Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Huxtaburger... and Maedaya again!

Another day, another strike off the To Eat Hitlist.  Huxtaburger has been on my radar since Spuey and I walked past the shop when it had an 'Opening Soon' sign.  Located opposite Huxtable, this wasn't a coincidence.  Given my most favourable opinion of the mother restaurant, I was pretty keen on sampling whatever Huxtaburger was going to deliver.  The word 'burger' was a bonus.  

In the grand opening flurry, Huxtaburger underestimated the voracious appetite of the Hungry Hungry Hippo general public and in the early weeks of trade, found themselves selling out of their burgers faaaar too early in the day.  They're open 'til late' and that isn't really possible if all the burgers are gone by 6pm!  Too popular for their own good.  I'm happy to report that the supply is now meeting the demand.

Spu and I got to Huxtaburger at the reasonably early hour of 6.30pm to find all outdoor and indoor seating was taken.  It's a tiny place and only seats about 20 people all up.  Not to matter though.  Most diners are considerate and observe the unspoken rule of 'Finish your burger and vacate your seat'.  Two seats freed up while we were waiting.  Yay!

Huxtaburger sells essentially two things - hamburgers and chips.  There is a vegetarian salad but seriously, who the hell is coming for that?  It's merely an add-on for the vegetarians who have been dragged along by their carnivorous friends.  

For a child who watched a lot of 80s TV, the name of the burgers will instantly be recognised as characters from The Cosby Show which centred around Dr. Huxtable and his family.  Geddit?  Geddit?!?  Yeah, you do.
I settled on a Bills burger ($10).   Frigging yum. 

Spu had the Denise ($9), aka 'The Hot One'.  Yummo too. 

Bucket of large chips ($3).  Reminds me of childhood.  Chips are chips.  Yum.  Some complained the chips were dry, but our bucket was fine and just how I like them.  Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. 

The burgers aren't massive but they're a decent size and for thick, juicy wagyu beef patties, you can't really complain.  They're probably slightly smaller than Grill'd burgers and when you compare price, Huxtaburger is decent value.  

According to their Twitter feed (and I don't even use Twitter) the buns are from an Asian bakery.  That explains a lot.  The buns were light, fluffy and just melted in your mouth.  So much air and sugar, it was like fairy floss.  It was like there was no bun!  Kinda a good thing for as I don't like feeling full from bread consumption.  I suspect Snag Stand's fluffy brioche bun probably comes from a similar Asian bakery.  If anyone has ever had the mini burger from Breadtop ($2+?? me thinks), you'd be forgiven for mistaking them as miniature Huxtaburgers.
Right down to the glossy finish!  The meat patty is no wagyu Huxtaburger patty but still snack-able.  

Spu and I agreed with the majority.  These burgers were pretty darn good.  You could almost hear them say 'I just want to be an honest burger.  Nothing overly fancy, I just want to bring you burger goodness.'  After finishing our hanbaobaos, we were content but because I am a pig, I said, 'I think I can eat more.'  I considered ordering a second burger (?!) but then decided to make the most of being out and heading down to.... Maedaya!  Yes, I was only there a few days ago but Spuey really needed to have his shot in the Jap grill and I was honouring my promise of sampling more of the menu.  Also yakitori sticks are pretty light so we weren't going to be overly stuffed.

A note about Maedaya - it's a two level restaurant.  The ground floor offers the entire menu, whereas upstairs is designated as the BBQ grill level with a more limited selection.  I wasn't aware of that and was a little disappointed to see a shrunken version of Saturday night's menu.  It didn't matter too much because we were just after some tidbits anyway.
Your choice of calpico served with sake on the rocks.   

Table condiments include wasabi mayo, Jap BBQ sauce, some other mayo (chill?  I forgot) and sesame seeds.  A mortar and pestle is provided for your sesame seed crushing pleasure.   

Squid, scallop and chicken giblet skewers.  Soft shell crab.  Yum! 

Tuna sashimi salad.  Yum.  Gyoza.  As expected. 

See?  We didn't overdo it.  We just had dinner at two different places, that's all. 

1 comment:

mallymoodle said...

Well done on working Breadtop into a (kinda) gourmet food entry!