Cheekyburger
A backyard burger bar is shaking things up on Oxford Street. By Emily Lloyd-Tait We love a burger with the works, but a burger pared back to the key elements – beef, cheese, pickles, mustard – has a special place in our hearts that no amount of salad can shift. This is the burger you get when you visit Cheekyburger Bar, a Paddington grillhouse with backyard vibes and a hip-hop soundtrack. In fact, the playlist is so good it almost feels like they opened a burger place just to have somewhere to play it: Kanye’s ‘Clique’ follows Outkast’s ‘So Fresh, So Clean’; the Roots cool things down with ‘Make My’ and then Redman and Method Man heat them up again. The American accents on the stereo are echoed in the framed baseball, boxing and football photos on the wall, cans of Coors and PBR in the ice bath, and Miller on tap. If you prefer domestic lagers, there are VB tinnies and Reschs schooners for the asking.
The front area facing the street is a burger shed designed for food on the fly. But if you plan to stay a while, hold out for a table out the back where the vibe is more weekend barbecue than fast food joint. The semienclosed courtyard is where you could while away an evening over tall beers, thickshakes and enamel dishes packed with well-seasoned guacamole for $12 a go. Beneath the watchful eye of the busty waitress mural they’ve got a dartboard in action, NBA games on the outdoor flatscreen and big umbrellas in case the weather turns on you and you’ve locked down one of the outdoor picnic benches instead of a red booth under the awning.
The sweet, glossy milk buns do a better job holding together a single cheeseburger than the double, so visit on a Tuesday when you can get two serves of the knobbly beef patties dressed in melted cheese and pickle ribbons for the price of one. You can order a root beer, Snapple or cherry soda here, but our cash is going towards more of the silky thickshakes generously laced with sweet chocolate syrup. Next time we’ll opt for a second round of the hot wings with blue cheese sauce rather than the under-seasoned mac and cheese, and on Wednesdays don’t overlook the fried chicken sandwich with coleslaw special.
Cheekyburger 312 Oxford St, Paddington 2021. 02 9331 7436. cheekyburgerbar. com. Tue-Sat 11am-11pm; Sun 11am10pm. You were probably as excited as us about the Sydney arrival of Tim Ho Wan, home of the world’s most highly lauded dumplings. The crowds quickly queued up outside the Chatswood restaurant, not surprising given each of its Hong Kong outlets boasts a Michelin star. The big gun is the baked bun with barbecued pork. As it’s baked, don’t expect your usual sticky parcel; instead the pastry is aerated, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. They pour something on top that can only be described as baked-on icing that threatens to take it into dessert territory. The pork is tender and flavoursome within a dark gravy and it’s a fun dish but – sorry, folks! – not likely to be the best dumpling of your life. As for the others? An astonishing 12 folds enclose crunchy prawns in the har gow, though we prefer the more simply folded spinach and shrimp option. Rather than order the beancurd skin rolls, which lack depth of flavour, go for the vermicelli roll with sesame. The steamed egg cake is like an ultra-light, eggy sponge. The carrot cake (actually made with radishes) is ultimately a vehicle for the chilli sauce on the side, and doesn’t taste like much on its own. Glutinous rice in lotus leaf is better: heavily seasoned with soy and dotted with chunks of spicy Chinese sausage, shredded chicken and mushrooms. Tim Ho Wan is not quite the greatest thing to happen to Chinese cuisine in this city but it’s a good time, perfect for a quick, cheap, after-work dinner. Freya Herring
Tim Ho Wan Cnr Victoria Ave & Railway St, Chatswood 2057. 02 9898 9888. www.timhowan.com.au. Daily 10am-9pm.