WORLDWIDE CHICKEN BURGER APPRECIATION SOCIETY
Posts Tagged: Chicken
Get Your Fat Ass Into This
You love chicken burgers.
We love chicken burgers.
Let’s all go out and eat chicken burgers together… wearing this.
On sale now for use $129 USD.
Burger Project
Purveyor: Burger Project, MLC Centre, Sydney CBD, Australia
Menu Item: Spicy Fried Chicken Katsu Burger
Price: $10.90 AUD
Squawk: This place has been popping up on our radar for some time – people telling us we gotta try it and all that. Of course “people” don’t always know what’s up. That’s why you need experts like us. To tell you where to get lunch. And judging by the long lines, this place makes a pretty decent, if not very popular burger. And at $10.90 it represents decent value which may be a large part of why people queue up. Most everyone we spoke with got beef burgers, but that’s a whole other blog, we’re all about the squaaaaawkers, and sadly the best thing we can say about this particular burger is the chipotle chips are really great, even if they are $5.50 extra. Great chips.
Buaawk: There’s a lot of disappointment here. Overall its just a tiny burger to start with. The bun was too sugary and plastic food shiny. Chicken is thin, although evenly breaded and fried, it’s not “Katsu” at all, more of a small schnitzel is all. For heat there was some salted chopped chillies, not a sauce. Pickles were OK, lettuce was fine, and the “Katsu” sauce was non-existent. We had higher hopes. The good news is this place is a “project” which means there’s a chance for them to do better next time. Right?
Orto Trading Co.
Purveyor: Orto Trading Co, Surry Hills, NSW Australia
Menu Item: Southern Fried Chicken Benni
Price: $18 AUD
Squawk: The brioche (They call it an English Muffin, but it’s not even close) is one of the best around and the sweetness is just right with the butter and Hollandaise. Egg is just right – oozing the needed yolky moisture to make the semi-dry chicken go down smoothly. We love the venue and the friendly staff. We heard it was sold recently so went back to see what the new Owner was up to. Turns out, they kept all the things we loved about the place – and added a few new delicious non-chicken items to menu as well, The “Orto Brekky” is a fave. We highly recommend the place overall, but if you’re heading out for a high-ranking chicken burger, keep walking, the exception to this being, if you’re supremely hungover. In that case, one of these and one of their perfect coffees, just might get you through the morning.
Buaawk: This should be knock your socks off delicious. Sadly all socks stay on. (Maybe that’s a good thing.) Point is this could be something special with a little more love, attention to detail and creativity. Our biggest issue is with the chicken itself, too much oily crust, and the three times we’ve tried, it always seems like it sat in the fryer for just a bit too long. And a side of something potato-ey would go a long way.
FAT FRIDAY
No review this week. Our pants are too tight. Maybe you can JOIN the Holy-Cluck Worldwide Reviewer Team so we don’t have to keep working naked. In the meantime, please enjoy this hilarious spot for Big John by Trevor Clarence.
Bar Luca
Purveyor: Bar Luca, 52 Phillip St. Sydney Australia
Menu Item: Chicken Karage Burger w wasabi aioli, pickled vegetables, coriander and coral lettuce.
Price: $14 AUD.
Add Fries +$3
Add Fries and Chicken Wings +$6 (Squaaaaawk!)
Add Cheese +$2
Add Streaky Bacon +$2
Add Egg +$2 (No!)
Squawk: Three reviewers. Three identical burgers. We all went for the added cheese, pickles and the fries/chicken wings combo option because we are hard core Cluckers. Normally we would have added bacon too, but with the wings? It just all seemed a bit too risky. And by “risky” we mean anything from a heart attack to a head down, drooling nap session back at the office while our friendly colleagues draw dicks on our face with permanent pen.
In a sea of sameness these guys have a unique take on the chicken burger: Japanese. It starts of course with the crispy Karage style chicken – and lots of it – and extends to the Japanese style pickles and of course the wasabi aioli. All of which adds up to a winner. Mostly. We didn’t spot the Nippon influence right away and if we had we probably wouldn’t have added the extra “normal” pickles, not that they detracted one bit. More that we felt we’d accidentally strayed from the Chef’s vision. (sigh) Next time.
Nice selection of heat here. Nothing too dangerous though.
We also loved that even though we may have misfired with the pickles, they gave us the option to add them without any drama. In fact their Burger Add-Ons as listed in the “price” section above, made us very happy. It’s like having 4-Wheel Drive in your car. Even if you don’t use it 99% of the time, its nice to know it’s there just in case. And because those add-ons are there, there’s no barrier to your own particular flavour of goodness. It’s not quite The Counter, but it’s appreciated. Also we loved the wide sauce selection. We were happy to our friends at Diemen’s represented along with a new one from Changz we’d never seen before (it’s really nice.)
The venue is meh. Sort of a CBD vibe with people in suits and shorts – good mix, but it’s not a place you’d ever come for the vibe or decor. Thankfully their burger is a winner.
Buaawk: Normally when we’re out on the job we start by making a list of all the things we like and attribute point values. In this rare instance we started by trying to figure out what we could possibly take points away for. It’s that good. It may not be the Perfect 10 Unicorn, but it’s close. We knocked off points for the mayo overload. Wasabi or not, they need to ease up. Take a look at that massive glob oozing out between the cheese and the brioche in the photo above and you’ll get an idea of what we were dealing with. And the fries. A burger this good deserves better fries. Sure the parsley on top is a nice touch, but overall Bar Luca drops the ball with these shoestrings. And it’s a damn shame.