Lord Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale

Even though Sydney is overrun with burger joints, it's rare to find a good one that stops you in your tracks. This is one of them. Meet the cheeseburger at the Lord Gladstone, an old-fashioned workers pub in Chippendale that's been overhauled by the same folk behind The Vic in Enmore and the Toxteth in Glebe.


Outdoor dining area

Gone are the dingy beer-soaked carpets. It's been replaced with tartan carpet, bright benches and stools in the dining area, and plastic furniture in the courtyard out the back.


The kitchen pass and meal pick-up area

The kitchen covers all bases with burgers, tacos and parmies for the student crowd, and vegan falafel salads or crispy skin barramundi with red quinoa for the more discerning diner. Those without any dignity should head straight for the deep fried Golden Gaytime.  Prices start at $2 for a pickled egg, with most dishes hovering around the $17-$20 mark.


The Lord's Burger with fries $18

The Lord's Burger is the big kahuna on the burger menu. Eighteen bucks gets you everything between two halves of a Brickfields sesame seed bun. That's beef, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, beetroot, onion, pickle and burger sauce. The ability to unlock your jaw is not essential but would come in handy to tackle this beast.


Fried chicken burger with fries $15 

The fried chicken burger is a crunchfest of buttermilk fried chicken squiggled with sriracha mayo. A slice of American cheese on top starts to melt nicely at the edges and a heap of slaw helps to break up the grease.


Crispy chicken wings $12

You get a basket of finger food with the crispy chicken wings, served with three kinds of sauce. The wings are a little bland on their own, only dredged lightly in flour before hitting the deep fryer, so go wild on the accompanying hot sauce, ancho chilli mayo and bacon ketchup. The bacon ketchup isn't strong on the bacon flavour but more lingering with sweetness, as though sun dried tomatoes have been blitzed up with bacon.


Cheeseburger with fries $15 plus bacon $2

It's hard to go past the classic cheeseburger though. And the $2 for extra bacon is well worth the chump change. The bacon rasher has a good crisp to its fatty edges. The beef patty is exactly what you want - seared on the outside, juicy and soft in the middle, yet still chewy enough to be reassuringly 100% meat. Double cheese slices have already started to melt into the burger patty by the time it reaches you.

The real unexpected highlight, however, is the bun. It's soft but not too sweet. They call it a NYC style soft bun, not as rich or eggy as a brioche, but light and fluffy enough to not get in the way of the filling. This is a burger in the league of Mary's. Seriously. But Pub Life Kitchen still reigns supreme.


Fries

The fries are pretty impressive too. If crunchy fries are your weakness, you won't be able to stop picking at these until they're gone. They have a good range of beers on tap too. I had the James Squire cider but they also offer Young Henrys Newtowner, Return of the Dread stout by Little Creatures and Coastie pale lager, brewed by Six String on the Central Coast.


Cheeseburger patty

Even better news? They'll sell you the cheeseburger for only ten bucks on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The $10 lunch special includes:

• cheeseburger
• Bushwick beef burger
• fried chicken burger
• baby falafel salad
• 250g chicken schnitzel

Available Mondays and Tuesdays. For lunch and dinner. Whatcha waiting for?






Lord Gladstone
115 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9310 1483

Open 7 days for lunch and dinner 
(kitchen closed between 3pm and 6pm)


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Burgers - Pub Life Kitchen at the Lord Wolseley, Ultimo

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