This is the fourth in a series of articles where I will be travelling around Sydney looking for the best burgers to eat and compiling the ultimate list. Just some house rules to address
- Burger shop must be located within the borders of Greater Sydney
- Fast food burgers are eligible, although the chances of them competing with the gourmet burgers are slim, so they won’t feature too much here
- The final score will be comprised of the following components
- Presentation (Out of 5)
- Bread (Out of 3)
- Patty (Out of 5)
- Chips (Out of 2)
- Taste (Out of 5)
- Overall score will be out of 20
So the fourth burger shop that will be reviewed is the famous “Bar Luca”, a burger chain where they’re original shop is about a five minute walk from Circular Quay station.
I feel I don’t really need to give Bar Luca any introductions, cause if you like burgers and you’re in Sydney, you know that Bar Luca is a burger institution. The “Blame Canada” is their flagship burger and is the reason millions flock to Bar Luca among their many locations. For this review, I got the ‘Blame Canada’ burger and the weekly special ‘Hot Cross Buns’, which was a double chicken fillet burger and some bacon strips criss crossed on the bun to resemble a hot cross bun.
Presentation (4.5/5)
Bar Luca presents their burgers on a metal plate, surrounded by a sea of shoe string fries. From looks alone, the burger looks big and plump, and you feel like you’re going to get full from it. The burgers at Bar Luca tend to fall on the saucy side, so having a well rounded sized plate to catch all the dripping juice is a plus up.
Bread (2.5/3)
I always prefer brioche buns for my burgers, but the milk buns here are pretty good. They were toasted to prevent sogginess, and they were fluffy as well. For the Hot Cross Bun burger with bacon strips at the top, I don’t think that worked out. The bacon wasn’t greasy enough and made the burger harder to eat.
Patty (4.5/5)
In the Blame Canada, potentially because of the poutine, but the patties have so much flavour and are cooked well. Could use a bit more juiciness to it, but it’s supplemented by the other ingredients in the burger. The chicken patty in the hot cross bun burger was definitely a bit lacking, needed more punch in the flavour, a bit dry and it was much smaller than I anticipated. If it wasn’t for the Blame Canada, this score would be lower.
Chips (2/2)
I LOVE how they cook the chips here. Extra crispy and seasoned with herbs that I can never get enough of it. Even served in some loaded fries, it still retains its crunchiness.
Taste (4.5/5)
For the Hot Cross Bun burger, despite my initial complaint of the chicken fillets, the egg salad on the burger was amazing and it rescues that burger.
The Blame Canada burger is one of the most perfect burgers you could ever taste. You can the taste of the delicious patties, the crunch of the chips and the sweet flavours from the maple bacon and syrup combined with the cheese from the poutine. How no one came up with mixing poutine and a burger together before is a mystery.
The Blame Canada is an icon on the burger scene, and needs to be tried by everyone.
Overall (18/20)
One of my favourite burger joints in the world, I will always come back to Bar Luca. Every week they’ve got different specials to try and combined with their permanent menu (including the Blame Canada), each visit will be a unique experience.
Scoreboard
- Bar Luca — 18/20 (http://barluca.com.au/)
- Suburgia — 15/20 (https://www.suburgia.com.au/)
- Mister Gee — 13.5/20 (https://www.mistergee.com.au/)
- Five Points Burger — 10.5/20 (https://fivepointsburgers.com.au/)