http://www.churburger.com.au/brisbane
Last weekend we celebrated a couple of friends joint 30th birthday at Up on Constance. I'd never heard of that venue before and Marc and I wandered up and down Constance street for a while before we figured out how to get onto the roof. Once we got there, it was beautiful. I was going to write a blog entry on Up on Constance but I can't think of enough ways to describe cocktails effectively and critically. Instead, let's focus on what I know best, and that's food. We got peckish partway through the party and went in search for a feed.
Being an avid social media junkie (especially when it comes to food), I am well aware of any interesting new venture to open in Brisbane. Chur Burger caught my attention right away because not long after it opened, everyone on my Instagram feed was eating there and all the photos looked delicious. It seemed like the The Cool New burger joint to eat at and being the sheep that I am, I wanted to try it for myself. Lo and behold, Chur Burger was right below Up on Constance and I took that as a sign from fate that we were meant to eat there that night.
Chur Burger is quite a large restaurant despite very much just being a burger joint. To be fair, there are some 'proper mains' on the menu but when a venue has the word 'burger' in its title, I'm hardly going to order a sirloin steak.
The burger menu comprises of all the popular burger meats including beef, chicken and lamb. I was most interested in the Chur special of crispy pork belly. Marc chose the beef and pickle cheese burger. We also ordered a serve of chili salted fries to share.
Saturday night feed
Our food was brought out quite speedily, which is what I like and expect from a burger shop. The first thing I noticed was a distinct smell coming from our food. On inspection, I realised this was actually my pork belly burger.
The Chur Special - crispy pork belly, chili caramel, slaw and aioli
It had a strong fish sauce aroma that would have fit right in at a Vietnamese market stall but at a trendy inner city eatery seemed really out of place. Being of Asian ethnicity myself, I would say I'm super tolerant to foods and smells that many Australian's would find off-putting. This prominence of fish sauce wasn't so bad that I couldn't eat the burger but it was really noticeable and even after I finished eating it, my fingers smelt like fish sauce!
Bite shot of pork belly burger
I still ate the burger because despite the nasal assault because taste-wise, it was quite good. The pork belly pieces had a sticky sweet marinade and the skin was wonderfully crispy. It was a tad too sweet for my palate but still acceptable. The bun is my idea of an ideal burger bun: glazed, sweet and soft. No complaints about the bun at all.
Beef burger - with pickles, cheese, tomato jam and mustard mayo
I swapped with Marc half way through so we could each try the other burger. His beef and pickle burger was much more conventional and for once, I preferred the normal/boring option.
Bite shot of beef burger
The beef patty was lovely, juicy and pink in the middle which is important to me. Here, the savoury was perfectly offset by abundance of tart pickle and oozy cheese. I would have happily finished off his burger but Marc also preferred the beef and swapped it back.
Chili salted chips
Our chips were lovely and hot and tossed with a chili salt. The first few we ate were a bit like the Peri Peri chips from Nandos but as we delved further into the packet, the inner chips weren't as well-coated with the seasoned salt and thus, more like plain average chips. There was a huge selection of chili sauces at our table so we used those to amp up the flavour. The green kiwi chili sauce was particularly interesting.
I know it sounds like I'm giving Chur Burger a bad wrap but I honestly think (and hope) it was just my choice that let me down. My pork belly burger was way too pungent for my taste buds and nose but the beef burger was quite good. I'm not sure if it was just an overly fish saucy marinade that day or if it's always like that but I can't imagine too many people being able to accept that in a burger. The environment was fun and casual and the service was speedy too.
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