[invite] Bianca: And we’re back with my one true love, burgers! I’m still on a pancake tangent but don’t worry. I’ll never forget where I started. Going on almost 3 months of trading, Sydney’s burger craze doesn’t seem to be slowing down. With Concept Burger in Wolli Creek, the latest to opens its doors.
Setting up this latest burger venture is Chef Tomislav Martinovic, who also consulted on the opening of Five Points in North Sydney as well as the introduction of the Mr Davis burger at Three Williams back in 2015. Tomislav, alongside Concept Burgers owners, has a simple premise. Seven cuisines with a burger to represent each one.
The menu is a little left of field to what I’d usually gravitate towards in a burger but I went in with an open mind and a fairly hungry stomach. We started with the Five Spiced Fried Chicken $11.50 which were nugget sized pieces of juicy chicken breast. They were on the heavier side with the batter being fairly pronounced. But the flavour is bold and I found myself pairing this constantly with the Yuzo Kosho Mayo $3 which had a strong citrus twang.
For research sake, a small serving of Beer Battered Chips $4.5 and Tempura Onion Rings $6.9. Fries were a standout and while I enjoyed the lightness of the tempura batter. I do recommend the Truffle & Pecorino Mayo $3 which has probably been the best accompanying sauce I’ve had in a while.
Instantly standing out was the Chinese – Five spiced fried chicken, Szechuan pepper, celeriac slaw, baby cos lettuce & fermented chilli paste $14.50. A prominent hit of five spice within the breading mixture, the chicken succulent and tender. It was a saucy burger but it held up well. I nixed some of the lettuce as I found it a little OTT but I did enjoy the taste of the slaw and felt it was needed to cut through the intense spice of the chicken. The toasted milk buns an excellent choice across the board. For the FBAS crowd, 3.7/5 pickles.
The Canadian -w/black Angus beef, American cheese, maple glazed streaky bacon, oak lettuce & Dijon mustard $15.90 was an interesting one. Every single bite I questioned whether I had been given the wrong burger. How this constitutes as a ‘Canadian’ burger I didn’t quite get (maple bacon was really the only signifier for me). In saying that, it was tasty. The beef had a pleasant and loose grind, well seasoned with a charred outer exterior. The maple glazed bacon was a standout, the maple glaze almost syrup like in thickness. I was puzzled by the sauce as there was no mention of it on the menu, a tomato based sauce. I’d put it in the same vein as an Italian sugo (I may be off base but that was what I tasted). This gets 3.9/5 pickles.
And the final burger, the Argentinian -w/Black Angus Beef, smoked paprika, cheese, chimichurri sauce, grilled eggplant & chipotle chillies $14.90. I wanted to like this more than I did, with its main detractor being the heavy handedness of the chimichurri. It was hard to pick up on anything other than the sauce. Again the beef was cooked beautifully and I understand the duality of beef and the zesty green sauce it just wasn’t to my tastes. 3/5 pickles.
Concept Burger has the monopoly on the burger game in the area, the idea is an interesting one but I could see myself getting bored of the options fairly quickly.
Bianca
*For Food’s Sake dined as guests of Concept Burgers.
All that lettuce!!! Hahaha patties look good though and the truffle fries!
Interesting review
Seems like you didn’t like anything
I’ve been to concept burger few times, yes the burgers are different but each single one of them has unique flavor to it, so I don’t understand why you say you will get bored pretty soon given he fact compare to other burger joint who only do cheese burgers
I wouldn’t say ‘I didn’t like anything’. The burgers were constructed well and tasty. But would I travel from my home all the way to Wolli Creek for their burgers? No. Thank you for taking the time to read the blog though 🙂
Hmmm this is an interesting one! I’m not a burger aficionado like yourself but your ending line are my sentiments exactly when I first heard of Concept Burger. The idea of one burger to represent a different cuisine sounded a little gimmicky. I reckon every establishment still needs a stalwart basic to hold the fort for when people just want a decent burger. The French one sounds pretty good on the menu though.
Have you try the burgers?!
We really liked the burgers there. You didn’t try our favourite, the French with beef. It was SO good!