Bianca: I’ve always been a fan of cute/kitschy diners. Back when we lived in the Hills district I used to love going to Johnny Rockets at my old highschool hangout, Castle Towers. That’s no longer there but I still love me an old school diner/American themed restaurant, because….Burgers!
Thematically ‘The Hub House Diner’ has the American food down pat but there aren’t any gaudy decorations or silly uniforms to be found here. Inside it’s a rather updated modern affair, with dark black shiny brick work, wooden floors and a few diner ‘throwback’ booths at the back.
Joining me on my eating spree was my high school buddy and recent USA travel companion Felicity, we shall call her ‘Frace’.
Staff were really friendly despite being ear deafeningly busy/loud and even offered up some suggestions as well as some of their personal favourites.
I never go to a place unprepared so I already knew what I was having, down to what I’d be forcing Frace to order.
To start we shared a serving of the ‘Zucchini Fritters’ w/Hot sauce, sour cream. $14. Flavour wise these were really lovely, I enjoyed the herbs and capsicum in the mixture but felt firstly, that they were way too mushy on the inside and secondly, that there was a serious lack of sauce on the plate. It really needed a substantial amount of sauce to give it that oomph.
We decided on two burgers, which we were going to split and share. The first of those being the ‘Beef Cheeseburger’ w/American jack, onion, gherkin, mustard & ketchup. $18 (with a side of fries). If I had to liken this burger to anything I’d sidle it close to the Glenhaven’s ‘The Tuckshop’, looks wise it was almost identical. All in all the flavour was there but I couldn’t help but feel the outer edges of the patty were too charred for my tastes, at some points all I was getting was a predominately burnt taste in my mouth, which wasn’t pleasant. I liked the basic hamburger bun, it was a little too easy to eat, almost as if it was steamed and it melted quite easily away in the mouth. The chips were great and quite the generous portion.
Finally we shared the ‘Crispy Bird Burger’ w/a breaded chicken fillet, double smoked bacon, gruyere, slaw, gherkin, onion and smokey chipotle aioli. $19 (with a side of fries). I’m rarely interested in chicken burgers but that may have to change as I’ve been quite surprised by a few lately (Brooklyn Social & the recently closed – Rupert & Ruby). This was my favourite of the two burgers, the chicken was a fairly thin piece, which I prefer as you were really able to taste all the other elements in the bun. The smoked bacon was genius and was cooked to crispy perfection.
A great first introduction to this American focused diner, I’d happily go back and check out some of the offerings on the menu, the staff kept on harping on about the ‘Vege Burger’, I might have to make that happen!
Bianca
haha i remember really loving the juke boxes at johnny rockets at towers!
I do love a bit of American diner food. A friend of mine loves their burgers!
And the staff would dance and everything! Hahaha. I wonder if there are any left in New South Wales..
B
Been wanting to try their cheeseburger for a while now. I reckon the cheeseburger here looks almost identical to Tuckshop’s coz they both do it the legit way: beef patty, pickles, onion, ketchup and mustard with no salad haha awesome review Bianca.
I find the food a little patchy here but it’s always heaving with locals when I go past!
Oooh, those chips look perfectly crunchy!