When a new burger place literally 'pops up' you can't help but want to get in on some of that action. Half walking, half jogging through the rain on a Wednesday night, Wendy and settled up to the pop up restaurant shared with the Sarapan in Victoria Park. It's the Sarapan on weekends and a burger and donburi place on Wednesdays - Fridays.
The Don Burgers is run by Jonas and his siblings - his brother and sister put together each mouthful of Japanese inspired goodness at the back and Jonas runs the front, making drinks on demand and providing service with a smile. The plan was to originally run an eatery with selection of donburi, however somewhere along the way they got stuck into burgers too. The name comes from a mix of this first fascination with donburi and that of the Italian translation of 'The best'.
The burgers presented are a mix of Japanese and American, with crunchy garage, teriyaki chicken and beef options. For those opting for a more eastern rendition of the classic burger, or just opting for chicken - you can choose from Crunchy Karaage chicken ($10), Teriyaki Chicken ($10) or the Super Ninja burger which has a mix of karaage chicken, tomato, lettuce, yuzu-mayo (which I love because as you may know I love yuzu with a passion - it's a citrus fruit), bacon and egg ($12).
The yuzu-mayo is a fresh take on the traditional mayo, with the yuzu giving a burst of freshness that hangs around on your palate after each bite. There is no yuzu-mayo on the beef burgers though, of which you can select the Godfather ($11), Bacon Lover ($12) or Ultimate Cow ($13) with double beef, cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, Don-mayo, bacon and egg.
But don't worry, they also offer three types of bao, three types of donburi and a couple of snacks which include battered chips and corn crunch chicken bites. Oh and don't even get me started on dessert - that will have to be saved for another post altogether. I would even go so far as to say it was the best thing on the menu - but perhaps I am swayed because I am a bit of a green tea dessert fiend.
Sticking with the Italian theme, Wendy ordered the Godfather on a brioche bun and I ordered the ramen karaage burger. You have the option with your burgers to choose the ramen bun or the brioche bun. The ramen bun is liked by some and not liked by others - but hey everyone has their own preferences.
The ramen bun is definitely not two pieces of instant noodle ramen pulled out of packets and smacked either side of a piece of meat. And although I would happily eat raw instant noodles out of a packet in high school during recess, I am glad these ramen burgers are a mixture of cooked ramen noodles and batter.
For me, teaming the karaage chicken with the ramen bun wasn't quite the way to go, as it was a little dry and oily - but the karaage was still tasty nonetheless. The karaage was crispy and moist however when teamed with the ramen bun mouthfuls became a bit dry - there wasn't quite enough sauce to break it up. Wendy's brioche burger on the other hand was super soft, moist and delicious. Definitely give their brioche a try because it is really, really good.
Although it was just one burger, we were decently full by the end of it. Not to mention the custom wrapped newspaper in cool red and blue wire buckets were an awesome way to eat burgers from. The staff are so friendly, attentive and talkative. You kind of just want to be friends with all of them. It's a good place to go for a casual bite to eat if you're in the area on a Wednesday - Friday night, although remember cash only.
Address:
1 Leonard Street, Victoria Park
Opening hours:
Wednesday: 5pm - 9pm
Thursday and Friday: 5pm - 9pm, 12am - 3am