Getting Into Ze Pickle, Surry Hills

A burger joint with table service, craft beers and some of the biggest burgers this side of Texas? That's what is on offer at Ze Pickle on Foveaux Street in Surry Hills.

"Do you have a booking?" the man asks us. Confused I answer, "No?? Do we need one?" I thought that we'd pop in for a quick burger before a comedy show but I didn't expect this to be shown to a table or asked for a reservation.

It's very busy this Friday night. The decor at Ze Pickle is black walls and marijuana sacks. Friendly staff roam the floor taking orders and bringing food.

When I ask what's good to order an American waiter launches into a slick spiel about how they've won best burger and how I can't go wrong with the burger that's been voted the top burger in the country.

I'm not up for a cocktail (quelle horreur!!) but Mr NQN is and he orders the Hood Juice. It's made with west winds sabre gin, cloudy apple juice, fresh watermelon juice, peach & apple massenez and it's pretty fantastic. It is served in a brown paper bag wrapped glass.

We dive into the "ze chips" with an ipa beer "cheeze" sauce, maple smoked bacon and ZP sauce. They give cocktail picks for this but they're best eaten with a fork so you can pick up all of those tiny sweet maple bacon pieces. I think some chilli would be great with these too.

Now I don't know whether Mr NQN is changing but normally he doesn't like fried chicken (has anyone cited this as a reason for marital discord?) but he absolutely loves this burger. It's a crunchy deep fried chicken fillet tossed in buffalo hot sauce, sliced celery with a creamy jalapeño blue cheese slaw and baked mozzarella. The blue cheese is at just the right level for this and he offers to trade it back with me.

The menu is full of Kim and Kanye references and the Kanye's Mum burger is the second biggest on the menu. It has a pressed wagyu beef patty, maple bacon, two thick and stretchy fried cheese sticks, smoked jalapeños, ze fries (ipa beer cheese sauce, maple smoked bacon and zp sauce) with jack cheese and truffle butter. It's hard to get this all in your mouth but once I squish it down it's actually quite manageable. This is a pretty epic burger in both size and flavour and very sweet and rich. The truffle butter is a bit lost amongst all the flavours but you do get a bit of it in every second or third bite.

There's are three desserts but there was no way we could fit them in after a Kanye's mum burger. And before we know it, we've drunk and eaten and it hasn't even been an hour. And we didn't even need a reservation.

So tell me Dear Reader, which burger caught your eye? Do you like fried chicken? And do you ever order really large burgers or do you go for more manageable sizes?

This meal was independently paid for.

Ze Pickle

6/17-51 Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Sunday to Thursday 12–10pm
Friday & Saturday 12–11:30pm
zepickle.com
Phone: (02) 8937 0404