10 of the best new burger restaurants in Melbourne
NEW-school burgers have washed over our city and our love affair shows no sign of slowing. These are 10 of the best new burger restaurants to try in Melbourne.
Melb Food & Wine Festival
Don't miss out on the headlines from Melb Food & Wine Festival. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT’S the love that keeps of giving — our undying affection for meat in a bun.
New-school burgers have washed over our city, but our love affair shows no sign of slowing.
The elegant simplicity of a well-made version remains a thing of beauty.
MELBOURNE’S 20 BEST CITY RESTAURANTS
DISCOVER MELBOURNE’S LATEST CRAFT BEER BREW BARS
MELBOURNE’S TOP 10 BEST BURGERS
GUT-BUSTING FOOD CHALLENGES ACROSS MELBOURNE
MELBOURNE’S BEST BAR FOOD
Chef Casey Wall introduced Melbourne to the double patty smash burger at Rockwell and Sons in 2012, and while he’s now flexing his more refined cooking muscles at Bar Liberty, he still jumps on the grill once a week to smash out those patties.
“There is something so satisfying about the simplicity of a good burger,” Wall said. His creation — where the patties are “smashed” on the grill and topped with Kraft cheese, Russian sauce and a few gherkins — remains one of the city’s finest.
What’s his secret?
“Not using cheap buns, using the right mince as bog standard butcher mince won’t cut it, acidity, and salt,” he said.
Wall will be smashing patties as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s final night Burger Block party next Sunday.
He’ll be joined on the grill by Brunswick’s Beatbox Kitchen, Sydney’s Mary’s Burgers, Perth’s Short Order Burger Co. and Hobart’s The Standard. Tickets $25.
10 new burger joints to love
KELSO’S SANDWICH SHOP
271 Johnston St, Abbotsford. kelsossandwiches.com
Like a Macca’s cheeseburger, but created with love and care — Kelso’s burgers are hard to beat. A butter-glazed milk bun toasted on a hot grill becomes the bookends for a thick, properly meaty, textural patty with real flavour. Onions, gherkins, diced white onions, a daub of hot mustard and a splodge of tomato sauce finishes a burger that’s one of the very best of the bunch.
MEET PATTY
171 Nepean Hwy, Mentone. meetpatty.com.au
Ace name, fab burgers pumping from the Thrift Park Shopping Centre. The Signature is your go-to, loaded with a quality grass-fed Angus patty, cheese, special sauce and McClure’s pickles from Boston in a toasted brioche bun. Team with a VB or a freakshake. A second Patty will open in Toorak mid year.
BETTY’S BURGERS
97 Elizabeth St, city. bettysburgers.com.au
The queues often run down the street for this Noosa import where they promise a burger in your hand in 6-8 minutes. Choose from a tight menu of no-fuss buns such as the classic, with charred, well-seasoned patty of grain-fed Angus with frilly butter lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and tangy sauce between a soft, sweet bun.
NEW SCHOOL CANTEEN
379 George St, Fitzroy. newschoolcanteen.com.au
It’s naughty and nice at this new Fitzroy backstreet burger joint. While half the 10-strong list keeps vego/vegans front of mind, Franco Caruso (he of the panko-crumbed croque monsieur at Brunswick’s Lolo and Wren) is still happy to make friends with meat. The Canadian adds maple-glazed bacon to a double cheese patty, the Hot Chick is all chipotle-spiced Milawa free-range chook, while the signature Canteen wins with its own secret sauce.
MONROE’S
228 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville. monroesburgers.com
Whether the Healesville classic amped with roasted garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato and red onion, or the streaky bacon and pineapple-pimped Hawaiian swine, there’s lots of country style at Monroe’s. That’s thanks to a creative mix of chuck, porterhouse and silverside beef hand-minced and shaped and cooked pink to deliver a properly steak flavoured patty.
CHUR
Dandenong Rd, Chadstone. churburger.com.au
Sydney fine-dining chef Warren Turnbull is behind Chur. With seven outlets in the harbour city and Brisbane, Chadstone’s Eat Street precinct near HOYTS is home to Chur’s sole Melbourne digs. The burgers are big, bold and saucy, with rough-hewed Angus-beef patties and basic ingredients keeping things simple.
BEATBOX KITCHEN
692 Sydney Rd, Brunswick. beatboxkitchen.com
Eight years ago, the Beatbox burger van single-handedly started Melbourne’s food truck revolution. Now get your fix at its new bricks-and-mortar diner. Smash juicy, high-grade burgers with that snappy stereo sauce along with a game of ping pong.
BROOKLYN DEPOT
399 Lonsdale St. Melbourne .brooklyndepot.com.au
Having impressed the northern states with their all-American take on burgers and beer, Brooklyn Depot has recently arrived in Melbourne’s CBD plying same to good effect. A dozen burgers are offered, from the benchmark Brooklyn Classic through double trouble Depot (double beef, cheese, with pineapple and bacon). Table service and an extensive range of brews lift the offering within the smart dine-in surrounds.
SKIPPING GIRL TAKEAWAY
70 William St, Abbotsford. skippinggirltakeaway.com.au
In a backstreet near the Yarra, this former milk bar still oozes old-school charm — just now with added burger. Take the 16,000 Skips — named after the number of bounces the nearby Skipping Girl sign does nightly — with its glorious stack of three wagyu patties, three slices of cheddar and three strips of bacon. Also get triple-cooked chips.
THE ALLEY
417 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. thealley.net.au
Just open, this 35-seater takes a fast-food approach to vegan food. There are burgers aplenty, all plant-based, like the Hawaiian made with jackfruit and pineapple or the Maple Bacon cleverly using coconut.
dan.stock@news.com.au