New York Burger, Global Burgers, Brisbane City

Global Burgers is a new style gourmet burger chain just opened in Brisbane city. They offer burgers named different cities of the world with different toppings. Being a traditionalist i opted for a New York burger - topside beef, tomato relish, onion rings, grilled cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and mayo. I was pleased with the option for white or wholemeal rolls ( I opted for wholemeal ) and also the fact that they server beer. The burger was 9.95, beer was about $5 so a pretty sweet deal right across the road from the Casino.


The burgers come on big white platters. There was quite a bit of salad amplitude, this time caused by 3/4 inch thick onion rounds. When I saw the menu I thought there were onion rings as an additonal side but in reality it was fat cut onion rings as burger filling. These rings made the burger much higher than it needed to be, making the burger hard to manouver and sink you teeth into.



The fat cheese slices were awesome, and the bread was moist and soft ( I know it does`nt look like that ). The addition of mayonnaise and iceberg lettuce made the burger taste hungry jack whoppery. The pattie also could`ve been at least half as thick again IMHO.

Overall a tasty burger, good value, and let down by the thick onion rings, patie that could`ve been fatter, iceberg lettuce and a slight excess of relish. However, the cheese, roll, presentation and beer! made this burger very enjoyable and worthy of its gourmet status. 8/10

Hungry Jack`s Quadstacker

After all the press, and against my better judgement, I journeyed out to the sophisticated Hungry Jacks at Herston to meet the GBST boys and to sample the 71g`s of fat that is the hungry jacks quadstacker. 4 patties of beef, 4 slices of plastic cheese, HJ`s fake ass bacon and some BBQ sauce. Approaching the counter I felt wrong, like what I imagine its like for a married man walking into a brothel. All kinds of wrong. What was further unsettling was the disinterest of the waitress when I placed my sinful order. It was all too easy. Below is what I unwrapped.

It was smaller than I expected, a whole heap of fat and lard wrapped up in a small dishevelled package, a proton enegry pill of grease if you like.
In all truth the first bite or 2 of burger tasted pretty good - as you might imagine. Tasted just like a bacon double cheeseburger with the addition of some smokey bbq sauce which was tasty. Laurie ate one of these, large fries and a large coke to wash it all down. He looked a bit green at the end. I had a coating of grease over my mouth and face that felt like it took days to get rid of.
In the end I was kind to myself and pulled out a couple of patties and the bacon and ate the rest - saving myself a few g`s of fat. Overall a pretty bad burger due to the grease that would have sold very well due to the publicity - 3.5/10

Beef & Bacon Burger, Ascot Provisions

Jarrod recommended I try the burger from Ascot Provisions located on Racecourse Rd, Ascot. Seemed like a perfect thursday lunch adventure, and Mark V was keen for a lime milkshake, so we ventured out to try the burger.
The Beef and Bacon Burger is served with onion jam, chips and salad for $16.50. It seemed like it took ages for our food to come out, there were steak sandwiches flying past to tables that sat down well after we did but anywaym the burger hunger greweth until my plate arrived like so -


.A split top burger on turkish bread, heaps of bacon, onion jam relishy stuff, some seasoned mayo, tomato, spinach leaves, cucumber and a fat rissole style burger pattie. The pattie is hard to see underneath everything else.

This burger was extremely hard to pick up. Cucumber does not assist burger cohesion, and i ended up with most of the salad fallen out on my plate. The burger also dripped copius juice so much so that once i had picked it up I could`nt place it back down on the plate due to the pool of juice.

The pattie was the highlight of this experience - a rissole style pattie, well seasoned and cooked. Provisions were also generous with their bacon, and this was also well cooked and not too fatty.
However there was no relishor sauce besides the mayo and onion jam, I could`ve done with some. A slice of cheese from provisions fridge could also have set the burger off. But thats the benefit of hindsight i suppose. Otherwise a medium satisfying experience, top pattie, poor construction. 7/10

Roadhouse Burger - Big Chief Coolangatta

We spent the night down at Currumbin last weekend to catch 'The Herd' play at the Cooly. Sunday post party haze our hungover hosts decided they`d like some Hungry Jacks comfort. I wanted nothing to do with HJ`s, this was before I knew about the new quad stacker on offer - (more on that in a future post) - but thought it the perfect opportunity to sample some of the burger wares of the Big Chief Flame Grilled burger chain that operates 6 or 7 outlets around the Gold Coast. The shop looks like a typical beachside chicken/fish shop selling a complete range of fried foods, but featuring a big Burger menu overhead. I opted for a roadhouse burger, 2x120gm beef patties, double cheese, beetroot, lettuce, onion, tomato on a stockish white burger bun.

The Big Chief RoadHouse Burger

I was fairly under the weather when I was confronted with the burger, but it tasted awesome! The patties did taste McJacky or whatever, but did`nt seem as greasy

There was`nt too much salad to deal with, and there was some tangy light orange sauce that really set the burger stack off. Its very satisfying having a fat wedge of pattie to munch through as can be seen in the next photo

Overall a very satisfying burger experience - swap up the iceberg for some other lettuce, 'homestyle' the bun and put some quality cheese slice in (instead of what seemed like cheap ass processed slices) and this burger could be a contender for the top prize. As it is, entirely satisfying, moreish and rated a solid 7.75. For when grill'd is not greasy enough but you don`t want to lose your credibility eating at McCrappys, The Flame Grilled Big Chief is an excellent option.

Tropical Swine and Chips, Fergburger, Queenstown NZ

Ah the Fergburger!

Famous in queenstown and the world, everyone loves to eat a fergburger.
I`ve been to Queenstown about 5 times over the past several years and Fergburger has never dissappointed. On this particular occaision my memory is a bit hazy due to the fact it was about 2am in the morning, but from what I do remember it was fantastically moreish!!

Heres the bundle as it arrived - Tropical Swine and Fries - about $16NZ



The burger freshly unwrapped.

The burger midway . . . .

Fergburger patties are made fresh on the premised and taste damn good. If I was in any kind of mind I might have asked them for a fatter one, it being perhaps 8mm thick, but having a fairly large diameter making it satisfying. This particular burger had pineapple, which caused uneven consumption due to the lump-biting effect of the pineapple and subsequent readjustment meaning the last three bites of burger had only one bites worth left of bun base. Caveat Emptor!
The mayo and relish were also quite messy but this could`ve been the fault of the over eager eater rather than any fault of construction. Fergburger is a quality gourmet burger outlet that would do any burger fan proud, and late night in queenstown you can do far worse BELIEVE! 8/10

Coronet Peak Beef Burger, Coronet Peak, NZ

Ski resort cafeterias are always overpriced and the food they serve up is generally average at best. When I had the choice between some couple of hour old dry pizza slices, Nitrite enriched bacon bit enhanced hot dogs, sloppy pies or a burger, I took the obvious choice.

Behold . . . . . The Coronet Peak Beef Burger
I was`nt expecting much, but this was awesome for the price and a great mid ski choice I can highly recommend. At $9.50NZ ( bout $8oz ) The burger came with - caramelised onion, beetroot, fancy hydro lettuce not purple, beetroot purple, some relish and I couldve sworn it was topped with a slice of cheese. The pattie was a suprising 18mm thick, and although was obviously frozen microwave defrosted perhaps quickly grilled - was juicy and tasty and satisfied my hunger in the cold conditions. The relish was tangy and topped the burger off nicely.



Swap out the white bun, and grill the pattie more this could`ve scored higher. But for snow resort, the Coronet Peak Beef Burger punches above its weight receiving a 6.5.

Speights Alehouse - Invercargill NZ

On our Trip to Queenstown for the annual snowboard mission, we cruised the couple of hours further south to visit Viv and her kids down in sunny Invercargill. Invercargills claims to fame are that it has a giant 'The Warehouse' store, and also a Burger King. Whilst Burger King beckoned ( well, not really) we headed out to the newly opened speights alehouse for dinner and I was excited to find they had a gourmet beef burger on the menu, which i promptly ordered with a minimum of indecision.Obviously with such a difficult order, when the meals came out this is what I received


I was kind of unsure, because on the menu it said 'tender beef steak', and of cultural sensitivities and quirks etcetera etcetera, but luckily I`d photographed the menu and saw that the white bread sandwich slices could no way constitute a 'Monster Bun' so they`d brought me a steak sandwich instead. I`d already eaten half of it so I let it slide, but serving a professional hamburger reviewer a steak sandwich does not win you any points. A niceish steak sandwich though nonetheless.



Speights Alehouse Invercargill Gourmet Beef Burger - 0 / 10 points.

BBBB Cafe 63 1/2 - Hamilton

A new job and new turf for burgers. We ventured out to Racecourse Rd at Hamilton to the country styled Cafe 63. Big old wooden tables and chirs, rustico style. The cafe kinda has a florist out the front, giving the 63 1/2 its half or something like that. Jarrad recommended the BBBB burger - Brisbane`s Best Biggest Burger. Bold Claim. I was intrigued, hoping for something really special. The menu billed the burger as having both and egg and bacon, caramelised onion, home made mince pattie on a giant panini. Direct from West Auckland apparently - not sure if you have seen Outrageous Fortune on TV but I think the bogan ass family was from west auckland so it was an interesting claim to make.

The burger arrived looking quite impressive, top tilte to the side, big sunny runny egg on top and a multi grain roll ( panini? hmmmm). The pattie was an impressive thickness but the bacon was well undercooked and has an enormous amount of fat - uncooked fat at that. Kill me for being a short cut bacon man but I spent a good 90 seconds preening my burger before putting the lid on and digging in.


This shot shows the lovely salad that came on the side. minimal salad on the burger but a couple of slices of tomato. The burger pattie, while nice and thick and seasoned, was undercooked, and could`ve done with some tomato relish of some kind. The absence of cheese was unpleasant IMHO and the burger was quite a messy dripping affair, leaving a pool on the plate that you could`nt rest the bun in.

There was a hint of mustard in there somewhere, but the side salad was pretty tasty, I put this down to some funky ass country dressin stylee lovin. Did I mention the hot florist girls? I have now. less pretty flowers than exotic orchids.

Overall a reasonable effort for the price ($12) but a couple more minutes on the grill for the bacon and pattie could've made me a happy man. However, a fair effort - I`d eaten a McDonalds McAmerica Olympic Bagel for breakfast, so I might`ve been a bit over egg and bacon but regardless BBBB the burger aint. 7/10 at a stretch.

MR XXXX Burger, XXXX Alehouse, Milton

We headed over Milton Road to the XXXX Brewery for lunch the other day. The Mr XXXX Burger is about $12, $13 with a rasher of Bacon. The pattie was of a good thickness, the cheese was a tasty quality slice too. What let the Burger down was the stock white kinda stale Roll, and my Burger lacked any relish, although Lauries apparently had plenty. 7 - 7.5

Gourmet Beef Burger - Onyx Bar Milton

This burger tasted like sausage meat. Beautiful presentation from this view, but check the Jarlsberg cubes and cherry tomatoes in photo 2. What were they thinking? The burgers were universally panned around the table - I`m not going to dignify the burger by writing much more about it. It is a bad sign when you eat all of the salad before finishing the burger. Scores 2.5 - for the service, cold beer and the moulded potato salad (with normal and sweet potato!).

Works Burger - Pandemonium Cafe, Paddington

I ride past the Pandemonium Cafe on Given Tce, Paddo, every day on the way to work. I thought it was some kind of kids-play cafe at first due to its bright fun colouring and lettering on the sign. But as always a google search led me to the Pandemonium Menu featuring several varieties of Burgers. For some reason we got a bit lost on the way so after a bit of a walk we entered this friendly, funky cafe and set about our business of burger busting.
Pandemonium has many 1950`s style tables and funky colours - its a great spot in Paddo if you ever need to meet someone - there seems to be a nice view over houses on the valley out the back of the cafe also.
There were 5 members in our party - 2 of the lads are non-red meat types and opted for chicken panini`s. But the real men selected works burgers - Laurie opted for a no egg / plus avocado option. For drinks, instead of beer I opted for a fresh orange/pineapple juice - this was`nt intentional - the beer alcohol menu was a separate document we did'nt spot til after we`d ordered. However the juice was nice and only $3.50 - you can keep your boost juice.
The meals took a whiles to prepare when they came out they looked a treat.

This is a picture of the Works Burger.

Pandemonium Works Burger Pandemonium Works Aerial View

Pandemonium Works Midway

I`d made a promise to myself to never go the Pineapple route again, but it really did`nt affect this works burger. The burger was constructed on a light floury triangular garlic buttered Panini. Tasted nice with the garlic butter but its floury coating made the burger quite messy to consume. Kierans bread disentegrated midway thru much tio his dismay.
The burger pattie itself was wonderful. Nice and fat, a pinch of extender detected but cooked nice to remain juicey, but not too juicey. The egg was good, bacon good, tomato and beetroot, and notice no lettuce but a smal lpinch of pea shoot sprouts. Grated cheese, fresh from the bag ( ie not freshly grated ) added the welcome cheesey mid note. The chips had some kind of crunchy batter and were really tasty. The waitress brought us out little tubs of tomato and bbq sauce to dip our chips in, which was thoughtful of her, the little darling.
All in all the burger filling aspects of this experience were top notch, but the panini encasement let this otherwise fine meal down. Your humble host gives a 7.5 !

Works Burger - Rainworth Seafoods

Well readers, your humble host is back on the Burgers after a 2 Month Hiatus. In my absence I`ve gone and married my myself a beautiful wife and honeymooned for 2 weeks in Thailand. I did`nt eat any burgers during the lead up to the wedding - I did`nt want a burger gut for the wedding photo`s.
Anyways the safari is back - I did my usual googling of 'gourmet burger brisbane' and turned up a couple of contenders I`d seen before but had`nt pursued. My pick for today was to be 'Harry`s Diner' at Windsor, but when I tried calling them the phone was disconnected and WhitePages did`nt have a listing for them. Perhaps they`ve closed??
The next on the list was the Works Burger from Rainworth Seafoods. This Burger recieved a couple of noms for Brisbanes best Burger from some brisbane times column and also from a forum post on that aussie techno website thats name slips my mind right now.

So we made the Journey out thru Rosalie to Rainworth to the venue of what I was expecting to be Burger of the Year!! On entry - Rainworth Seafoods is your stock fish and chippery. Nothing stood out to me to differentiate it - usual fare of battered savs and fish displayed in the counter window. I ordered the works burger for I believe $6.50 and here is what I received:

Works Burger - Rainworth Seafoods

Works Burger with Tin Scale

I opened the burger and thought - is this it? I was expecting something fabulous but this was stock - not a bad fishnchip shop burger but nothing special - but on to the burger description - Stock white bread burger buns with sesame seeds - these were fresh but obviously not made on premises. Salads included a pinch of fried onion, tomato, slice of beetroot and shredded iceberg. I must compliment the amount of salad - there was just enough to know it was there but not enough to overpower the good stuff. The cheese slice was some kind of processed slice. Topped with a couple of rashers of real bacon and a tidy fried egg - well cooked just past making a mess. The burger was also seasoned with BBQ sauce. All in all a fair support to the headline burger pattie that IMHO was a fairly miserable excuse for a burger pattie. 5mm thick at best, well cooked and dry. Without the sauce my burger would not have been enjoyable.
Now I don`t want to give the wrong idea - this was a fair fishnchip shop burger, it was`nt greasy or messy but it really just was`nt anything special. The sign did`nt promise a gourmet burger, so perhaps its a little harsh getting rated on the gourmet scale but thems the brake I`m afraid.

Rainworth Works Midway

I was overall unimpressed but not unhappy. Kieran on the otherhand thought his burger was great! Laurie rated his burger with pineapple a 7.5. I`ll give the burger a 6.5 giving points to its tidy construction and lack of greasy after mess. If the burger pattie was twice the thickness then I might have got excited. Looking back at the pictures though - I`d love to eat it again right now.

Moo & Cheese - Chimi Burger Fortitude Valley

Late Friday night on post work drinks I needed to eat - the lads opted for the kebab stand - I thought it a good opportunity to document Chimi`s. I`d eaten here twice before, both times soaking drunk, and both times super satisfied. I`ve taken a couple of shots of the menu so you can read about the famous Chimi deep fried burger. The last time I was here Brent ordered one unknowingly: I don`t think he could focus enough to read the menu- he did`nt realize he was getting a paper wrapped heart attack. It tasted like a donut from memory - and I did`nt envy his task of getting that travesty down his gullet.

Chimi`s Menu

Artery Hardening Baby - note the warning

But that story is his to tell - this was another night and another time. Call me soft but I went for a Moo & Cheese. At $8 a pop its well priced amongst kebab / pizza slice land, and you can satisfy your burger lust til late - chimis is conveniently situated midway down Brunswick St mall.

Your Humble Host
Messy, me and the burger both

So how was the burger? the pattie itself tasted burnt. There was way too much relish on the burger and the bread did`nt seem real fresh. The salad was - red onion is always an enhancer.
2/3rd of the way thru the burger fell apart - there was relish and mayo everywhere an 2 napkins could`nt soak up all the mess . I wrapped up about an 8ball of excess relish and spilt onions and crap. The burger was enough to fill a hole - messy as hell and burnt, but still edible and I`m sure set a good foundation for the next half dozen beers. On this particular night Chimi`s scored a 6.5 - if I was sober I might have only given it a 5. But compared to whats around it is a good late night option.

Boss Hog Burger - Hogs Breath Brisbane

When I started this blog many moons ago, Laurie brought up Hog`s Breath Cafes apparent expertise at burger making. I scoffed at this, as my last rib&steak combo experience was a shocker. But as we`ve done the Milton rounds, it was the Hog`s Breaths turn. Located at the top of Milton rd in the Caxton St precinct, the restaurant sits unassuming among a great deal of construction activity. I was not expecting much.

Me and the G ordered the slice of paradise - a cheese burger, Laurie got the Boss Hog burger with bacon and avocado. Shaunak thought he`d try a Barra Burger cos thats how he rolls.
The menu advertises fresh baked damper rolls - I was fearing a High-GI High Kj sweet bun - but I`ll state it upfront - The Hogs Breath makes Quality Burgers - In fact, these burgers are the current title holder for Brisbane`s Best Burger - in your hosts humble opinion. Now onto these awesome burgers -

Boss Hog Burger

Laurie's Boss Hog really was the star of the show - thats double beef, double bega cheddar cheese slices, bacon, avocado, nice lettuce, tomato, red onion, beetroot and hickory bbq sauce. Thats a whole lot of good lovin right there! The bacon and avocado were extras, $3 each - so Lauries burger ended up costing $21 but damn it looks good -

The Boss!

Graham and myself opted for the humbler little brother - the slice of paradise. I think the paradise they are referring to is the cheese. At $12.95 this is a good deal. I was super impressed with my burger. The hickory smoke lifted the burger into another dimension, and whilst I consumed it I was transported to my happy place. For real this was some quality grub. The damper roll was exceptionally good - not too airy or big or sweet - and it did`nt fall apart soggy in the burgers closing stages. There was a perfect amount of BBQ sauce so it did`nt spill over the plate or leave me with messy hands. The well placed beetroot, fancy hydro lettuce, big juicy tomato slice and red onion did not overpower the pattie - they just set the thing off delightfully. The pattie itself was not overly seasoned, and of a ground beef variety but it was fresh, fat , juicy and not too greasy.

This was a blissful burger experience of the highest magnitude. If the cheese was actually layered in contact with the pattie this could well have been nirvana.

Slice of Paradise

The only negative was Shaunaks Barra burger - served up at least 5 minutes after our meals. He did`nt rate it but hey who orders fish at a steakhouse? All the meals came with twisty fries and a small side salad of lettuce - which i took great pleasure in wrapping round my fries to eat them. I think the twisty fries are meant to represent pig tails.
We were all thoroughly impressed and rated these burgers a 9!!

Burger Safari STRONGLY RECOMMENDS!!!

The Charger - Route 74 Toowong

Got the hot tip via email yesterday from Jason the Bacon Bacon Bacon Man

Benno – this came in my mailbox the other day. Interested in heading to Toowong today at lunch to try it out?

This is a snippet of the flyer he scanned and sent me - fuck yeah I said and rounded the troops



Route 74 actually lives in a shopping centre food court. Decked at with a small eat in area, and burger names like - The Charger and the 18 Wheeler we thought we were in for something special. I was so excited and hungry getting there I totally ignored Brents phat new GPS cd changer dvd player thingo and instead focused on the feast for which we were about to receive.

Laurie's Charger was the first over the serving counter, arriving plainly wrapped in white paper and looking none too special. Unwrapped it looked quite messy too and horror of horrors the burger was served on a Knot Roll. A Knot Roll does not a gourmet burger make.

Lauries Charger Burger

Brent thought he would go all out and ordered the 18 Wheeler. We were expecting a big ass truck of a burger - something similar to the flyer photo but here is what we ended up with:

Brents 18 Wheeler

The charger came with usual salad accompanymants standard chip shop salads of lettuce tomato and beetroot - pluc 2 rashers of bacon and cheese. I was hanging for the bacon and indeed it was the tastiest part of my burger. I found the bread stodgy and the pattie dry and unseasoned.

My Charger Burger

Overall we were unimpressed with Route 74s burger fare, they did not live up to expectations and we vowed not to return. To be competing directly with Macca`s Route 74 will need to lift their game. Burgers rated a 6 .

Gourmet Burger, Tognini`s Milton

I spotted the 'Gourmet Burger' on Togninis menu on my way back from lunchtime soccer.
We won this day, but the other team was 1 man down. So I made it a mission for Friday to go sample the tognini gourmet burger wares - $12.90 with aioli fries.

Togini`s Gourmet Burger

The burger arrived on some kind of poppy seed bagel with a hole in the middle. On first glance the fat ass burger pattie looked awesome. But once you bit into the burger - this is where the problems began - there was no cheese or sauce on any kind to moisten the lean mince - which btw was still quite pink and didnt seem cooked thoroughly. Laurie and I found ourselves wasting our aioli dousing down the dry mince in order to eat it. The bagel was`nt too bad ultimately, but the pea sprout/rocket salad was a bit much for my young companion, who expressed a longing for simpler times, and for iceberg lettuce. I did`nt mind the shcmancy sprouts too much - but i needed a big fat chunk of cheese to turn this latte burger into a double espresso. I gave a verbal review to a friend - he found it strange there was no cheese on the burger because Tognini`s is a continental deli aka CHEESE SHOP - so on reflection i find it a little strange to!.

A slab of cheese and some relish or mustard or something and this burger could`ve really meant something. However, the fries were really good - Tognini`s Gourmet Burger Experience rates a 6

Steak Sandwich - The Coro - Milton

We were hoping for some burger action when we went to the 'Coro' for some lunchtime cheer on Friday. The Coro`s upstairs decor is the waiting cocktail bar entrance to 'Lure' - which is a high calibre fancy schmancy seafood restaurant. Apparently its pretty good. Its worth visiting this place for all the colour flashing light changing walls and tables - they have mist over toilets and the Mens urinal changes colour to music like the wall of truth - or 'wonderwall' if you will.
Anyways no burgers to be found but a pretty good $14.95 Steak Sandwich to accompany your $7 beer.

Coro Steak Sandwich - as delivered

Steak Sandwich close up

The fries accompanying the steak sandwich were pathetic. But the steak/bacon/salsaey topping combination was awesome. My only real criticism was the bread extended a lot further than the steak did so your last few mouthfuls were all bread - lucky i had some fries to wrap that bread around. Not really a burger so I can`t rate it on a burger scale - but pretty good nonetheless.

Classic Burger - The Pavillion - West End

Ah where to go for a burger? Last friday was shaunaks turn to drive - he`s a chicken burger kind of a guy, so I googled something like Brisbanes best chicken burger. What popped up? The pavillion at West End. These burgers were phenomenal - they came with pumpkin and sweet potato chips - which I rated but the younger guys did`nt.

Shaunak's chicken burger - nice floret of avocado!

Brent's classic cheshire burger

My classic as delivered - It seemed a bit narrow at this point
but check out all of that kassler bacon

Profile of my classic

These rolls were awesome - those black bits are olives baked into the bread!

My classic midway - I`ve been hanging out for this kind of action!!

^^^^ Click on this one for burger porn!! ^^^^

The lunch time deal at the pavillion is a Burger and a beer for $14.95. You can sit out on the patio and watch the world go by. Great burgers - slightly greasy at the end, and the pumpkin chips weirded out the lads. But there was a nice lack of salad! Excellent Signal to Noise - No artificial amplitude here friends. We scored these puppies Solid 8`s around the table.

Burger Safari Recommends!