While beauty is most certainly in the eye of the beholder, we have to admit that the best burgers are objectively quite ugly.
But “ugly” isn’t necessarily a pejorative. Especially when it comes to food.
While perfectly formed patties, just the right amount of salad, and glossy brioche buns are nice to look at, sometimes we need the adrenaline rush of skilfully dodging “secret sauce” as it aggressively pours onto our clothes.
We want those over-the-top, ugly-delicious burgers for when nothing else will do. The kind that leave you with a curious blend of shame and satisfaction unlike anything you’ve felt before.
And Sydney is perfect for that.
Given the quality of our beef, we have some of the best burgers in the world sitting right at our doorstep, comparable to the unimpeachable burger scenes over in Tokyo, New York City and Chicago.
The pandemic killed off plenty of our favourite burger joints, like Pub Life Kitchen and the controversial Down N Out. Yet, despite the painful closures, you can still find some incredible burgers across Sydney.
To help, we’ve rounded up some of our greatest hits, most objectively ugly, and some subjectively ugly, to make sure you’re only biting into the best.
The Best (And Ugliest) Burgers In Sydney
1. The OG from Mister Gee’s
Mister Gee’s was the talk of the town amongst Sydney’s most voracious burger fiends for years when it opened in 2014.
Once served out of a food truck parked in a car wash off Parramatta Road, Gee Ozgen’s nascent burger business didn’t need any bricks or mortar. You’d grab a burger, and a coke, and then sit on a milk crate and let that truffle mayo dance across your palate.
The OG Truffle ($15.50), Gee’s signature burger, was sorely missed when the burger truck exploded a few years ago. But that just inspired the team to actually open at shopfront. Now, Mister Gee’s serves its incredible burgers out in North Strathfield, featuring a small but consistent menu of heavy-hitters that includes the original OG Truffle, as well as the Cheese Boogie, Stoners Revenge and Friedmaster.
The monstrous Stoners Revenge is actually the ugliest option on the menu (and one of the best) but the OG Truffle is too hard to resist. The simple blend of grass-fed beef, cheese, caramelised onion and truffle mayo is perfectly sized to fit in one hand, grabbing plenty of flavour from the generous mayo that flows out of the bun with a beautiful, subtle flavour that adds a bit of earthiness to all that umami.
Address: 2/5 George St, North Strathfield NSW 2137
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Thursday (11:30am – 2:30pm, 5pm – 9pm); Friday – Saturday (11:30am – 2:30pm, 5pm – 11pm); Sunday (5pm – 9pm)
2. Blame Canada from BL Burgers
Biting into your first Blame Canada ($19) is a transformative experience and a surefire way to make your taste buds sing with a chorus of sweet, salty and umami all rolled into one big flavour bomb.
The signature burger of the BL Burgers franchise started at at pub. Namely, Bar Luca in Circular Quay.
Chef James Robbins’ experimental know-how led to an Australian-meets-Canadian showdown that takes a simple beef patty and stacks it with American cheese, maple glazed streaky bacon, maple aioli and poutine. A handful of squishy thin-cut fries topples the buns structural integrity and all but guarantees some of that aioli will start dripping everywhere.
The burger got so popular that the Bar Luca team were able to open up a series of small BL Burger locations around Sydney, with the flagship being in the middle of Oxford Street. Order a double and things get even uglier. Wash it down with a diet coke and you’ve just had one of the best meals in Sydney. Just don’t forget to grab a tonne of napkins to refresh your face before you step back onto the street.
Note that BL Burgers also has a dynamic menu with a creative weekly special and their very own, delicious take on the classic Big Mac.
Address: Shop 1/151 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Contact: (02) 9357 4527
Opening Hours: Monday – Wednesday (11am – 9pm); Thursday (11am – 9:30pm); Friday – Saturday (11am – 11pm); Sunday (11am – 9pm)
3. Hamburger from Gojima
You won’t find any brioche or milk buns at Chase Kojima’s experimental sushi burger restaurant, Gojima. Yes, you read that correctly, sushi burger.
Chase landed on the perfect concept just a few years ago when he opened the first Gojima at The Star.
He took a large piece of nori and wrapped it around two perfectly square fried sushi rice “buns”. A simple idea, but one that clearly took a lot of tweaking to get the architecture right.
Now it’s one of the tastiest burgers you’ll find in Sydney. The “bun” comes filled with the classic options, elevated by premium produce with a few left-field picks like the salmon miso burger and kingfish sweet mustard.
But the best is still the standard hamburger, with Angus beef, tomato, pickles, lettuce and a house-made sauce that plays well with the burger’s unique structure.
You do have the option to go all out and turn any of those burgers into a super-stacker with multiple layers. But for the sake of your sanity, stick to just the single or the double.
Address: Brookfield Place (Lower Concourse LC, Level 301 George St, Sydney NSW 2000
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (11:30am – 3pm)
4. Big Poppa from Milky Lane
Milky Lane was one of the earliest beneficiaries of social media’s bloated obsession with heart-pounding loaded burgers.
The original Bondi Beach location became a world-famous tourist trap with its aggressive influencer marketing, luring people in with drippy, over-the-top burgers that were divisive but reliably delicious. Now, you’ll need to head on out to Parramatta to eat their burgers.
The hip hop theme spills onto the menu, with options including the Chic-Kanye and Big L. But the most popular is the Notorious B.I.G.-inspired Big Poppa ($26), with a double smashed pattie layered with double hi-melt cheese, pulled brisket, crispy maple bacon, a crispy mozzarella pattie, diced onions, house-made crispy onion strings and bacon-infused mayo.
It’s easily the ugliest burger in Sydney and finishing one is both rewarding and… well, kind of gross (delicious gross)
Address: 20/22 Macquarie St, Parramatta NSW 2150
Contact: (02) 9689 3893
Opening Hours: Monday – Wednesday (11:30am – 9pm); Thursday (11:30am – 9:30pm); Friday – Saturday (11:30am – 11pm); Sunday (11:30am – 9pm)
5. Gidley Burger at The Gidley
The Gidley is Sydney’s most stylish steakhouse, looking like a set piece from Mad Men with flickering candlelight spotlighting beautiful herringbone floors and olive green banquettes.
Buried underneath the corner of King and Elizabeth Streets, it’s long been considered one of the best spots for Steak in the entire country. It’s even ranked in the top 25 steakhouses in the world. And while most of that’s due to its signature Riverine rib eye steak, a lot of the deathless hype surrounds The Gidley’s eponymous burger.
While no one would dare call this work of art ugly, we’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t flick this beauty onto your radar. The winning combination of two premium beef patties, cheddar and a pickle with optional bacon and egg is just as good as the best burgers in the USA, including the signature from Au Cheval in Chicago and the beast at New York’s 4 Charles.
Want a tip? If you can’t get a reservation at The Gidley, head on over to Surry Hills seafood bistro The Rover. The underrated two-level bar and restaurant is from the same group (Liquid & Larder) and has put the Gidley burger on its menu in early 2024.
Address: 161 King St, Sydney NSW 2000
Contact: (02) 9169 6898
Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday (12pm – 12am)
6. The Classic Burger at Chebbo’s Burgers
Owner and social media personality Ali Chebbani follows in the footsteps of Sydney’s most successful burger kings with Marrickville’s popular Chebbo’s Burgers.
Consistency is the most important thing to get right for any budding burger empire, and Chabbani seems to understand this very well.
The slick shop offers only five burgers at a time with smash patties using a brisket blend and featuring classic, quality toppings for an old-school, American-influenced approach.
Chebbo’s burgers themselves are delicate works of art: crispy in all the right places with a load of freshness to offset the burger’s rich, fatty flavour. The signature ($12) slaps a Chebbo’s smash pattie onto a milk bun with American cheddar, ripe tomato slices, fresh red onion and crisp green oak lettuce leafs.
Sounds like your standard diner burger, right? The team don’t rely on sauce to bring the flavour so these burgers don’t create as much of a mess.
Address: 308 Victoria Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Sunday (11am – 10pm)
7. Cheese & Bacon Burger at Clam Bar
Clam Bar’s burger looks weird. There’s a lot of cheese. Perhaps a bit too much cheese. But the dimly-lit New York-indebted diner, clearly modelled after the famously decadent 4 Charles Prime Rib, offers an off-menu sandwich that’ll knock your socks off. And probably make your blood pressure scream.
You’ll want to prepare yourself before ordering up the restaurant’s pricey cheese and bacon burger ($35) which covers a hefty 250g grass-fed patty with mountains of cheese and a neat, trim slice of bacon on top.
It’s not exactly the kind of delicate dance that Neil Perry played when he started Sydney’s obsession with gourmet, restaurant-quality burgers, but a perfect pop of indulgence next time you’re looking for a heavy meal.
Address: 44 Bridge St, Sydney NSW 2000
Contact: (02) 9016 1590
Opening Hours: Monday – Thursday (12pm – 11pm)
8. American Cheeseburger at Next Door
While pioneers like Pub Life Kitchen’s Jovan Curic and BL Burgers’ James Robbins took Sydney’s love of casual, approachable burgers to the next level, it was Neil Perry who really played around at the top-end of the scene, shouldering the city’s love of higher-end, gourmet burgers during his time at Rockpool Bar & Grill.
Now, he’s taken his panache for produce-forward burgers to just one of his multiple Double Bay restaurants, Next Door.
Here, you’l find a 160g CopperTree American Cheeseburger ($25) with rose mayo, onion and pickles. It’s beautiful. But the face you’ll make as soon as you bite into this piece of perfection could be quite ugly.
Address: 30-36 Bay St, Double Bay NSW 2028
Contact: (02) 9068 8888
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Sunday (12pm – 10pm)
9. The Signature at Ume Burger
Ume’s burgers are actually quite beautiful to look at. But leaving this exceptional Japanese-Australia burger off a round-up of Sydney’s best burgers could get ugly.
The late, great Kirby Craig opened the original Barangaroo spot many years ago, immediately springing to acclaim with a style of burgers you wouldn’t find anywhere else in Sydney. Or Australia for that matter.
Pork katsu and tonkatsu sauce replaced the usual beef patty and “burger sauce”. But that was just the beginning. Japanese fried chicken burgers, fish katsu burgers and vegetable fritter burgers are all on the menu, but regulars keep coming back to the signature Ume Burger ($16.90) which keeps things classy with a signature beef pattie, wagyu mince sauce, truss tomato, onion, mayo and American cheese.
The wagyu mine sauce is the star here, oozing out of the burger on each bite and tying it all together with a rich, fatty flavour.
Address: 33 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000
Contact: 0481 951 920
Opening Hours: Monday – Tuesday (11:30am – 2:30pm); Wednesday – Saturday (11:30am – 2:30pm, 4:30pm – 9pm); Sunday (11:30am – 2:30pm)
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