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Sydney’s reached peak burger obsession, so we reckoned it was about time for a good ol’ fashioned burger battle — and so did Merivale. This February, we invited 16 of Merivale’s top chefs to ivy Ballroom to hit the kitchen and cook up their ultimate burger for March Into Merivale‘s Between Two Buns. Some, like Mr. Wong‘s Dan Hong, opted for their widely celebrated, longtime burger recipes (hel-lo Lotus Burger), while others dreamed up new and strange burger possibilities —Bistrode CBD‘s Jeremy Strode did a chicken and eel burger (and nailed it).
Sitting on the judging panel, our own fearless leader and founder of Concrete Playground Rich Fogarty, Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes, Merivale chef Danielle Alvarez (Fred’s, opening soon), and Merivale marketing director Andrew El-Bayeh. Feasting on 16 top-tier burgers sounds like a tough job, but these guys pulled through (with many, many napkins) and picked their six finalists.
BETWEEN TWO BUNS FINALISTS:
Dan Hong (Mr. Wong) — Lotus Burger
Alex Lewis (The Beresford) — The ultimate duck burger
Jeremy Strode (The Fish Shop/ Bistrode CBD) — The Fish Dog (chicken and eel)
Jordan Toft (Coogee Pavilion) — Aged trim beef, cheese, burger sauce, B&B pickle
Paul Donnelley (Ms.G’s) — Beef, bacon and cheese burger
Patrick Friesen & Chris Hogarth (Papi Chulo/Queen Chow) — Canadian beef and bacon burger
Then, on Wednesday, February 17, the six (or seven, with the team-up of Pat and Chris) went head-to-head in a mighty burger battle at Palings. Punters sampled all six burgers and dropped voting chips in the designated vases for each chef. Who came out on top? Who was the audience's pick? None other than Patrick Friesen and Chris Hogarth of Papi Chulo and the upcoming Queen Chow at the Queen Vic Hotel. They won hearts and stomachs with their juicy, juicy Canadian beef and bacon burger, picking up the golden burger trophy and mad bragging rights for the next year. Kudos guys. Now, we need a bit of a lie-down.
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