Tag: burger

Categories
Café

Saint Marks – Randwick NSW Cafe Review

Saint Marks on Clovelly Road is just one of two unrelated establishments with the same name in Randwick. The one we’re interested in today is a cafe – the other, a hotel on Rae St, will not be mentioned again in this post.

The sweet corn fritter stack was quite well plated and visually appealing. My partner, who as you may know by now is a big fan of corn fritters really enjoyed it. She liked the sweetness of the fritter, which helped this dish stand out from the rest. A further point of distinction was the texture of these fritters, which were quite loose and corny, in a good way. Unfortunately the poached eggs that were added on for an additional fee were not good. As you can see from the photo one of them was very well cooked. No good.

The Saint Marks Burger (with extra patty and cheese – $20) was a tall but very expensive burger. The patties were slightly underseasoned but otherwise had good texture with a very meaty mouthfeel. The pickles were tangy and I appreciated that there were both internal pickles as well as external pickles. At the $20 price tag I would have expected this burger to at least have come with some chips.

DISCUSSION
Despite the good internal airflow supplied by large ceiling fans we chose to dine in Saint Marks’ outdoor seating due to extra risk-averse nature (and in view of recent new COVID-19 cases in the area). Towards the end of our meal, whilst all internal customers had left we started to hear the staff inside make a series of seal noises. This was quite odd.

3.5/5 – (lean 3, egg no good)

Saint Marks
80 Clovelly Rd, Randwick NSW 2031

Categories
Bakery Middle Eastern

Soul Mill – Rockdale NSW Restaurant Review

After a few false starts at the beginning of 2021 I was finally able to visit Soul Mill for breakfast with my colleague JZHW on my last week of work in the Kogarah-Rockdale region.

Soul Mill specialises in oven baked goodies, most of which are cheesy and with a Middle Eastern theme. We enjoyed our Oven Burger ($9), which had a strong pide quality.

Our Oven Wrap ($9) was also very nice. I cannot for the life of me tell you which of the many menu options it was, though cross-sectional analysis reveals some greenery, maybe some chicken. Egg. What I can tell you was that the bread was thin and not overportioned, with a strong emphasis on the fillings. While I can attest that both my colleague JZHW and I enjoyed it, I feel very bad that I’ve left seven months between eating it and reviewing it and I am essentially doing them (and you) a disservice but not being able to describe it well.

Ah yes, some kind of manoosh, possibly the meat, cheese, and sujuk ($8.50). I have warm feelings about this manoosh, and actually do remember the moistness of its toppings and its superior taste. This manoosh stands out for its excellent price-to-quality ratio, and having had a number of manoosh during my days living in Western Sydney I would rate this towards the better end of the scale.

COMMENTS
It’s unfair, but what I remember most about Soul Mill was trying to go three times and only succeeding on the third. Each time was within the hours noted on Google, and without any evidence to the contrary through their social media channels. To be fair, it was the start of the year, not too far removed from the holiday season, as well as in the midst of some low grade pandemic-style uncertainty. Regardless, their food is filling and wallet friendly, and worth a visit if cheese and manoosh are your thing.

Soul Mill
9 King St, Rockdale NSW 2216
(02) 8580 2945

Categories
American Australian

BUSH – Redfern NSW Restaurant Review

BUSH’s cheeseburgers were the stuff of legend. Heralded across the internet as some of the best in Sydney, these now-discontinued drew countless intrepid eaters to this tiny 7-item-menu restaurant.

To be honest, I didn’t’ find BUSH’s cheeseburger ($15) to be that much of a revelation. What I found was an extremely standard affair – smash pattie, a slice of American cheese, some pickle, and some tomato-mayonnaise between two pieces of bun. It was just a very normal burger, and I actually think that in its single configuration it was a bit under-meated. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware that it came as a double until a gentleman on an adjacent table received his, as the option of adding an additional patty was not written on the extremely brief menu. Not amazing.

Nan’s Sausage Roll ($6) was an excellent rendition of the classic Australian sausage roll. It wasn’t long – almost party-roll sized – but what it lacked in length it made up in height and width. The well puffed pastry was wrapped around a relatively gargantuan mass of textured beef mince, which was tasty and juicy. The gob of standard tomato sauce was as standard as standard could be.

This MAPO wattleseed ice cream drenched in honey ($5-ish) was pretty good. Light and refreshing, with that unmistakable MAPO quality.

THOUGHTS
While BUSH didn’t quite live up to the burger-hype, their menu has since completely changed and my lukewarm feelings might need to be refreshed by another visit.

BUSH
55 George St, Redfern NSW 2016
0432 439 966

Categories
American

Cloris Gourmet – Botany NSW Restaurant Review

Cloris Gourmet, one of our local restaurants, open until the wee hours of the morning. The food is cheap though not amazing, acceptable in a pinch.

Beef Chorizo Burger ($11.50) was only ok.

Spicy Southern Chicken Burger ($10.50) was also OK. A pretty similar mix of slaws. The chicken was better than the beef in my opinion.

The Lamb Hot Roll ($13.50) wasn’t what I wanted or expected. I thought it would be a roll in the way a kebab roll is a roll. I don’t understand why they would call the last two burgers burgers but this one a roll.

Chicken wings (6 for $7.50) were fine, not special, were a bit oily, wouldn’t go for them again.

3.5/5 + 0.5 late night bonus

Cloris Gourmet
1621 Botany Rd, Botany NSW 2019
(02) 8964 1861

Categories
American

Ribs & Burgers – Eastgardens NSW Restaurant Review

My first experience with Ribs and Burgers was in March 2020, when I had the luck and pleasure of availing a brief 50% off offer for frontline healthcare workers. While the concept of providing discounts to healthcare workers with stable employment in the face of widespread job losses seemed a bit iffy to me I must admit I did enjoy the huge amount of (unphotographed) food that I got for under $50.

Ribs and Burgers, without a discount, is a much different beast. While there’s nothing particularly wrong about the food that they serve, the prices are sky-high, even compared to competitors like Hog’s Breath.

Mexican Wrap

This Mexican Wrap ($17.90) of grilled chicken and guacamole was fine but not amazing. The chicken was tender and there was a large serving of guacamole, but at $18 I’d sure expect there to be.

Crispy Louisiana

The Crispy Louisiana ($18.90) is a burger in the vein of fried chicken. As you can probably see from this photo the “crispy” component of the name is mostly in the imagination. While it was not bad it was not quite a $19 burger. If you have a hankering for a Southern fried chicken burger I’d suggest you look to a specialty store like Belle’s Hot Chicken instead – cheaper and more delicious.

The Pork Babyback ribs ($49.90) – not pictured were quite tasty and tender, but again very expensive.

Spicy Mexican Burger

The Spicy Mexican Burger ($14.90) was actually pretty good. Juicy, tasty, well sauced, and the meat had a nice chargrill flavour to it.

Potato salad

The potato salad ($7.90) was pretty middling, although my partner did appreciate that the pickles were on top and not mixed into the salad – she doesn’t like it when potato salads are too sour.

CONCLUSION

I wouldn’t get Ribs & Burgers at full price, but I would at a steep discount.

3/5

Ribs & Burgers Eastgardens
FC3/152 Bunnerong Rd, Eastgardens NSW 2036
(02) 9344 7788