With Sydney’s burger scene stronger than ever, it comes to no surprise that many of the city’s best will be laying their cards on the table this Saturday as the world once again turns America’s National Hamburger Day (28th May) into just, plain ol’ general International Burger Day. No complaints over here; our love of celebrating national food days of other countries around the world has brought out some truly great specials, and burger fiends are able to jump all over them this weekend. Here are some of the best happenings around town for “International Burger Day”, either on Saturday or just on the weekend (because why should we only celebrate burgers for just one day?).
**UPDATE** (Thurs 26th May): Added “Burger Lords” at The Lord Gladstone; Brooklyn Depot; and The Oaks
8Bits+Bytes at Martin Place (CBD)
Double Dribble Burger from Milk Bar by Cafe Ish. Image: Jugernauts
HACKroulette Burger from Bangbang Cafe
Vivid Sydney kicks off this week, and with it comes an elaborate burger and arcade game pop-up bar by creative teams Motti+Smith and Paper Moose. We’ve already brought you the details HERE, but just to refresh your memory: some of Sydney’s best burger and dessert masterminds – Milk Bar by Cafe Ish, Pub Life Kitchen, Bangbang Cafe, Sammy’s Burger Bar, Black Star Pastry, Little Marionette, and N2 Extreme Gelato – will be participating in this pixelated open-air bar for the duration of Vivid Sydney, offering numerous exclusive creations – one each – which will then be voted on by the public with the ‘burger battle’ tracked in real time on a digital scoreboard. It launches when Vivid does (this Friday) but will surely be pumping all weekend, so heading here on Saturday is a must to try the following exclusives, many created in collaboration with our good friends over at Jugernauts.
- Milk Bar by Cafe Ish: Double Dribble Burger (milk bun filled with double wagyu, double American cheddar, kimchi, green oak lettuce, miso sauce, seaweed, and aioli)
- Mary’s: Pac Man Burger (classic Mary’s burger with grass-fed beef, triple cheese, Mary’s BBQ sauce, and onion rings)
- BangBang: HACKRoulette (cheeseburger topped with chilli con carne, more cheese, umami sauce, served with a shot of pickle juice)
- Sammy’s Burger Bar: Polish Pounder Burger (medium custom ground beef patty, cheese, sauerkraut, Polish slab bacon, horseradish mustard sauce, dill pickle on a toasted brioche)
- Pub Life Kitchen: TBA
- Black Star Pastry x Little Marionette x N2 Extreme Gelato: Burgermisu (a Tiramisu dessert burger).
Polish Pounder from Sammy’s Burger Bar. Image: Jugernauts
Chicken & Sons specials at The Bald Faced Stag (Leichhardt)
Image sourced from Chicken & Sons
We all know just how valuable Chicken & Sons have been to The Bald Faced Stag ever since they took over the kitchen for some of the best damn fried chicken in Sydney. The kitchen will be working overtime from 12pm on Saturday to bring a whole heap of burger specials (including some inspired from burgers around the world) to the people, along with eating competitions and giveaways. That’s about the extent of details made available so far but for any updates you can check out their Facebook event page HERE.
Address: 345 Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt NSW 2040
Trufflenator travels to The Light Brigade (Woollahra)
Dee Why Hotel will once again be bringing their sumptuous Trufflenator burger for a little kitchen takeover this Saturday at sister venue The Light Brigade in Woollahra. For those who haven’t yet wrapped their hands around this holiest of burgs, it’s an architectural feat built from a classic Wagyu beef patty, crispy bacon, American cheddar, and crunchy onion rings, with extra flavour coming from a variation of rare fungus used to create a blend of truffle mayo, truffle butter, truffle maple syrup, and truffle-infused Havarti cheese, all sitting pretty between a Japanese milk bun.
The Trufflenator’s creator, Brad Johnston will be at the pop-up to ensure consistency, working with The Light Brigade’s Marco Alder to feed the needy and greedy for $21 a pop. Extras on offer include Truffle Pecorino Chips for $4.50 a serve. It’ll all be available at the ground level’s Brigade Bar from 11:30am to 4:30pm.
They expect to sell out, so if you feel like reserving your spot click HERE. Or you can call them on 02 9357 0815.
Address: 2A Oxford St, Woollahra NSW 2025
Merivale’s finest at Papi Chulo (Manly)
After being voted as Merivale’s best burger earlier this year at March Into Merivale’s Burger Competition, Papi Chulo is most definitely somewhere Manly locals want to head should they seek to do Burger Day justice. Kitchen champs Christopher Hogarth and Patrick Friesen have designed Merivale’s holy grail of burgers with grain fed beef, bacon, American cheese, tomato, lettuce, and pickles. It’s 10 bucks on Mondays (along with their Crispy Fish Burger and Hot Chicken Sandwich) but Monday isn’t International Burger Day.
Address: 22-23 Manly Road, Manly NSW 2095
Burger Specials at Beer DeLuxe (King Street Wharf)
We’re pretty big fans of the new Beer DeLuxe down at King Street Wharf. Of course, craft beer is the main reason to head here, but their food is damn good too. They’ll be offering two burger specials for the big day this Saturday, both monster-sized and both served with fries and a selected craft beer for $25 per deal.
The first, Chicken Monster is a stacked combo of double grilled chicken, double cheese, double bacon, slaw, avocado mayo, fresh jalapeno, and pineapple, finished off with a jalapeno popper. Second, Beef Monster, is a double beef pattie, double cheese, double bacon, caramelised onion, egg, tomato chutney, and deluxe sauce topped off with an onion ring.
Address: 9 Lime Street, King Street Wharf
West Village (Petersham)
Inner-west locals can head along to the refreshed West Village in Petersham for their mega-burger fix on Saturday, where the hungry will receive 15% off the price of either their Double Cheeseburger or Fried Chicken Tower Burger
Address: 30 Terminus Street, Petersham
The Lame Canada at Marlborough Hotel (Newtown)
On Sunday, the folks who brought you Burgerpalooza, Hashtag Burgers, are putting on a special edition of their regular Funk-N-Burgers event seeing as it’s their very first anniversary. To mark the occasion, they are taking over Marly Bar with Head Chef Adam Cremona who will be paying homage to local favourite Bar Luca and their exceptional Blame Canada (often referred to as the best burger in Sydney) with a specially created Lame Canada.
The Lame Canada consists of: house ground Angus beef pattie, maple glazed buttermilk fried bacon, Adam’s famous waffle chip poutine, maple aioli, and American Cheddar, all in between a soft milk bun. If that isn’t enough for you (what is wrong with you?) then there’s the optional add-on of Mac N Cheese balls and maple bacon ketchup or a side of Cheesey Bacon Poutine. The first 100 burger orders will come with a free toy and they’ll be plenty of $5 schooners of craft beer available while Hashtag DJ’s get you all nice and funky.
The team are also working on a vegetarian burger, with details released on the Facebook event page in due time.
Address: 145 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Burgergeddon at The Erskineville Hotel (Erskineville)
Image sourced from The Erskineville Hotel
If you’re in the area you’ll want to head along to inner-west staple The Erskineville Hotel from 12pm on Saturday because the team will be going all out for their International Burger Day celebrate: Burgergeddon. Five burger creations will be offered by five chefs in a battle for inner-west burger supremacy.
There aren’t too many details available about this one but we do know that one of the burgers will be a good ol’ fashioned cheeseburger super-sized with smoked beef boilermaker chilli, a fuckload of cheese, a bit of bacon, onion, and pickles. There’s also a Smoked Brisket burger on the cards.
For more information keep your eyes on their Facebook event page HERE
Address: 102 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville NSW 2043
Mister Gee Burger Truck’s $8 Special (Haberfield)
Image sourced from Mister Gee Burger Truck
The famous Mister Gee will be flipping up their burgers, including the current weekly special The Stoner’s Revenge for $8 each on Saturday. For those not in know, The Stoner’s Revenge (pictured above) is one of the Mister Gee’s most popular specials, constantly returning to meet demand; it’s built with a grassfed beef patty, triple American cheese, malt pickled onion, house dill pickles, salt & vinegar potato chips, special stoner sauce, and option streaky bacon. AND IT IS EIGHT DOLLARS. Bless up. Get down there from 6pm.
Address: 315 Parramatta Rd, Haberfield NSW 2045
The Man VS Burger at Goodtime Burgers (Bondi Junction)
DJs will be on deck at Bondi Junction’s Goodtime Burgers, providing the soundtrack to a monstrous Man VS Burger eating competition being held on Saturday from 6pm. Entry to the venue will be free, with those willing to participate in the competition tasked with facing off against the most notorious eaters in the country. Witnesses can also get their hands on $5 picklebacks and burgers. The grand prize is $500 for whoever can eat the enormous burger (pictured above) the quickest. All participants can register HERE.
For more information head to their Facebook event page HERE.
Address: 500 Oxford Street, Sydney, Australia 2022
Keg & Brew (Surry Hills) || Dove & Olive (Surry Hills) || The Dog (Randwick)
Keg & Brew, as well as its sister pubs, Dove & Olive (Surry Hills) and The Dog (Randwick) are planning to mash burgers with pizza on Saturday, celebrating Burger Day with a Pepperoni Wrapped Cheeseburger for all the gluttons out there. If relatively healthy arteries are more your thing, then there’s also a Portobello Mushroom Burger. Both burger specials can be washed down with $6.50 schooners of Brooklyn Brewery’s Lager.
Address:
Keg & Brew: 26 Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Dove & Olive: 156 Devonshire St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
The Dog: 2 St Marks Rd, Randwick NSW 2031
BL Burgers’ Special (Bondi; CBD; Darlinghurst)
BL Burgers have just opened up their new store at Beach Road Hotel in Bondi, and to celebrate this massive expansion they are offering up – alongside their already immensely popular burgers (like the Blame Canada, pictured above) – a weekly special called the Justin Beaver, made from a 200g pattie, USA red cheddar, 6″ triple smoked Canadian sausage, Beaver Coney Island mustard, pickles, onions, ketchup, lettuce, and maple aioli.
Address:
Darlinghurst: 1/151 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Bondi: 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach NSW 2026
CBD (Bar Luca): 52 Phillip St, Sydney NSW 2000
Bolt on Burgers at Cargo Bar (King Street Wharf)
Sydney’s famous Cargo Bar are going hard this Saturday with their “Bolt on Burgers” concept from 11am, providing a build-your-own design for customers to express their inner glutton. You can “bolt on” as many additions from the menu as you like, starting with a basic burger (Wagyu beef patty, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and special sauce) and then choose any amount from the following: extra patty, grilled chicken, streaky bacon, American jack cheese, deep-fried ice cream cheese jalapeno popper (wtf), spicy chilli con carne, and mac ‘n’ cheese. Gluten free and nude burger options are available.
More information can be found HERE.
Address: 52-60 THE Promenade, Sydney NSW 2000
Burger Lords at The Lord Gladstone (Chippendale)
On the Sunday, Chippendale pub The Lord Gladstone will be furthering their string of parties by launching a monthly burger soiree titled “Burger Lords”. It’s a Sunday Sessions type gig with a healthy soundtrack of soul and R&B to help you down the range of craft beer, shakes, and burgers planned to take over the venue. This weekend, for the event’s first edition, you can get your hands around a Notorious B.I.G, made from a 1/2 pounder beef patty, triple cheese, double Hennessy glazed bacon, onion rings, pickles, and special sauce, served with fries, jalapeno poppers, and fried chicken strips, all for $17. If half a pounder isn’t enough for you, grab the full pounder for $22. If a full pounder isn’t enough for you then give ’em the loot and hypnotize yourself into getting a Biggie Smalls, which is double everything. Don’t say we didn’t give you a warning though; if you make the unbelievable feat and finish that one then much respect to you! At least it’ll be extra juicy.
There will also be a Biggie Smalls burger eating challenge, far from an everyday struggle to give you one more chance to take on that enormous stack, just make sure you’re somewhat ready to die because you’d have to have suicidal thoughts to be tackling that beast as fast as you could. The time to beat will be set by a professional competitive eater who will most likely be setting the bar high as his no friend of mine, or yours.
For more information, the line up of DJs, and any updates keep an eye on Facebook.
Address: 115 Regent St, Chippendale NSW 2008
Brooklyn Depot Opens (Surry Hills)
Just in time for International Burger Day, Sydney’s latest inner-city burger joint, Brooklyn Depot, finally makes its way down from Queensland. The team behind one of Gold Coast’s most popular burger haunts will no doubt be going all out for their long overdue opening, pumping out Old Brooklyn street inspired handcrafted burgs with hot dogs and desserts. It’d be a good idea to head along once they open (on Friday) and celebrating burger day by grabbing one of their essential FUHGEDDABOUDIT burgers which comes with a chilli syringe to let you insert your own level of heat into this bad boy, also available as an add-on stack of bacon, onion rings, cheese sauce, frickles (battered and fried pickles).
Address: 65 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Ribwich Burgers at The Oaks (Neutral Bay)
Neutral Bay’s endearing The Oaks seem to pushing their burger offerings a bit more this year, beefing the menu up for 5 varieties of beef, chicken, and veggie burgers which includes the Buttermilk Chicken Burger (crispy fried buttermilk chicken with Oaks slaw and aioli in a brioche bun, served with fries) and their International Burger Day special, the Ribwich Burger (short rib meat braised and smoked for hours, in a brioche bun with Oaks slaw and homemade BBQ sauce)
Address: 118 Military Rd Neutral Bay, NSW 2089
Ghost Chilli BBQ Burgers at El Camino Cantina (The Rocks)
Now that Ananas Bar & Brasserie has vacated the premises at The Argyle, large Mexican restaurant El Camino Cantina has opened, and just in time for International Burger Day. Along with their menu of Tex-Mex inspired dishes, they’ve got a Ghost Chilli BBQ Burger which will kick your spice game up more than a few notches, though its been pickled to make the heat at least somewhat bearable. It’s made with a Black Angus beef patty, avocado, tomato, iceberg lettuce, Cholula hot sauce, and spicy Pepper Jack Cheese, sitting in between a bun that’s been smeared with ghost chilli jam. The restaurant also served up the Flaming Hellcat XXX Especial Lager from Urban Brewing Co. on draught exclusively so we suggest smashing one of the burgs down with that delicious craft beer.
Address: 18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, Sydney
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Headline Image: Chicken & Sons at The Bald Faced Stag
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