Jus Burgers

I love Perth. Just love it to bits. I’ve always lived here. It’s a place where we are spoilt with an abundance of sunshine and I feel quite passionate about the amazing local produce that we have available to enjoy each season. In part, that’s why I actually started my blog. It gets you in touch with fellow local foodies and even a few further afield that you can spruik the delights of Perth to.

So when I got the chance to meet someone who also appreciates the wonder of Perth produce, only uses locally sourced ingredients at his venues and is a Buy West Eat Best restaurant ambassador, it was an exciting opportunity. Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Justin Bell. What an incredibly passionate fellow he is! He invited GG and I along to try out a new line up of burgers being offered at his burger establishment Jus Burgers (found in Leederville, Subi and Freo). Justin also opened Snags & Sons and more recently Pinchos. A varied but great line up of venues.

I hadn’t been to Jus Burgers in Leederville in a while and they’ve had a bit of a facelift and it’s looking pretty darn flash. A few more seating options, the ever popular filament lighting (which are a bit of fun to photograph) and just generally looking a little more ‘grown up’, as it was described to me. I liked it. We were sat right across from all the action in the kitchen and I enjoyed being in the thick of it.

It’s a licensed venue so GG enjoyed a Friday brewskie of the Peroni variety, while I enjoyed a glass of the house white wine. That first drink on a Friday. It always hits the spot 🙂

Justin hooked us up with slider sized versions of their four new Diner Style Burgers. These burgers are served on a Jean Pierre Sancho brioche bun. I really like a brioche bun for a burger. And local bakery, Jean Pierre Sancho makes a very nice brioche bun. As Justin explained to us, the bun is an important element of any burger. It’s the vehicle. And clearly that’s very true. You need a good bun to hold all the burger filling goodness together.

The sliders looked amazing when they arrived at our table! Just look at them! From those charred brioche lids to the abundance of fresh ingredients elegantly stacked and balanced inside, along with the perfect patties. I couldn’t wait to get stuck in!

The line up was:

• Americano – char-grilled beef, pickles, Kraft cheese, salad, American mustard & ketchup, served on charred brioche bun by Jean Pierre Sancho
• Shark Bay Prawn – chilli relish, Asian slaw, salad, crispy shallots & garlic, coconut lime dressing, served on charred brioche bun by Jean Pierre Sancho
• Pulled Pork – Linley Valley free range pork, chipotle, balsamic onions, slaw & cheese, served on charred brioche bun by Jean Pierre Sancho
• South East Asian – choose any meat or vegetarian with chilli relish, Asian slaw, salad, crispy shallots & garlic, coconut lime dressing, served on charred brioche bun by Jean Pierre Sancho

We pondered whether we should eat half a slider then hand it over or go the knife and slice in half. Cutting became the easier option, so we kicked things off with the Americano. It was everything I love about American style burgers. A generous beef patty, Kraft cheese melted on top, a touch of salad, ribbons of crunchy pickle with tomato sauce, sorry I should say ketchup. The patty was so juicy and full of flavour and I really enjoyed the crunch from the pickle. I’ve long been a big fan of cheeseburgers and this was certainly a delicious example. Both GG and I have plans to tackle a full sized Americano some time in the near future.

Up next we sampled the Pulled Pork. They were very generous with the pulled pork and it was rich and flavourful. And made with Linley Valley Pork no less! Some of WA’s finest. I may have also had a pulled pork burger for breakfast that morning so it felt fairly indulgent to enjoy more pulled pork on the same day for dinner. It worked well with zesty balsamic onions and the crunchy slaw. Slaw is such a great addition to a burger. Refreshing and crunch, crunch, crunch.

The Asian style chicken was the next one we tackled. With this burger you can choose which meat you would like or can opt for a vegetarian option. Our version was full of plump grilled chicken pieces along with an Asian slaw, crunch from the shallots and a zesty and creamy coconut and lime dressing. All these flavours worked beautifully together, a really elegant combination. What I also enjoyed was that chicken is a slightly lighter meat than a big beef patty and not something I’d often go for (because my heart belongs to cheeseburgers) so it was a nice change.

And speaking of changing things up, I can’t say I’ve ever tried a seafood burger so I was interested to see how the Shark Bay prawn burger tasted. The prawns had been finely diced and rolled into a flat crumbed patty. My one concern was that the patty would have a strong seafood taste, but it didn’t so I was very pleased about that. I enjoyed the crunchy coating and it paired really well with the creamy coconut and lime dressing. Coconut and lime always remind me of Thailand where these two flavours are such a strong influence. It was a welcome inclusion to this burger and worked well with the prawns. For pescatarians too it’s an interesting burger option for them.

So those are the four new dinner style burgers. While the sliders we had were quite filling, thankfully I had some room left to tackle the dishes of sides that Justin had also prepared for us.

• Onion Rings – House- made with garlic aioli
• Sweet Potato Wedges – sour cream & chilli sauce
• Chips – Freshly cut Western Australian potatoes, never frozen
• Middle-Eastern Slaw – Pomegranate molasses, oil and lemon

The classic chips were well seasoned and just very good chips, crunchy, salty and hot. You could also enjoy these with some of the special flavoured salts.

The sweet potato wedges were a revelation! I’ve had sweet potato fries before and had never really been overly  keen but in a slightly thicker wedge style cut it really worked! Especially with a little of the Sriracha dipping sauce. Added a little heat to proceedings. Finally the onion rings. Quite large in size and double crumbed in panko crumbs they were just perfection. Crunchy coating, sweetness from the onion, no wonder they are such long time favourite with Jus Burgers fans! The slaw was nice and refreshing too after all those fried treats.

They nearly had to roll us out after getting to sample so many delicious options from the menu! They still offer their original range of burgers too and there was some very tempting options but I couldn’t entertain tackling one of those after working our way through the sliders and sides.

Jus Burgers are serving up some lovely burgers and it’s a real crowd pleaser of a menu. There are options for everyone and quite some creative ones at that. And it’s the focus on using local produce that I really salute. They  actually don’t even have freezers on site. Everything is made fresh daily, even the onion rings which the team crumbed in the morning! Talk about commitment!

So if you find yourself in Subi, Leederville or Freo in the near future then these burgers will definitely ensure any hunger pains soon disappear.

Thanks Justin and the Jus Burgers team – loved them!