Chur Burger, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

May 05, 2017

Taking R to Chur was a definitely good idea, especially the fact that she hasn't tried it at all hence, only hearing it from me raving about the pork, pork, pork. When we arrived, there were a few tables empty but that it wasn't overcrowded, yet, that is. Looked through the menu and figured out what we wanted, however we always say that we won't order much since we're not that hungry, but, then in the end, we all know what happens...

Not wanting to only try all their burgers in one go, we thought we'd order a starter to share, well as they call it, a snack. 'Crispy Pork and Prawn San Choi Bao' (AUD$14) was basically more expensive in price than their classic cheeseburger, which I wasn't too sure if we had made the right choice, or maybe a burger would have sufficed instead. San Choi Bao, is most commonly known to be eaten when you're having Peking Duck. So by having crispy pork and prawn as a substitute, I was too, intrigued by how it would taste and look like.

Plated neatly on a round plate, there were five lettuce cups filled with crispy pork, prawn, black vinegar caramel, chilli, shallot and peanuts. The chilli and shallots, as well as the peanuts were scattered all around which gives it the right amount for each lettuce. It was uniquely served with a side of slaw, which I did appreciate and I thought it added to the texture and contrasting colour between the green lettuce and the red cabbage. Crispy pork pieces were cubed in size, but some seemed to have been just batter or maybe the pork was cut quite thinly which made it quite hard to distinguish the crispy batter around the meat. Some were harder than others, some were chewier than others.

The san choi bao was quite a mouthful, very generous in filling, top it with a bit of slaw, and you get a very crunchy but refreshing san choi bao and a unique too, with the crispy pork and prawn. What could've made this slightly better would've been if there was more sauce, as you could taste the sweet black vinegar but a bit more drizzle would've been good or maybe a side of dipping sauce.

Since ordering a side was apparently not on the books for R, although we did say we won't order much since we weren't hungry, but here we go. Instead of having a side of chips, sweet potato fries or coleslaw, she decided and was eyeing on this from the very beginning, the 'Buffalo Wings' ($14) served with blue cheese mayo and topped with shallots. The buffalo wings was generous, the blue cheese mayo was packed in a small round container which usually is for takeaway, so not too sure why this was packed in this way for dine ins. The blue cheese mayo was quite subtle and had a stronger mayo taste than the blue cheese itself. The buffalo wings was marinated and seasoned well, it was quite a pleasant dish to have but I'm not a biggie on having wings for entree myself.

'Crispy Pork Belly' (AUD$18) was their Signature burger consisting of crispy pork belly, chilli caramel, slaw and aioli. Served on a flat metal plate topped with a square paper, polka dots, the burger was neatly stacked though it was tilting sideways quite a bit. The crispy pork belly was my favourite the first time I tried Chur and I was hoping that this time, I would have the same experience.

The crispy pork belly was seasoned nicely however, the crispy skin was too hard in some areas making it hard to bite into when eating the burger. The fresh slaw with the chilli caramel was a nice combo, something different but it worked. The aioli gave it that creamy taste and flavour which balances the rest of the ingredients.