Wauchope Hotel - Northern Territory Australia

Ok so this review is of a burger I had in 2009. I wouldn't normally bother but this one's worth it. On a trip between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek on the 1st of Jan 2009 after a hectic new years eve at Tennant Creek we were all starving and in dire need of a pit stop. So in the monotony that is the Stuart Highway we saw signs to the Wauchope hotel and decided over CB radio that the convoy should stop. I loved the feel of this outback pub, it took a while to find anyone though, and I particularly enjoyed that slight feeling in the air that you were about to be murdered, slowly. Anyway when we did find someone, you could hardly miss him, a huge man and he was keen to take our orders, perhaps so he could get to the murdering. I opted for the classic beef burger and others had a veggie burger and even a fish burger.

When my burger arrived I must say I was pretty chuffed (happy), it really looked like a classic aussie milk bar style burger, the classic tip top burger bun, beetroot, grilled onions and a proper slab of not perfectly uniformly shaped beef. The taste was just as it looked, bloody brilliant, the beef was so delicious with the grilled onions and beetroot slice, this flavour was by far the most dominant during the devouration and I was pretty happy (chuffed) about that too!

Reports on the other burger variants were also very positive. I also got me a couple of darwin stubbies as souveniours, great place, and we didn't get murdered! Pity its so far away!

Beef - 8 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 7 | Sauces - 7 | Salad 7 | Overall - 8

Beef Mascot - Mascot Charcoal Chickens

Located on Botany Road in the heart of Mascot, and nestled in competition central, with heaps of cafes, other chicken shops, great kebabs and turkish pide places, this place, like the others, have a battle on their hands. Apart from the standard fare from a chicken shop, salads, fried goodies and of course chickens, these guys do yeeros and burgers. The yeeros is make out of the charcoal chicken so I'm keen to try that, however on this occassion I couldn't help but be drawn to the burgers. Mascot Charcoal Chickens, are apparently known for their burgers, and they have a few to choose from, the mediterranean, the works, new yorker and the standard. I had to try the new yorker, with mustard and pickles how can you resist?! After a normal wait, the burger was ready, it smelt fanstastic, and the hot chips are laced perfectly with chicken salt and very crunchy, they must be double fried.

The burger itself is quite a large one, and the pattie is large too, not being dwarfed by the bun, the sauces dripping off the side, the grilled onions, and site of the pickles, all of this make this a beautiful burger to behold. I was glad to be seated when I first bit into the burger, my knees trembled and I seemed to lose general muscular strength as my mind was trying to process the incredible deliciousness of what my tongue was in the midst of. As you take more bites, you notice how consistent the burger is, every bite is equally delicious as the last and as you near the end you find yourself feeling weirdly empty and sad that this magnificent journey is about to end, as large as it seemed it was over all to quickly. This truly is an outrageously tasty burger. The meat is grilled perfectly and spiced a little too, it's not hot, its just flavoursome, the salad is fresh and crunchy, the onions compliment the meat perfectly, the mustard and tomato sauce combo is divine, all this combined with the cheese makes this a very difficult burger to beat in the taste department.

This is definitely being added to my regular lunch run schedule. My one issue with the burger was the structural integrity, the base of the burger was starting to break apart, not being able to handle the quanity of ingredients, however it wasn't too bad, and certainly did not ruin my experience, I've had way worse, and thinking about it, I would much rather they stick with this bun than go for a harder tougher one that could compromise the overall taste.

Beef - 9 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 8 | Sauces - 8 | Salad - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Burger from the Garden of East - Quince - Shop 347 Westfield Eastgardens

It's been over five years since I've reviewed a burger. The problem started soon after my last review in mid 2008. Years of food reviews started to take it's toll... my fingers became to fat to type on a keyboard. But I've fixed that, after years of painstaking hard work I have finally found a HUGE keyboard to allow me to keep typing and keep eating!! Anyway to the review, I've recently started working near Eastgardens again, and while the food court there is reasonable, there's also a good selection of cafes, Quince being unquestionably my favourite. By far, this is the BEST burger in Eastgardens, interestingly a couple of things have changed since I first got one to when these pics where taken. They've changed the chips from the shoestring style to these chunky double fried ones, both are delicious in my opinion so I'm happy, also the bun seems to keep changing, I guess that's coz it's hard to source exactly the same bun when you're only buying a small quantity.

Apart from these small changes this beef burger is superb, the meat is sensationally spiced, I have no idea what with, but it's definitely more than salt and pepper, it's almost like a kafta style pattie, but it's not, it's more subtle. The cheese is always melted to perfection, the salad doesn't get in the way but also doesn't feel like it's just there to be there, and the sauces, oh the sauces, the combo of the slightly tangy tomato based sauce with the mayo is like having a circus in your mouth, one with no scary clowns though. You may notice there are no pics of the burger half eaten, don't worry though thats not some stupid new policy of not being disgusting or being too embarrassed to take pictures of half eaten food in front of other people, no, instead it happened purely by chance, and further strengthens my case here for this burger being incredible, I simply couldn't put it down, once I was eating it, I didn't care about anything else, well maybe one thing, but to think to take a picture? No chance... I forgot I even had my camera.

Overall I absolutely love this burger, I'm grading it .5 of a point lower than OLE's beef burger due to consistency issues, Slav also reckons that the quality of the burger you get depends on who's behind the grill, which you can see quite easily through large glass windows. Although I've never had a problem with that, I just want the sesame seed bun! Pictured above are two of the chicken burgers they have as well, one is grilled chicken, the other is southern fried, both are excellent. This cafe does awesome food, so if you find yourself at Eastgardens and for some crazy inexplicable reason you don't want a beef burger you got plenty of other tasty options here!

 

Beef - 9 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 7 | Sauces - 8 | Salad - 7 | Overall - 8.5

Charcoal at the Bra - Maroubra Charcoal Chicken

After a painfully long wait at Maroubra RTA for business that took less than 3 minutes to complete once at the counter I had worked up a big apetite. As I walked out on the footpath I saw the Charcoal Chicken... perfect, there'd be something in there to squash the hunger. About 5 minutes later I walked out with a burger, I was salivating with hunger now, luckily I'm close to home and camera.

Looking at the burger now it's a totally different story to what I remembered when I first looked at it, remember, I was starving. I can see now the bun was ripped, the insides were nearly on the outsides and well it just looked a mess.

As soon as I took the first bite from this burger all I tasted was tomato. I obvioulsy bit into the side of the burger that had tomato, which shouldn't really be a problem, but with this burger, the tomato slices are over a centimetre thick, adding to the slopiness, the lettuce was lifeless and tired and there wasn't enough onions or sauce. Somehow they managed to hide even the beetroot flavour, when I was standing in the store waiting for the burger, I noticed a can of No Frills Beetroots, perhaps that has something to do with it. The only thing that was decent about this burger was the cheese, it was melted wonderfully with pattie, at least on one side, oh and I should mention that the pattie was made from a ball of mince rather than a premade one tossed on the grill, still, it wasn't enough to make this a 'go backer'.

Beef - 5 | Bun - 4 | Cheese - 4 | Sauces - 2 | Salad - 3 | Overall - 5

Best Kebabs in Sydney - Sefton Burgers

While I was getting the new wheels drilled for the 242 a couple of weeks back at AGR, I thought I'd go grab a spot of lunch, the fellas at AGR told me the best kebabs in Sydney are just up the road. Bewdiful, one for the site I thought. Upon arriving, I saw the picture of the juicy succulent burger they had, and suddenly my craving for a kebab pretty much just disappeared and was replaced by one for a big fat juicy burger. I ordered a beef one with cheese. I sat outside, admiring the sights of Sefton, looking at my strange fruit flavoured soda and wondering how long my wheels would take. Just as I started to wonder about my burger it arrived.

As you can see, it didn't look to bad at all, but as we all know, looks can be deceiving. The first thing I noticed was just how thin the pattie was, the second thing I noticed was the cheese was missing and the third thing I noticed was that the makers of the 'best kebab in Sydney' had no idea when it came to a burger. I can't be stuffed writing anymore about this non-event, a very ordinary experience that will not be had again, infact it was so uninteresting I don't think I'll bother going back to try the kebab.

Beef - 3 | Bun - 3 | Cheese - 0 | Sauces - 3 | Salad - 4 | Overall - 2.5

Goodalicious - Burgerlicious - Shop 3/130 Liverpool St Sydney (02) 9264 4446

I've been waiting to try this place for a while now, so DC and I decided we'd go and take 'em for a test drive. The store was alot like burger edge, bright, open, with little seats. We went at lunch time and the place was quite full, we walked up to the counter and the over zealous order taker girl was very keen to get our orders, I however was far from ready, still absorbing the vast menu. I noticed, that like burger edge, Burgerlicious lets you have you burger 'bunless' which means it'll be served with rice or salad, or you can have any burger in wrap, this is of course for those on low carb diets. Obviously we chose buns and I went for the standard burger which came with tomato sauce, instead of asking for bbq, like I usually do, I thought I might try this burger the way it's meant to be served. DC went for something else, which looked similar however came with egg and bacon, so I guess it didn't look that similar after all. You also get the option of salad or chips OR half salad and half chips which is pretty cool, so you can have a few chips and get a bit of salad into you as well.

We ordered and sat down, read the many papers around and rated the people walking past the window, as you do. A few short minutes later our burgers arrived, they bring them to you which I thought was quite good. The presentation of these burgers was great, they looked very tall, the meat had that just off the grill glisten to it. The chip and salad combo is a great idea, however the salad didn't look terribly exciting, there wasn't even any dressing on it, just a few bits of lettuce, a tomato, one seeded black olive and tomato.

After removing the toothpick from the center of the burger we started eating, and we were impressed. They tasted great, a lighter, fresher taste, and the meat, despite look like normal mince had a great flavour, the tomato sauce was a good option for this burger, it complimented the meat very well. The bun was also really good, soft and fresh and easily squashable, that's a must here as the burger arrives very tall. Even the lack of beetroot wasn't missed, the grilled onions were plentiful and tasty and the pickles were also fantastic, thick and juicy. The one complaint I do have was the pattie size, while it wasn't the smallest pattie I've had, it was no where near the largest, there was at least one and bit bites without any burger. However apart from that this was a very satisfying experience, I'll definitely be back.

Beef - 6 | Bun - 7 | Cheese - 5 | Sauces - 4 | Salad - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Half a Pound - McDonalds

Yes another burger from McDonalds. I know what you're thinking but the fact of the matter is they are the worlds largest hamburger chain, and by far the most eaten, so I think its justified. The double Quarter pounder, I dunno why they don't call this the half pounder, whatever it is, this is a gem and a must after a big night when there are no kebabs in sight, it's also very easy to get the cabbie to go into the drive thru on the way home. The double quarter pounder is the same as the single apart from two meat patties and an extra slice of cheese, this heart stopping meat and cheese mountain is surprisingly juicy, when you bite into this you can see the fat dripping, and the way the three slices of cheese melt and fuse the meat and bun together is superbly gross.

The triple extra processed cheese shines, bringing out the little flavour in the meat there is, and even though the sauce, onions and pickles are the same as what's delivered on the regular quarter pounder it's strangely enough, I suspect this has something to do with the oodles of fat leaking out of this burger. I'd definitely recommend the double quarter pound on those nights your coming home late in a taxi, there's enough beef and cheese to soak up half a bar of piss, and you can't help but feel dirty when you're ho'ing into this thing, so it's better to be intoxicated when doing so. Sometimes, the morning after you can't even remember you had one, and that's the way I like it!

Beef - 4 | Bun - 3 | Cheese - 5 | Sauces - 3 | Salad - n/a | Overall - 5

Dingo Burger - Chamberlain Hotel - Cnr Pitt & Campbell St Sydney (02) 9288 0888

First I have to apologise for the quality of the pictures here, I took these with my Nokia N73, and despite it having a Carl Zeiss lens it takes crap pics, but that's another story. I quite like the Chamberlain hotel, it's laid out real nice and got comfy square cushions to sit on at the long tables, the bar is great and the place just feels real cosy, particularly on a cold winters day. When I saw the beef burger on the menu, it's was obvious to me and the people I was with what I was eating, after ordering and grabbing a beer we sat down to a bit of catch up conversation, however this was surprisingly cut short by the speed of the service, before we knew it our burgers and other meals arrived.

The burger arrived open, and a good thing that was too, with the size of the pattie I think this may have been confused as a salad roll rather than a beef burger. We definitely have a new winner for the smallest pattie on a burger. I rarely eat my burgers open, so I closed it up and started eating. Holding the massive slices of turkish bread with no meat visible on any side was a little disappointing, however this was short live, I must say, the bites I got with meat were actually very good, the pattie was cooked perfectly, sitting on melting tasty cheese, topped with grilled onions and bbq sauce was awesome and I loved the horizontal sliced pickles, together with beetroot, tomato, cucumber and lettuce this burger could hold it's own against any burger line up, it's just the pattie size that lets it down. Unfortunately I have to say, that due to the tiny size of the pattie, and believe me, it's tiny, I don't think i'll go this burger again, it's just not worth it, I'd rather the chicken schnitzel.

Beef - 6 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 6 | Sauces - 6 | Salad - 6 | Overall - 5.5

On the Edge - Burger Edge - 40 Perouse Road Randwick (02) 9398 9600

Wanting to try something from the Sydney Gourmet Burger chain, I find this shop had changed to 'Burger Edge', I wasn't disappointed, after all it was still a burger place. On a rainy Saturday afternoon, after some shopping a burger is what everyone needs, but this place was conspiciously empty, with only two other people in the store. The place looked bright and fresh, with the grill and preperation area in clear view, this was good.I scanned the menu quickly and went for the closest thing to the rest of the burgers in the review, which was the 'Feel the Cheese' number with BBQ sauce instead of tomato. I was asked to pick a type of bread and chose the white floury one, I can't remember the name. I should mention quickly here that they gave me wholemeal bun instead, so that exercise was totally pointless. After placing the order and paying the $14.00 it cost for the burger, chips and a drink I sat waiting and reading one of the many magazines. Fifteen mintues had pasted and I was really starting to wonder what on earth was going on, there was four staff and 3 customers in the store, including myself and for some reason I hadn't got my Lots of Lettuce food yet, as I was about to stand up to query the progress of my order the young chap came and handed me a bag. Perhaps the time to cook means the size of the pattie would be big!

When I unwrapped the burger it was lettuce and onion all round, I couldn't see any meat from any angle and was wondering where the meat was, there goes the theory on the time to cook being relative to meat pattie size. After sinking my teeth in for the first bite, an overpowering taste hit my entire mouth, it's hard to say what it was, but I think it was the spanish onions, it was unlike any taste I've had before from a burger, it didn't taste bad or anything, just different, it could have been something in the meat because, despite not being able to see any meat, I did get some in my first bite. The burger pattie was a reasonable size, and certainly looked like it was premade pattie shape, there's no throwing a ball of mince onto the grill here and letting the spatula sort it out. The meat in the pattie looked very lean, there was no visible fat and it actually tasted lean too, which isn't always the best thing when it comes to beef, if you're going to do your best to make the beef as lean as possible it's always a good idea to spice it up with herbs or something, which, as far as I could tell, is not done here. The wholemeal bun that I had was very nice, it seemed very fresh, was not overly tall, did not get in the way of any flavour, and did its job of holding the meal together very well. This burger has pickles on it, but I couldn't taste them at all, even when I could see them coming in the next bite, they simply were tasteless, it was quite weird, this might be a good thing for those that don't like pickles but sucks when you see the burger has pickles but can't taste em! Another thing that was annoying was the cheese, it's supposed to have two slices of cheese, it's even called, Feel the Cheese, but I couldn't taste the cheese much, only in the last couple of bites, did I get it, I think the perhaps there was too much salad interfering and the BBQ sauce on either side of the bun perhaps had something to do with it, however even that sauce wasn't enough I felt. The rest of the salad was good, but would have been better with beetroot, you could really taste the salad, in fact I would more call this a salad roll with meat, than a burger, bit disappointing when you see the prices, to get a burger with chips and a drink you're looking to pay between $11.00 to $17.00!

I reckon this burger was OK, the main problem is that it's trying to be too healthy, I know when I'm going for a burger, I'm not exactly going for anything particularly healthy, a burger is a treat, that I want to enjoy in all it's fatty, saucy, cheesy goodness, but I find that from burger edge, they seem to be missing that edge. The pattie needs more flavour, if not from fat from herbs or spice, there needs more sauce and I think they should change the cheese used, it had neglible impact even with two slices. The chips were a hybrid of wedges and french fries and tasted great, however had too much 'sea salt' perhaps I should have gone for one of the many other seasonings they offer. Being on the healthier side of the burger scale you can have your burger ingredients on a wrap or even without any bread at all just served on salad! However I must say I don't really recommend these burgers, they lack that general hamburger flavour, if you do want a healthy burger this is the place to go for, but expect it to taste healthy too.

Beef - 5 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 4 | Sauces - 4 | Salad - 6 | Overall - 5

Maccadonian - mLeko Bar - Shop 10 World Square (02) 9267 3636 - Sydney CBD

Hidden away around the rear of the World Square complex, although right in front of the lifts to Austereo, the home of 2Day FM and 2MMM FM is a cafe that is so much more. mLeko, open for breakfast and lunch serves up everything from coffee to burek to hundreds of people a day. Some of the food from mLeko has a macedonian influence, and is delicious, I could go on for pages about the different foods and flavours offered here, but we're here for the hunt, so let's start. It took a while to get my burger, it was a rainy and very windy Friday lunchtime and they were extremely busy, so I was expecting a little wait.

When I took the mLeko burger out of the brown sandwich bag, the first thing that popped in my head was how neat this burger looked, it was clean looking with nothing hanging out, no sauce going anywhere, almost looked like a model of a burger. The bun that's featured with the mLeko burger is a Bursting with country freshness!sour dough one and it looked great, nice and fresh and I don't think it was toasted, the cheese was a slice of tasty that was slightly melted on to the pattie, the lettuce was fresh, not shredded, and the tomato slices were big and juicy. After swallowing the first bite, I didn't want to do anything but take another few bites before Quality Mincethinking about anything. The meat in this burger is it's real weapon, it is sensational. It almost looks like kafta meat, but had a different flavour, partly of course due to this being beef! The pattie coverage was reasonable, I'd say one bite is all you'd have without a bit of meat.

It's not very often you get a burger were the dominant flavour is the meat, its usually the sauce and/or cheese mixing with the meat that produces a Great Chips!(hopefully) great taste. I didn't feel this was the case with the mLeko burger, I reckon the pattie could be eaten on it's own, it tasted so good, the salad and cheese complimented the meat well though, however I do feel that BBQ sauce on this burger kind of detracts from the flavour of the meat, next time I would get a chilli or one of the many other spreads they offer instead of the BBQ. The burger also tasted quite lean, and you could see by looking at the pattie there wasn't much fat in this meat at all, or didn't seem to be. The chips, although interestingly served inside a coffee cup that's in a brown paper bag are incredible, cooked very well having a crunchy outside with a soft hot inside.

Beef - 8 | Bun - 7 | Cheese - 6 | Sauces - 6 | Salad - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Beef from the Chambers - Chambers Takeaway - Chambers Food Hall - Sydney CBD

The first entry into the food reviews from the frequently visit Chambers As it arrivedArcade makes it's debut here at the Hamburger Hunt. Situated as you get off the escalators from Pitt St. this sandwich takeaway shop offers so much more, gourmet beef, chicken and Schnitzel burgers, soups, pastas, breakfast items and a huge array of different sandwiches, they also have ample seating both in the store and in the common area shared by other outlets in the food hall.

A few of us went to lunch here, but only myself and V2daP had burgers, he had one with egg, however mine was a standard one with cheese and bbq sauce like every other burger here. The burger arrived at the table quite quickly, it was cut into V2daP's Burger with Egg!halves, I do prefer my burgers not cut into two, however I Wasn't about to send it back based on this. The first thing that I noticed was this burger was alot flatter than most, that is got to do with the bun these guys use, its a typical sandwich shop seasme seed flat bun, I quite like these in sandwiches so I thought it'd be interesting to try on a burger.

Upon seeing this burger I really thought I was in for a great 5 - 10 minutes, it looked great, tonnes of grilled onion, sauce oozing out and just a generally good grilled feeling about it. The chips looked fresh and big, and the whole plate smelt of meaty goodness. When V2daP's arrived it looked even better with the big egg, and his wasn't cut into two, obviously due to the egg, which struck me as strange, they cut the smaller burger into two but not the bigger one. A Clean CutLooks can be deceiving though, and from the first bite through to the last, I felt something was missing from it, just didn't have that oomph. The burger wasn't a particularly bad one, but nothing at all was special, I also felt the meat was a tad overcooked, perhaps this had something to do with the rather bland flavour, I couldn't taste the grilled onions, even though they are quite clearly there, the BBQ sauce was plentiful and I guess helped things a little, as did the beetroot, however this was yet another burger where the cheese seemed to hide, both visually and in taste. A Couple of Bites inUnfortunately the chips were unable to save the day, despite looking good, they were rather soft and I think could have done with a bit longer in the deep fryer, the chicken salt used was either insufficient or just poor quality, at least they were consistent with the burger, lacking that is. V didn't say too much about this burger but I think he was reasonably happy with it, maybe the egg makes all the difference, however With Nessie's grill not three minutes walk away, this burger is unlikely to be had again by myself.

Beef - 4 | Bun - 5 | Cheese - 4 | Sauces - 5 | Salad - 5 | Overall - 5

Pathetic Petes - Peter's Hamburger Shop - Todman Avenue Kensington 2033

Peter's Hamburger shop in Kensington is supposed to be 'famous' for it's burgers, I'm not too sure how famous, but at least known in the area, because of this I thought it was a must to review their offering. My first attempt to get a burger was approximately 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, however I was told that the 'kitchen' is closed, apparently it closes at 12pm, the guy behind the counter, when asked, told me that the next time I could get one was Sunday before 12pm, I guess these guys are under the impression a Hamburger is some sort of breakfast item. Ordinarily I don't think I would have been bothered to go back, but due to the special circumstances here, that being the Hamburger Hunt, I did, the next day, at 11am. Immediately I was recognised and he preempted my request asking me 'Hamburger?' to which I nodded. When asked if I wanted extras I replied requesting cheese and BBQ sauce. He started putting all the ingredients onto a plate to take to the back, I noticed a large amount of shredded lettuce sitting in a container of water, and after getting a slice of cheese he got out the tongs, dipped them into the water and pulled out some dripping wet lettuce, after a moments drain time onto the plate they went, he then got out from under the table a small stainless steel container that had cling wrap covering about 2/3 of a tomato and half a spanish onion, he cut 2 slices of tomato off it, and some onion and placed it onto the plate, I'm not exactly impressed so far.

My request for hot chips was declined with 'Sorry we don't do chips today', not entirely sure what that meant I just accepted it, perhaps its got something to do with the sabbath, I dunno. Five or so minutes had past and the burger was ready, after paying $4.50 I headed off. Upon unwrapping the burger I noticed it looked alot like the one from the Supa Centre, but much fresher, in terms of recently cooked. The first bite had me thinking one thing, onions. It was by far the dominant taste, which is different for a hamburger I reckon. As I progressed through the burger I couldn't help but notice the greasy feeling ever increasing in my mouth, bite after bite I was further convincing myself that this was one of the worst milk bar burgers I have ever eaten, the bun was the standard tip top hamburger bun that had been buttered so heavily it was seeping more than half way through the crown, the cheese, although melted well into the bun and meat, was none existent as far as taste goes, and I'm not sure he understood me when I asked for BBQ sauce as I could taste none at all, not a drop, nor can you see any in the pictures, this made the burger quite dry, the only thing that wasn't dry was the fat and oil on the burger, each bite unleashed another Half Eatendose of fats from the pattie and bun being injected onto your tongue, which was tolerable while eating and drinking but the after taste truly is disgusting.

It's totally bewildering that a shop calls itself a 'Hamburger Shop' and yet produces such a terribly boring burger that is lacking in size, quality, and taste, it also doesn't even have a slice of beetroot on it, and has such strange time restrictions on ordering it. The only thing this burger excels in is old, fatty ingredients made in a lack luster way. This is certainly one burger to avoid.

Beef - 3 | Bun - 4 | Cheese - 3 | Sauces - 0 | Salad - 3 | Overall - 2

24/7 Burger Stop - OzTurk - 704 George St Sydney 2000 (02) 9280 1310

Ozturk is a 24 hour takeaway food place offering pizzas, kebabs, burgers and more, hence it will feature in a couple of the other food categories in due time. These guys are no specialists when it comes to burgers, its just another offering on the seemingly endless fast food menu choices. As usual cheese is extra, and it's that processed, pale yellow type. There's also nothing special about the pattie, its just your typical over the counter beef mince that's flatten out on the grill into a pattie shape. It's an average size pattie for a takeaway joint and I was glad to see the onions grilling along side it on the hot plate as I leaned over to check on the progress of my lunch.

Lettuce, a big thick slice of fresh tomato and a slice of beetroot are all standard trimmings on this number, and the burger patties makes it's appearance from all viewing angles, meaning of course, there is no biting into this burger without getting meat, nice. I did like the way this pattie was cooked, something about it was different, I think perhaps certain outer parts of the pattie were infact slightly crunchy, don't get me wrong, this pattie was not overcooked or burnt, just some extremities of it had a nice harder texture to them, whatever it is I liked it. Another big win for this burger is the price, getting change back from a fiver for a burger these days is a rare thing, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Beef - 5 | Bun - 5 | Cheese - 4 | Sauces - 5 | Salad - 6 | Overall - 6

World Square - Nessie's Grill - World Square Food Court - Sydney CBD

Another beautiful hamburger makes it's debut for the reviews. Nessie's Grill, situated in 'Liverpool Lane' which is the name of the food court for the World Square complex in Sydney CBD. With a speciality salad shop and a kebab/turkish pide place closing down over the last couple of months it's unknown how well other establishments are doing in the food court, Nessie's maximises his time by opening for lunch and dinner and has recently started delivering through a food delivery service. Ok, onto the burger. The Burger from Nessie's is a classic Beef Burger with a thick juicy pattie, soft seasme seeded bun, fresh lettuce and tomato and a slice of cheese (extra). They must use a pattie making machine because the beef pattie is almost perfectly round every time, with the same thickness and consistency, not a bad idea but does make the burger look more manufactured. Thousand island dressing is used as the main sauce for this burger, if you want BBQ or tomato instead/also you need to ask for it, there's no extra charge though.

The pattie, unfortunately, doesn't make it all way around the burger, there's at least two bites that have no meat in them, despite this though, as you can see from the pics, the pattie is quite thick, thicker than your usual pattie from 'classic' burger, so this kinda makes up for this I guess. Staying on the meat, the pattie is basted in some marinade while it's being grilled in front of you, and also, the onions seem to be in the mince, which is interesting and brings somewhat a dilemma for those that don't have onions on their burgers. I love the flavour of this burger, don't mistake my earlier comment about the manufactured style pattie making it a flavourless McDonald's style meat circle, no, the beef here really tastes great, and the sauce combination of thousand island and bbq works really well, the cheese is real cheddar cheese as opposed to heavily processed pale white slices of cheese used by many milk bars and is melted well into the crown of the bun. There's ample lettuce and the tomato is a fresh thin slice. Sadly there is no beetroot option however due to the overall flavour of the whole burger you can forgive this.

Beef - 7 | Bun - 6 | Cheese - 6 | Sauces - 7 | Salad - 5 | Overall - 7.5

Supa Centre - Cuizina - Supa Centre Moore Park

I was thinking about whether to add this burger to the review for a while, the reason for this is because this is a pre-made burger, yes you read right, this burger is made and sits in the hot food tray along with the chicken souvlaki's, pies and salads and pastas. It's really only a burger I eat when I'm in the Supa Centre and I am starving. The meat is warm at best, and worryingly is sitting at what I think is a perfect temperature for bacteria and what not to breed and fester away, I should mention though I have not ever gotten sick from one of these. The lettuce and in particular the tomato has often gone past the soggy stage is sometimes actually dry, I guess that's going to happen with the bright hot food lamps blaring away a few centimetres away from the burger. As expected the sauce is also dry and lacking in flavour.

The burger doesn't come with cheese however they'll gladly unwrap the burger slightly and shove in a slice of tasty cheese, and of course, because the burger isn't anywhere near the temperature required to melt the cheese it just sits there, a cold slice of cheese on a luke warm burger. Just remember this burger should only be eaten when you are in the Supa Centre and absolutely desperate for a burger type sandwich to eat, if possible you should always wait till you leave the centre and head up the road to OLE for the top rated beef burger.

Beef - 2 | Bun - 3 | Cheese - 3 | Sauces - 2 | Salad - 3 | Overall - 3

Mac Daddy - McDonalds

No burger review page would be complete without a blurb about the world famous Big Mac. Pictured below in all it's true class. This burger is perhaps the single best know burger in history, spawning things like the Big Mac index which is used to measure the purchasing power between two currencies. The Big Macs below were actually purchased in rural Czech Republic, however as McDonald's boasts consistency on an international level for it's products it shouldn't really matter where the subject Big Mac comes from. Looking somewhat different to it's advertising counterpart this Big Mac still had that famous flavour, of course this comes from nothing else but the mac sauce. Having worked at McDonald's for 4 years I am intimately familiar with the preperation and construction of a Big Mac, the special toaster required for the three level bun, the 10:1 patties, the mac sauce gun and of course the other standard stuff such as pickles, onions, lettuce and cheese.

Without the mac sauce this burger really is nothing special at all, unlike the name suggests, it's actually quite small for today's burger standards, the pattie is the same one used in junior and cheeseburgers, as is the cheese, onions and pickles. Despite this, that sauce really does bring you back time and time again, as an adult this burger really isn't eaten too often but few can deny themselves one once that geniune craving for a Big Mac kicks in. Much like a kebab, a couple of them is a very popular choice to end a big night off the wagon. It still amazes me, everything time I have a big mac, and I open up the box, or unwrap the paper, just how small and pathetic it looks, when compared with other mainstream burgers such as the whopper and other large milk bar burgers it just doesn't live up to it's name. I often wonder why McDonalds simply doesn't change the pattie used in the burger from the 10:1 to the 4:1, which is used in their Quarter Pounder with cheese and McFeast equivalent. The Big Mac is really only eaten when it is specifically craved for, it does have that unique flavour which has been attempted to be copied rather unsuccessfully on different occasions, so to calm that mac craving there really is no substitute, you must get yourself one, however, as time goes on, the time between mac cravings grows longer and longer.

Beef - 3 | Bun - 4 | Cheese - 3 | Sauces - 7 | Salad - 3 | Overall - 5

Wonderous Whoppery - Burger King / Hungry Jacks

The genius trademark burger of Hungry Jacks or Burger King, whichever name they want to use at the moment, the staple burger from this giant fast food chain has luckily remained fairly consistent. True to it's name this is one whopper of a burger, a large meat pattie that has been flame grilled, then cooled down and then microwaved just for you, dominates the bun, even overlapping it on all sides, which is unheard of from fast food burgers.

The lettuce is old, cold, and miserable, sometimes it's even brown, however the tomatoes are actually decently sized and appear to be fresh and quite firm, the mayo is probably the cheapest most rank quality they could get their hands on, and with the ketchup mixing in, it really does look quite filthy. You can't taste the mustard, and the pickle is really irrelevant in this monsterous mountain of fastfood goodness. The whopper must be consumed FAST, there is no point purchasing this burger then transporting it to another location to feed. The burger cools down to a tepid bacteria breeding frenzy temperature very quickly. This would be in part due to the large tomatoes, the big squirt of mayo and the decaying, still cold from refrigeration, lettuce, and more in part thanks to the marvel of microwaving the meat. With all things considering it is quite remarkable that this burger is actually delicious. Somehow, with the ingredients and equipment they use, the end result is a mouth watering meld of meat, cheese, sauces and the occasional burst of freshness from a tomato slice. Try one today, preferably blindfolded, and you too will see what I mean. By the way, if you don't get a whopper with cheese, it's not a whopper.

Beef - 4 | Bun - 4 | Cheese - 5 | Sauces - 6 | Salad - 5 | Overall - 6

Cheese Anyone? - McDonalds

Cheeseburgers, arguably the best thing to come out of McDonalds. These little burgers, with their heavily processed extra yellow cheese, the boring old dry meat pattie, the ketchup, dab of mustard, the rehydrated dehydrated onions, and the obligatory pickle which usually ends up on one of the store windows, are really quite a treat for young and old. For years, on and off McDonalds here in Australia, and probably elsewhere, would tease the general public with limited time only double and occasionally triple cheeseburgers. These cheeseburgers taste surprisingly different to the standard one. They have only more of what's on the normal one, but really do differ in taste. Either way, a consequence of the recent, and ironically 'healthy' changes happening at McDonalds, has made these two variants of the standard cheeseburger available anytime and even have their own burger boxes.

As you can see from the triple cheeseburgers pictured above these really need to be consumed in moderation, the amount of saturated fat that comes from one of these is really phenomenal and would more than meat (pun fully intended) pretty much anyone's (or anything's) daily requirement. It is fun though, occasionally, to rip into one of these, the melted cheese mess and the three meat patties sweating with fat droplets really truly is disgustingly brilliant. Gorging ones self on this really must be done in private and preferably without shirt on, as this brings out the primal instincts. So head to the drive thru, get one, race home, close the blinds, remove all clothing above the waist, and feast. Oh and tell no one of what you did.... ever.

Beef - 3 | Bun - 3 | Cheese - 5 | Sauces - 3 | Salad - n/a | Overall - 5

Beautiful Beef - OLE Chicken and Burgers - 142 Anzac Pde Kensington 2033 (02) 9697 9003

I know that in portuguese chicken section I have stressed that the chicken burger from OLE! is the absolute best portuguese style chicken burger.... ever, but I have to mention the beef burger these guys do too. Pictured above, this burger is just classic milk bar style goodness. The meat tastes fresh, the onions are grilled to perfection, very importantly the tomato isn't soggy and old, and of course it comes with a slice of beetroot! Don't be fooled by the pic, it's not a double meat one, it was just an extra bit of meat, another thing I love about these burgers, the pattie is in every bite, from the first to last. Click on the picture for a hi-res shot, go on, it's worth it.

The grilled onions and the cheese meld really well with the huge bbq sauce drenched pattie. It's almost as if the chips are there for decoration alone as you don't seem to care about anything else in the world when your clutching this beast, this burger is definitely one of those that once you pickup, you don't or won't want to put down, it just gets devoured bite by bite. I do find it refreshing to have a drink, of preferably beer, every 2 - 3 bites, just to cleanse the palette so that you can enjoy that first bite experience over and over again! Again, don't be fooled, this is not double meat, it's just the pattie is so big that there are extra bits althroughout the burger. As you can see above the structural integrity of this burger is also very high, especially considering it's so big and quite tall, and has quite a bit of bbq sauce, this of course enables you to have a much better burger eating experience. The OLE! beef burger certainly has set the mark here and I would imagine will be extremely hard to beat.

Beef - 9 | Bun - 8 | Cheese - 6 | Sauces - 8 | Salad - 7 | Overall - 9