* Bare Grill

Thank you to Mike from Ompty.com and Bare Grill for the invitation to this tasting.

 

I remember when I first became actively involved with Eatventures, I saw a photo of a very sexy burger on Insta - fat glistening off its two patties, melted cheese and sauce oozing out from under a branded bun. Like so many before me, I put my entire life on hold for a few seconds to sit and stare at that image from a place in La Perouse that I've never heard of. Then, I double tapped the image, hit play on life and moved on. 

This place of course is Bare Grill. At that time, I found their name ironic because it reminded me of the guy who eats anything but awesome burgs to hone his survival skills. Later though, I discovered there is no correlation between the two - Bare Grill is named after a location in La Perouse. A piece of me still isn't convinced - cognitive dissonance at its finest. 

Origin of name aside, Bare Grill had awoken a desire in me to trek it to somewhere I've never thought about visiting in my life, for the sole purpose of getting my hands on such luscious burgers. The universe works in mysterious ways sometimes, because Mike from Ompty.com (@ompty_com) sent me a message on Insta and invited the Eatventures duo out to do just that! 

An offer we couldn't refuse, we made our way to La Perouse one sunny Saturday, got lucky with parking and made our way into Bare Grill. 

The café heavily draws on the surrounding coastal theme for its decor and layout - a slide-out window occupies the whole right side of the shop front which lets in a lot of natural sunlight, and the concrete floor reminds me of takeaway shops near my local beach on the Central Coast. 

The space is reasonably sized, commanding around a dozen tables. These tables fill up very quickly, but instead of turning people away once at capacity, Bare Grill provide picnic blankets that can be borrowed and set up along the coast. Burger and a view? Grab a blanket and get your chow on!

Ompty had organised for us to try Bare Grill's chicken wings, epic fries, a burger each and something at the end that Mike said was a 'surprise'. 

BBQ Wings with blue cheese sauce

A generous basket of chicken wings hit the table and our mouths started to water. Sticky BBQ sauce glistened on the wings and had a nice sweet and tangy taste with a hint of smoke. The wings themselves were tender and juicy. Combining all of this with a decadent blue cheese sauce created a salty, creamy and tangy flavour profile that made me want to crack open a beer to wash it all down. 

Epic Fries - waffle fries, pulled pork, special sauces

Next up was a basket packed with Bare Grill's Epic Fries. The waffle fries were a novel addition that were surprisingly crunchy despite being coated in two kinds of sauces. The pulled pork was soft and tender and was lifted with that infamous sticky and tangy BBQ sauce. The cheese and spiced aioli lent some creaminess and brought everything together nicely. 

The Trip - beef patty, bacon, onion rings, American cheddar, hash brown, truffle mayo

Finally, the moment I'd been waiting for arrived - burger time! Every single component of this burg seduced me; a juicy patty, still slightly pink in the middle, moderately crispy bacon portioned big enough to contend with the crunchy carb duo that was onion rings and a hash brown and melted American cheddar had that slight salty sharpness that I love. To top it all off, a nice dollop of truffle mayo pulled everything together and lent a creamy earthiness to this delicious burg. This is the best trip you can have under $20. 

The Big Bare - double beef patty, American cheddar, bacon, caramelised onions, Bare sauce

Jay’s pick was an epic double patty affair with that amazingly gooey American cheddar oozing out from under Bare Grill's signature branded bun. Bacon was thrown in for good measure, and the caramelised onions made themselves known without overpowering the palate. Tying it all together was Bare Grill’s 'Bare Sauce';  a smooth mustard-meets-aioli secret sauce that provided some uniqueness to this burger setup. 

Bare Grill also stocks Pat & Stick's ice cream sandwiches. Despite how full we felt, there's always room for dessert so we opted to share one. We ran into a small dilemma with this strategy - Jay wanted Espresso Lace and I wanted Double Chocolate. Relationships are all about compromise and we found it through Mochaccino - a flavour profile not too dissimilar from a frozen mocha sandwiched between chocolate cookies. We found it ticked both chocolate and coffee boxes. 

Pat and Sticks Mochcaccino ice cream sandwhich

Nutella Freak Shake

It was time for Mike to reveal his surprise, which came in the form of Bare Grill's Nutella 'Freak Shake'; a decadent Nutella chocolate milkshake loaded with cream, smashed peanuts and freckles and topped with a Nutella donut. 

We started with the donut, which was light and soft with a gooey Nutella centre. We then tried the freak shake. Thick, creamy and delicious; it was a massive sugar hit that made my sweet tooth sing. It tasted pretty much like we were drinking liquid Nutella. This milkshake has definite novelty appeal and I'm glad we shared one as it's quite filling. 

Bare Grill in La Perouse was certainly worth the trek - we really enjoyed their sides and their burgers are simply amazing. I'd consider them a strong contender amongst Sydney’s best burgers. They have just opened a new store in Surry Hills for those adverse to travel. 

// 

Written by Lachlan Munings (@mister_eats) 

@the.eatventures

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