Ume Burger and Bar Ume, Sydney

Update Review, October 2019 Visit

I've been to Ume Burger before, and enjoyed it.  It is an easy, casual option.  I like the harbor front location.  I like the flavors and Japanese inspiration of the menu.

But ... this update review comes with a pretty big caveat.  We didn't exactly have a good experience there.  At all.

I booked for a large group, 20 people.  Our table was reserved for us, waiting with a sign on it.  That part worked well.

But everything else?  Well, a bit of a disaster.

Where to begin, besides ... total disorganization?  The drink order was particularly amusing, as we had 20 different drinks, and they all came basically at once, and the person delivering drinks to the table had no idea which drinks went to each person.  Previously the staff provided cutlery to us, and cups ... this time it was definitely just fending for ourselves, which meant we emptied out the entire communal cutlery bin for the entire restaurant.  No share plates were available for the sides, so, when they arrived, before the burgers, no one had anywhere to put fries, sauces, salads, pickles ...

The ordering process was excruciating too.  Previously, when I visited with a large group, we were able to start a tab (given a credit card), and add to it as as pleased.  This time they kept aggressively asking for our credit card for each order, saying we had to pay separately over and over any time someone got another drink or side.  One person's burger was entirely missing from the order, and after everyone else had their burgers, and it was pointed out, the staff went back and looked, didn't see it in our order, and again, asked for another credit card payment to add it on.

We were not rude, drunk, rowdy ... or anything, yet felt like they were giving us dirty looks and wanted us to leave, nearly immediately.  It just was not welcoming, nor pleasant, in any way.

On the plus side, they did do an impressive job of delivering all 20 (er, 19), burgers all basically at once.  But ... yeah, I cannot recommend this as a group venture again, although I did still find the food enjoyable.

I didn't get photos, but we ordered fries and rings, Japanese pickles, and all the sauces again for the table.  I liked the onion rings, they were crispy and fresh, but not particularly remarkable.  I still find it annoying that you cannot order just a side of onion rings, and must get the fries and rings combo.   The fries (er, chips) were fine, lightly seasoned with the "umami seasoning", and for me, really just a conduit for the sauces.

As for the sauces, they were again the stars of the meal.  The curry mayo I just adored, mostly with the chips, and, uh, in my salad.  Great flavor, creamy, and I think it would go great with many things.  The nori mayo and spicy cod roe mayo I liked, but neither had as strong of a flavor as I wished for.  The tonkatsu I actually thought was fun with the onion rings.   Yay, sauces.

And finally, the Japanese pickles.  Tart, acidic, crispy, tasty.  I added them on my salad and I really liked the texture and acid level they brought to it.

Seaweed Salad / Sesame Dressing. $7.

For my main dish, I didn't actually want a burger in a bun. I wanted a salad topped with a patty, an idea I had last time I was there, after trying, and really liking, the salad.

You can get any patty "naked", but I really wanted to make a salad bowl.  When I tried to ask to have a patty added to the salad, I was met with utter confusion, so I gave up, and ordered separate.

I again found the salad shockingly satisfying.  It looks so simple, but the base of mixed greens was really fresh and crisp, I liked the mix of seaweeds - two kinds, the standard seaweed salad you can see on top here is the brighter, thinner, covered in sesame and (likely) sugar sauce, and darker, larger chunks right below.  I added an entire side of Japanese pickles for more crunch and texture and flavor, and threw a few lotus chips on top for more crunch.

The sesame dressing really is quite flavorful.  I added spicy cod roe mayo and nori mayo in as well, for more creamy dressing and a touch more flavor, and really kinda loved it.

So, my final dish?  Seaweed salad (e.g. mixed greens and seaweed bases), topped with Japanese pickles and lotus chips for crunch (I bet wasabi peas and the like would be great too, but Ume doesn't carry those), plus the sesame dressing intended for the salad, plus nori and spicy cod roe mayos mixed in.  Throw on the patty of your choice, and, really, quite delicious.

I'd definitely do this again.

Kakiage Burger (Naked). $14.20.

"Vegetable Fritter, Nori Mayo, Shredded Cabbage & Tonkatsu Sauce."

While I enjoyed my fish burger last time, I really wasn't in the mood for it again.  And they even had the ebi burger this time, but I also wasn't really feeling that for some reason.  So I decided to go totally rogue, and get the veggie burger.  I was really curious what it would be like.

I got it "naked", e.g. wrapped in lettuce, since I was trying to just chop it up and throw on salad.

It was interesting.  Basically shredded fried veggies, very crispy.  Good textures.  It didn't taste like much in particular though.

The nori mayo was fabulous of course, and there was a very, very generous amount all over it.  I really liked the shredded cabbage too, and wished I could have that added to the salad normally.  The lettuce wrap was really crisp and tasty too.

So, it worked.  I added this lettuce and cabbage, and all the flavorful mayo, into my salad bowl, and chopped the patty up into chunks for bits of texture.  I would not get the kakiage patty again, but, the salad bowl idea I think is still solid.  Just, next time, maybe I do the ebi burger?

Original Review, February 2019 Visit

Japanese burgers.  Yup, fusion.  No, not burgers with ramen "buns", so not that trendy, but, certainly a fusion concept, incorporating Japanese flavors and styles into a causal burger restaurant.  That, is Bar Ume and Ume Burger. 

Bar Ume and Ume Burger were started by a well regarded, hatted chef, who branched out from his fine dining past at Koi and UME, to follow his passion for street culture of Tokyo.  The result is a sit down casual restaurant in Surry Hills, Bar Ume, and a fast casual concept in Barangaroo.

Tasty Eats.

I dined with a group, so I was able to try nearly all the sides.  Everything was good, not necessarily destination worthy, but certainly good, and far above average for the style of food.

Setting - Ume Burger, Barangaroo

Ume Burger is the casual establishment located along the harborside in Barangaroo, open daily for lunch and dinner.  Dine-in, takeout, or delivery.

Ordering Counter

The service style is to order at a register, pay, help yourself to cutlery and tap water, and place a number on your table.  Food is delivered to your table when ready.  If you want something more, another drink, etc, you need to go order and pay again, unless you are with a group and are able to start a tab.

Seating.

Seating is entirely outside along the sidewalk, mostly small tables with little stools that can technically fit 4 people, but look more designed for groups of two.  Most were occupied by just pairs.

Our group had an advance reservation, so we were able to have one of the two larger tables.

All tables are under a covered area in the case of rain, which, was necessary as it was raining on our visit.

Food & Drink - Ume Burger, Barangaroo

Ume Burger has a seemingly simple menu, that turns out to be more extensive and interesting as you read further.  Yes, it is burgers and sides, but there is much more to the menu than just a basic burger and fries.

Drinks

On the drink front, there is beer, wine (including orange and pink wines), cider, and housemade sodas, but also a decent assortment of sake, shochu, and Japanese whiskey.

We opted for a bottle of sake for the table.

Sake.

Not exactly being a connoisseur, I don't feel like I have much to say here except ... it was fine?  Smooth?  The itty bitty sake bowls were slightly annoying to drink from though.

Sides

Sides range from small little bites (pickles, kimchi), to fried things (chips, onion rings, renkon chips, koji fried chicken), to a single salad.  Basically, what'd you'd expect from a burger joint, but, with Japanese flair.

We ordered all but the fried chicken, since everyone was ordering a burger.

"Delicious Kim chi made in-house from scratch."

I don't actually care for kimchi, but one of my co-workers loves it, so this was his pick.  I didn't try it, but he seemed to enjoy.

Japanese Pickles. $4.

I do love pickles though, so gladly opted for the Japanese pickles.

They were fine, a fairly standard Japanese style sour pickle of items that I wasn't entirely sure what they all were.  No one else in the group even wanted to try them!

Renkon Chips. (Large). $5.

"Lotus root crisps, cooked in-house and seasoned with seaweed salt."

I'll admit that the renkon chips are what originally drew me in to Ume Burger.  One day, months ago as I was wandering through, I saw, and tried, the samples of them at the register.

I love chips, and snacks of all sorts, and particularly interesting root veggies, so these are very much something I should like, and, Ume does them well.  Crispy, nicely fried (not oily, but fried tasting in a good way), and well seasoned with the seaweed salt for a great salt level and a bit of extra appeal.

I enjoy munching on these quite a bit, with or without dips.  Available in two sizes, pre-bagged, which is nice because you can easily take extras home.

Seaweed Salad (sesame dressing). $6.

The single salad on the menu is not a just a token mixed green salad.  No, it is Japanese inspired, a seaweed salad ... of sorts.  But, not just a standard seaweed salad like you can get at any sushi restaurant, or grocery store even, not the mass produced seaweed mix with way too much preservative, oil, and sesame seeds, but rather, a salad ... with some classic seaweed salad on top.

The base salad was a mix of assorted lettuces and baby greens, a large variety of just about everything.  All fresh, crisp, good enough.  And on top, a fairly standard seaweed salad, although I was glad to see that it wasn't the kind that easily gets stuck in my teeth.  Plenty of flavor in it already from the sesame based dressing on the seaweed salad as is traditional, but a separate sesame dressing was served on the side.

This sounds pretty boring, I know, but it works.  The seaweed on top of the fresh greens really is a nice combination.

I enjoyed this, I'd get it again, and I think it actually would be fairly tasty to get with a fish patty on top as a lighter non-burger option.  Ume does do lettuce wraps, but, I wonder if they'd let you just add on a patty (any kind) on the salad?

Chips & Onion Rings Combo. $6.

"With umami seasoning."

The side I was most excited for was the onion rings.  I ... have a thing for onion rings.  However, you can't just buy a side of onion rings.  Onion rings are available only as part of a combo with the fries.  We got several large bowls for the table, each of which came with only 5 onion rings.  Yes, we had to share.

The onion rings were good.  Crispy, well formed, the batter didn't fall off.  They did seem slightly over cooked though, just, um, very crunchy and a touch more golden than I'd prefer.  I also didn't actually get that much onion flavor, and prefer a larger ring, but, I'm just being picky, these were fine onion rings, and considerably better than any others I've had in Sydney (not that the truly awful ones from Lord of the Fries {LINK}, or the oily mess from Fish Butchery {LINK} are really any competition ...).

The chips too were decent.  Hot, fresh, crisp, but ... just fries, not really something I get very excited for.  I did appreciate the different sizes, particularly the little extra crispy nibs that fell to the bottom of the bowl, along with all the "umami seasoning", which I did really love, a salty savory mix.

So overall, good onion rings, fine fries, and I'd have the rings again, and maybe a fry or two, but the renkon chips and seaweed salad were my preferences on sides.

Again though, I'll lodge one complaint that I couldn't just get the rings ... I'm so curious why they have this restriction.  Can the fryer not handle it? Are they trying to encourage healthier eating?

(Clockwise, from top left) Japanese Mayo / Curry Mayo / Nori Mayo / Tonkatsu Sauce / Spicy Cod Roe Mayo. $1.50 - $3 each.

If you read my blog much, you know that I'm all about the sauces.  Creamy mayo sauces in particular, I just love.

So of course I ordered one of every sauce to go with our chips (and, to slather on the burgers if we needed, although they all came with sauces anyway).

The Japanese mayo was just simple creamy mayo, likely Kewpie mayo, and I liked it, but it was the least interesting.

The nori mayo didn't have nearly as much flavor as I was hoping for, really just bland mayo with some visible green bits, although our one diner who does not like seafood or seaweed clearly tasted it, and was not pleased.  My third favorite.

The spicy cod roe mayo wasn't really spicy as advertised, but it was certainly my favorite, quite flavorful, and I loved the little pops from the roe in it.  Great texture.  My second favorite, although this one didn't hold up even a few days, quickly getting an odd taste too it.

The curry mayo I wouldn't have ordered if alone or with a smaller group, since I don't tend to like "curry" flavor, but I got it just for completeness, and I'm glad I did.  It was my favorite, really quite flavorful and complex.  It went great with fries and rings, and as I discovered layer using it all, with fried tortillas, and, surprisingly, really good with lettuce, like a thick salad dressing.  I was shocked by how much I loved it in all applications.

And finally, tonkatsu, which didn't seem to be a very good fit for our fries or rings, but was nice to add to my fish katsu burger.

Interestingly, you cannot order some of the other sauces I know they have, such as the Japanese tartar sauce or the special sauce, as sides.  Or maybe you could ask for them even if not on the menu?

The sauces ranged in price from $1.50 for the simple mayo to $3 for cod roe.  I'd get the curry and cod roe mayos again.

Burgers

Ok, finally, the burgers.  We were at Ume *Burger* after all.

Ume Burger has a burger for ... nearly everyone.  Burgers range from classic beef, to pork or fish katsu, to fried veggie or chicken kakiage, with specials appearing regularly too.  All come designed with a specific sauce and toppings, none of which are just simple lettuce and tomato (ok, unless you go for the classic cheeseburger, which does have lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese ... but also a special sauce and Japanese pickles on it).

Our group of 7 managed to order a nice assortment, all but the pork.  Everyone seemed quite pleased, one beef eater almost seemed ready to go order another, and the vegetarians also were fairly thrilled.  I call this success.

I'll admit that I was personally very sad though, because I went intending to get the much lauded juicy ebi burger, and ... it had sold out.  I was told it usually sells out at lunchtime, which I didn't know in advance.  I would have planned a lunch visit!  That said, the fish katsu wasn't a bad option.

Fish Katsu Burger. $15.

"Hand Crumbed Fish Fillet, Japanese Tartare Sauce, Iceberg Lettuce & Cheese."

At first glance, um, this is a really simple burger.  Just a slightly nicer quality Filet o' Fish right?  A sesame bun, crumbed fish, basic cheese and lettuce, and tartar sauce?  Really?

Yes, it was a simple fish burger.  It lacked any of the more interesting elements of the other burgers (my neighbor eating the veggie kakiage had shredded cabbage and a duo of sauces on his, and of course those with the signature Ume Burgers had wagyu mince on theirs), but, everything that was there was done well.

The bun was large, fluffy, slightly glazed on top, and nicely toasted on the bottom, and clearly buttered up.  Richer than I'd prefer, but a good bun.  I think next time though I'd go for a lettuce wrap (or, my aforementioned creation with the seaweed salad), so I could enjoy more of the other flavors, and not have them dominated by the bun.  Still though, this was a good bun, far above average.

Fish Katsu Burger: Inside.

Inside, the top was spread with the Japanese tartar sauce, somewhat unevenly.  The tartar sauce was good though, creamy, full of little chunks of pickle.  It went great with the fish and cheese.  In the end, I also did appreciate that the entire patty wasn't covered, as it meant I could experiment with the other sauces, such as just dunking it in tonkatsu.

Under the patty was a slice of simple yellow cheese, only partially melted (seemingly only melted from contact with the hot patty, not melted on the patty, so the edges were not melted).  But ... it was good, and the melty bits, with fish, and sauce, were quite enjoyable.  It wasn't trying to be anything more than a simple slice of cheese.  Same with the large slices of iceberg.  They were just iceberg, no fancy baby greens, but the juicy, fresh, simple lettuce worked great.

The bottom bun had mustard spread on it as well, which surprised me, as it wasn't listed on the menu, even though it is listed with the pork katsu.  I'm curious if this was a mistake?  It was fine though, very mild mustard, so it just added more flavor.

And finally, that fish patty itself.  Now, I really had wanted the ebi burger, so I had to reset my mind that I was getting crumbed fish instead, but, once ready for it, I did like it.  It really was perfectly crumbed, super crispy and well coated.  The fish was mild, moist, and flaked easily.  Clearly nice quality fish, definitely not Filet O' Fish here.

Overall, this was a very good simple fried fish burger.  It wasn't trying to be fancy, and for what it was, everything was executed nicely.  I'd rather have the ebi burger, but if I went back and it wasn't available, I'd get this again as a lettuce wrap, or perhaps just as the kid's fish fingers, or even try my luck at the salad topping option.

Food & Drink - Bar Ume, Surry Hills

The concept at Bar Ume is a bit more formal, with table service and a bar area, and entirely inside seating.  The menu is also more extensive, although it includes all the burgers and sides that Bar Ume offers, it also has specials like salmon and lamb shoulder, more sides, and, actual desserts.

It is the desserts that I sought out, and in particular, the ice cream.

Note: The soft serve machine used to be located at the Barangaroo location, but they *just* moved it to Surry Hills.  I find this unfortunate, as I'm really one for eating my ice cream outside in the sun, and the Surry Hills location is entirely indoor seating.  It also just seems like an odd move, but I guess folks strolling along in Barangaroo just weren't opting for soft serve?

Rose White Chocolate Soft Serve (Sample).

So, there is a story here.

I was nearby Bar Ume, before lunch, and wanted to see what flavor of soft serve they had, as I was meeting up with a friend, and we were trying to figure out where to get our final precious Sydney soft serve.  Aqua S and Devon Cafe were both high contenders, but I had been really impressed with the consistency of the soft serve at Ume Burger when I had it once before (a pumpkin flavor I wasn't into, but the consistency was spot on!), so I wanted to know the flavor on offer that day, so we could make an optimal decision.

So I stopped in, right when they opened, at 12, to find out.  The answer? Rose white chocolate.  Not rose or white chocolate, nor a swirl, but a single flavor, rose white chocolate.  It didn't necessarily sound like a winner to me, as I'm not one for floral flavors, and I worried that with the white chocolate it would just be very, very sweet.

The bartender, clearly amused that I came in literally the moment they opened just to ask about the soft serve, and clearly excited that they had the machine now (I think it was their second or third day with it), offered to make me a sample.  Or so I thought.  I said sure, expecting a thimble-full of soft serve.  Then I saw her get a cone, and start filling it.  My eyes went a bit wide, as I was headed to lunch, but also because I thought I misunderstood, and now I was getting a full ice cream.  And out came the toppings.  I interrupted saying, "Oh, I thought you meant just a sample", and she laughed, confirming this was a sample, but she wanted me to try the whole thing.  I wasn't going to say no ...

So over she handed the creation, a regular size cone, filled with the soft serve, and topped with white chocolate and crushed rose petals.  This ... was my "sample".  My very, very tasty sample.

The texture and consistency was exactly what I remembered, creamy, really quite perfect.  Wonderful soft serve.  And the flavor?  I didn't need to be worried.  The rose was subtle, the white chocolate was just a pleasant sweetness.  The toppings were beautiful and accented it nicely, although, um, I'm still not really into eating flower petals.

Overall, this was fantastic, and I'd gladly get a full size cone sometime.