of the meal. And they were served in a cool looking mini fryer basket.
You fall up the stairs. You fall down the stairs.
Post easting – I was left hungry enough to drown my sorrows in another pint of beer for lack of feeling full. The nail in the coffin was when a mate’s chicken burger turned up as shown in the picture on the right. It had a double layer of chicken which forgave the meal slightly for him but made me even sadder, dropping the score by 1 point at least.
– AW
UPDATE: Stupidly, we went back. Mainly for the delicious Steigl Ale, but even falling down those steps isn’t enough to make this burger worthy. It just doesn’t not make a great initial impression visually. The chips were dry, but the chicken was super plump and juicy and that’s pretty much the only thing good we have to say. OK, the bun wasn’t bad – super minimal, crispy outside, soft and doughy inside, sort of like a southern biscuit. Overall the burger was sorely missing much needed tang form pickles or slaw. And a pickle would go a long way. For some reason we think pickled carrots would be perfect on this one. All this said, The Argyle is great, albeit touristy, venue and the live music was as actually good.
CHUR
Purveyor: Chur, Surry Hills NSW, Australia
Menu Item: Marinated Grilled Chicken w Hot Mayo and Minted Slaw
Price: $10 AUD (Spicy Chips $6, L&P $5)
Squawk: We’ve been fans of this place ever since we first tried their BBQ pork sandwich. It’s so good we’ve never been able to make ourselves order the chicken burger until now. And that’s saying a lot, because you KNOW how much we loves them chicken burgers.
When you order you’ll see a sign behind the bar that says “We proudly serve McClure’s pickles.” So we asked for those to be put on the burger. Turns out this was an excellent idea if we may say so ourselves. They’re good. The Hot mayo isn’t that hot really, but it does add a nice bit of kick. And if you need more, just reach for one of the many options in their beer style six packs of hot sauces. The meat is nicely grilled chicken breast, nearly blackened and it’s all held together, barely, by a nice soft brioche that’s not sweet like some. This is a real contender, not quite a top-scorer, but some Dijon mustard, crispy bacon, or a thick tomato slice just might bring this one into “Best Burger” Champion range.
Buaawk: Lots of sauce. Maybe too much sauce. It’s super messy, and impossible to eat without getting your hands covered. Fortunately there’s a whole entire roll of paper towels always at your disposal. And tasty beats messy 7 days a week. Our major gripe is that it’s always too loud. The music isn’t for the customers. Its for the staff. And that’s been a problem every time we’ve come here. We didn’t come to dance. We came to eat and catch up with out mates. If they fix this then they’ve fixed nearly everything.
Rating: 8/10