Ten of the Best Burger Joints in Brisbane
Because if it's one thing this city has, it's burgers.
Ten of the Best Burger Joints in Brisbane
Because if it's one thing this city has, it's burgers.
It's something so simple, yet so delicious. Place a slab of meat (or a vegetarian alternative) between two halves of a bread roll, add some sauce, salad and a few other ingredients — and to the delight of your tastebuds, something glorious materialises. That'd be the burger, a culinary creation so mouthwatering that many a person has tried to take credit for inventing it since the 1800s.
Two centuries later, the humble bread-centric meal has become a food staple around the world, including Brisbane. Chain restaurants thrive on them — however, anyone who has had to stomach a quick fix in a brightly lit eatery knows that not all burgers are created equal. Forget the junk and fast food varieties, because the city is overflowing with appetizing alternatives. We've rounded up ten of the best for your greasy eating pleasure.
Top image: Chur Burger
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If a place named Greaser Bar didn’t serve up burgers, there’d be trouble. And you won’t just find any old American-style offerings in this rock ‘n’ roll dive bar — you’ll find as close to cheeseburger perfection as you’re likely to get without jumping on a plane and heading to the US. Simplicity is the key, with ground Angus beef, cheese, pickles, onions, tomato, lettuce and burger sauce all you need for mouthwatering greatness. If you are after something a little different, there’s also an on-trend mac ‘n’ cheese option, as well as an ever-changing array of specials.
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Going to a gig and getting something greasy go hand in hand. The Triffid knows this, and their beer garden — one of Brisbane’s best hangout spots, whether you’re seeing a band or just in the area — has the menu to match. With the folks at Howzat Burger no longer working the grills, the Triffid has come up with their own selection of everyone’s favourite foods. Everyone should try the Triffid Burger’s combination of three cuts of beef, but the haloumi option is hard to pass up. There’s also a solution if you really can’t decide — grab mini versions of both, plus a crispy chicken offering, in slider form.
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Who needs buildings when you can base a burger joint out of a shipping container, and who needs pre-determined selections when you can design your own? Yep, Miel Container opts for the latter in both cases, with picking everything from the meat to the bread to the filling all part of the fun — and doing so in a steel box in the middle of the CBD part of it as well. That’s not a criticism of the classic burgers always on offer, such as the crunchy prawn, the Korean BBQ bulgogi and the miso smoked pork belly, of course. It’s just a reflection of Miel’s creativity, letting their patrons concoct their own beastly bread-and-filling combinations.
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They’ve been called the best burgers in Sydney, and they’d have to rank at the top of Brisbane’s list as well. Yes, they’re the monstrous morsels on offer at Chur Burger — and they’re of the type that will get you salivating just by thinking about them. Fans of something other than beef and chicken are in their element here, with the vegetarian option — a spiced chickpea fritter, grated beetroot and honey labne — worth giving up meat for. The rest of the menu on offer at their Constance Street and Riverside locations is just as tasty, though we recommend dropping by the former to check out their weekly specials. At the time of writing, the Pig Mac ‘n’ Cheese with maple glazed ham, mac ‘n’ cheese and pineapple fritter was in the spotlight — and yes, mac ‘n’ cheese on burgers is as much a trend as burgers themselves.
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6
If Ben’s Burgers feels familiar, and not just from a few late-night feeds, it could have something to do with your TV viewing habits. Indeed, if the animated wonder that is Bob’s Burgers came to life, dropped the blackboard with pun-filled burger names and set up shop in a Fortitude Valley laneway, we think it’d turn out a bit like this. Their menu is modest, serving up the classic, the special and a mushroom-focused vegetarian offering, but we all know that good things come in small packages. Of course, the burgers are anything but tiny in size — and they’re also available across town at West End offshoot The Bleachers.
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Until recently, checking out one of the city’s most epic burgers meant trekking to the southern or northern suburbs. But now that Getta Burger has added a West End location to their existing Carindale and Bridgeman Down spots, that’s no longer necessary — though their hefty offerings are definitely worth driving twenty minutes for. If you’re making your maiden visit and you have a healthy appetite, the Getta ‘Lot’ is a perfect starting point. You’ll sample their homemade patties (with the meat ground and smoked in-house) and barbecue sauce, and you’ll start counting down the days until you make a return trip.
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When you add mac ‘n’ cheese to a burger and call it the Mac Daddy, you’ve obviously got a great sense of humour. Thankfully, Miss Kay’s isn’t just skilled at eliciting giggles, but at making mighty fine food. They even have a breakfast option, the Triple B, with beef, bacon, egg, cheese and a hash brown on the menu, because there’s never a bad time to get your greasy fix. And if you think you can handle it, you can test your stomach with the Big Kay’s Challenge, which offers eager eaters a $30 voucher and a photo on the wall of fame if they can devour five patties, five slices of cheese, plus lettuce, tomato and fries in less than 15 minutes.
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The menu might change on a daily basis, but one thing always remains the same at Red Robin Supper Truck. That’d be the presence of a burger — and sometimes more than one — that’s worth heading to Morningside for. Named for the tea room it sits behind, the Southside is as tasty as the combination of beef, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles gets, however whether the blue bacon, big kahuna, Dorito chicken, kimcheese, red curry or thai fish burger also grace the food van’s chalkboard, it’s always in good company. Plus, a trip to Red Robin Supper Truck means a trip to Death Valley, the city’s best inner-east dive bar.
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It doesn’t take long for a burger place to become a local favourite. Before Ze Pickle came to Brisbane though, it had a bit of a head start. Word of its extreme creations — think 12-hour smoked beef brisket topped with mac ‘n’ cheese, crispy fried chicken paired with maple smoked bacon, and hand-pressed wagyu patties with cheese sticks — had been filtering up from Burleigh over the past couple of years. And then there’s their famous Triple Loco, which combines beef, bacon, pulled pork and jalapenos between two grilled cheese sandwiches. How could you stay away from a burger joint that sells this?
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The walls of DA’Burger’s Brunswick Street store feature some kinds words from Robbie Williams. He’s just one of the many patrons who’ve put a pen to the graffiti-covered interior to sing their praises — and whatever you think of his music, that’s still a pretty impressive endorsement. Not that their burgers need it. What they need instead is a knife to cut them in half, and plenty of time to devour every last towering inch. Each one of their sixteen options is a winner, though we heartily recommend DA’Burger’s take on the classic Aussie roast. When else can you eat lamb and sweet potato on a burger?
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