If you haven’t had the chance to nip up to Tokyo and experience the art of the Japanese burger bar, never fear. Visit one on your next lunch break thanks to chef Kerby Craig and Ume Burger at Barangaroo. The namesake Ume Burger ($14.60) is a marvel of Japanese quality and ingeniously paired ingredients – think Wagyu mince sauce, American cheese and a Hokkaido-style milk bun – basically the stuff cheeseburger dreams are made of. Hit up the kawaii vending machine for a suitably quirky drink and definitely order a side of hot chips (coated in umami dust) and Japanese mayo to round it all out Edo style.
For years the waterfront north of Darling Harbour was home to, well, not much. You might exit right at the King Street ferry and plunge into the tourist morass therein. Exit left nowadays and you’ll find yourself in, arguably, Sydney’s best dining district. Midweek, The Streets of Barangaroo hum with the CBD’s lunching masses. At the weekend, Wynyard Station deposits foodies at the doorstep of this hub of outposts from Sydney’s top restaurants. Today, cult eats right on the water’s edge – from Spanish to Vietnamese cuisine, Louisiana-style barbecue to sushi, bakeries, gelaterias, cocktail bars and coffee shops – woo you in. The precinct’s plan to create a place where you can work, eat, shop, live and play all within a few hundred metres along Sydney’s glittering harbour edge has coalesced into buzzing reality. And you have to taste it.
