One with the lot: Melbourne’s best burgers
If you thought all good burgers were beef, think again. From crumbed fish to crispy fried chicken to smoked mushroom, these Melbourne eateries are pushing the boundaries of what a burger can be.
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They used to say it’s not a burger unless it’s a beef burger, and while the cow still commands pole position on the menus of Melbourne’s best burger shops, long gone are the days when only beef burgers were considered ‘real’ burgers.
Fried chicken – browned and crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside– immaculately crumbed fish and vegetarian equivalents in the form of fake meat patties, smoked rounds of portobello mushroom and battered discs of eggplant are increasingly finding favour with Melburnians.
From old-school burger joints like North Fitzroy institution Danny’s Burgers to places like Huxtaburger and 8Bit that heralded a frenzied new wave of burger eating, Melbourne has no shortage of burger shops.
In this list, we venture from Brunswick and Northcote to Richmond and South Yarra to bring you the places continually pushing the dial on what a burger can be.
The produce is high-quality and ethically sourced.
The buns are often house-made.
The sauces are typically a secret, closely guarded by a coterie of people in the know. And the combination of all these components yields the perfect first bite, and the next ten bites after.
JUANITA PEACHES
Brunswick neighbourhood diner Juanita Peaches only has one self-anointed burger on the menu – its famed cheeseburger – but don’t be fooled. Its fried chicken sandwich and eggplant sandwich can comfortably be classified as burgers, if we take a burger to mean a patty sandwiched between two circular buns.
The cheeseburger – featuring a lustrous grass-fed beef brisket patty and the holy trifecta of American cheese, confit shallots and dill pickles nestled between a house-made steamed potato bun, dubbed the ‘boogie’ bun, is most people’s go-to.
But we’re as wowed by the fried free-range chicken burger, enlivened by Juanita’s renowned boss sauce and the addition of slaw.
Location: 12 Edward St, Brunswick
1090 BURGER
Burger-making is an exact science at 1090 Burger – specifically 10 per cent fat and 90 per cent meat, an equation that lends the business its name. From humble beginnings in a Northcote trailer, Son Nguyen has now set up a permanent 1090 outpost in Richmond. The buns are brioche, the beef patties are grass-fed, aged Black Angus sourced from Mount Beauty, and the accompanying marinade has nine ingredients. The classic namesake burger, available with one or two patties, is the bestseller but also worth sampling is the Thunderburger with bacon and chilli mayo and the double-everything Bacon8ter with salted caramel (yes, you read that right) bacon mayo.
Location: 181A Swan St, Richmond
300 GRAMS
With shops scattered across Northcote, Richmond and Coburg, 300 Grams is best known for its beef smash patties – accompanied by different combinations of cheese, tomato, lettuce, ketchup, mayo and the secret 300 sauce. Plant eaters love 300 Grams because the beef and chicken burgers can be made vegetarian or veganised with a plant-based patty, a vegan fried chicken patty, vegan cheese, vegan sauce and southern fried mushrooms. For those who like Australiana burgers, the Norfcote has egg and beetroot, and pescetarians will be pleased to know about the Scalable, 300’s take on a crumbed fish burger.
Locations: 313 High Street, Northcote, 184 Swan Street, Richmond, 1 Gaffney Street, Coburg
BUTCHERS DINER
A haven for late night birds and meat eaters alike, Butcher’s Diner has gained a cult following since it opened its doors at the top end of Spring Street in 2017. While its menu is an eclectic one featuring the likes of charcoal-grilled skewers and nostalgia-inducing snacks like chilli dogs and dim sims, we go for the burgers. Take your pick from the hamburger, cheeseburger, and cheeseburger with house bacon – as escalating procession of aged beef patties paired with tomato sauce, ribbons of pickles and mayo in its simplest iteration and all that plus aged cheddar, bacon, sauce and mayo in its most elaborate form.
Location: 10 Bourke St, Melbourne
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LEONARD’S HOUSE OF LOVE
This 70s dive bar from the same people behind Sweetwater Inn – RIP – doesn’t do things by halves, even once you look past the log cabin decor. The chicken thigh patty in the hot chicken burger is glazed with habanero and duck fat. The rodeo burger features onions cooked in a reduction of Jack Daniels until they’re jammy. The blue cheeseburger, true to its name, incorporates a blue cheese jalapeño ranch sauce. If you want to go traditional, the cheeseburger with its beef brisket and short rib patty will sate all cravings, but otherwise, there are eight other burgers to choose from.
Location: 3 Wilson St, South Yarra VIC 3141
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