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.