Sideshow Burgers

The Verdict

Rosanna is one of those ‘growth suburbs’, which is basically code for ‘still able to buy a house here’. It’s booming with young families, moving out of the big smoke for a simpler life near the Warrigal parklands and a Yarra River that doesn’t look like brown sludge.

But simple doesn’t mean boring. Especially when it comes to burgers.

Presenting Sideshow Burgers, Rosanna’s new no-nonsense eatery from hospo pros Abhish Gupta and Julian Chew. These guys have been running a burger pop-up kitchen at Lip Café in Ivanhoe for like three years (they also own cult Rosanna cafe Miss Marie). Chew cut his teeth at Aria in Sydney with Matt Moran, and the pair met while working at Da Noi, one of our all-time favourite restaurants.

With Sideshow, they wanted to do burgers right.

There’s a lot to like about these stacks. They’re not the frankenfood, four-patties-with-a-doughnut-on-top variety. In fact, there’s only six burgers on the menu, made with sourdough buns from Brasserie Bakery and A-Grade, locally-sourced ingredients.

We’re partial to chilli sweats, so The Fire Eater was always going to be a good play: gnarly beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos and a three-sauce blend of Sriracha, chipotle and kewpie mayo. VERY nice. Veggos can tuck into the Bohemian, slathered with beetroot hummus and featuring a housemade veggie patty, while meatheads are gonna love the Strong Man: double beef, double cheese, bacon...you know the drill.

For sides, think crispy loaded fries with cheese sauce and bacon (definitely add some jalapenos on there), or golden-fried onion rings with zero sog-factor. Wash it all down with a strawberry shake and you’re laughing.

Whoever said the outer ‘burbs don’t know good burgers never tried this place. Highly recommend.  

Image credit: Matt Dunne