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Reviews

From the Burpple community

The Happy Wombat’s Southern Fried Chicken Burger proves that it’s always done dirty down south. A thick, deep fried slab of buttermilk marinated free range chicken is smothered under an avalanche of The Happy Wombat’s tangy housemade slaw and jalapeños before cheese and an abundance of buffalo sauce completes the burger.

Every single element in the burger is terrific, and then they fuse together, it’s a maelstrom of magnificent flavors. The rich, savory buffalo sauce lubricates the slightly dry fried chicken breast and imparts even more flavor into the fray, while that tangy, zingy ‘slaw cuts through all that density to keep your tastebuds from suffering from an overload of richness. Of course, the spicy jalapeños are on station to pump even more zing and their characteristically mild spice into the burger.

But wait, there is more! That’s right, call within the next 10 minutes, and you get a heaping side of stellar sweet potato fries!

Overall, it’s what a fried chicken burger should be, dirty, delicious, downright decadent, and best paired with a cold pint straight from the tap.

2 Likes

I can’t quite wrap my head around the oddities of boozin’ it up with beer around Newcastle, or Newy, as the locals occasionally call it. I have yet to find a pub that serves up a full pint of beer instead of a schooner (which is 425 milliliters), but I’ve found many a pub serving up quality Aussie craft beers.

Case in point is The Happy Wombat serving up Hope Brewhouse’s Barrel Aged Extra Stout straight from the tap, which is the best way to serve beer. The nutty and toasty aroma is tinged with a pleasant vanilla scent, and the roasted coffee taste does come off a little burnt, but the body charmingly creamy, and it’s smoother than Don Juan thanks to it being nitro tapped.

With beers this good, I might just never leave ‘Straya.

3 Likes

Down here in ‘Straya, the home of kangaroos, Tim Tams and Steve Irwin (may God bless his soul), a ribeye ain’t a ribeye, it’s called a scotch fillet. Either way, it’s still bloody delicious, and when you have a mad wombat who decides to marry a 300 gram grass fed Hunter Valley scotch fillet to a whole mountain of truffled mushroom risotto (A$35.50), one couldn’t really care less.

The ultra tender scotch fillet is grilled to a perfect medium rare, which allows the beef to just slowly start melting in your mouth. Seasoned simply with sea salt and black pepper, the natural beefy flavors are at the centre of attention, with the salt and pepper providing that extra oomph to the steak. The red wine jus that glazed the steak added an extra and very welcome depth of flavor to the already stellar steak.

As for the reservoir of risotto, the risotto was tremendously tasty and suitably thick. The brown sauce that surrounded it was rich and chock full of delicious flavors. Even though I couldn’t quite smell or taste the truffle in there, the risotto was so ridiculously redolent I relished every last grain of it.

The Happy Wombat certainly knows how to spread the joy to other species, and they certainly know how to turn humans in to happy humans by way of their fabulous food.

3 Likes

That’s right, I popped my Sunday roast cherry in Australia of all places. Be that as it may, it was quite a delicious experience, and a good primer on the intricacies of the (mainly) British tradition.

The substantial slab of roast pork has an acceptably crispy rind, but the meat itself is the real winner. Juicy, tender and satisfyingly savory, it would definitely cause Gordon Ramsay to say one of his most infamous lines of approval. The rich, thick gravy on the side was, well, absolute gravy and made for a sublime supplement to the piquant pork belly.

The Yorkshire pudding was extravagantly eggy and lusciously light, and those roast veggies were utterly unctuous. Finishing all your veggies couldn’t be easier with these stellar roast vegetables, really.

While it might not be the best Sunday roast lunch in the world, the Happy Wombat’s Sunday roast is an undisputedly well balanced and supremely satisfying lunch.

1 Like
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