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Just open: Neil Perry's Burger Project in Sydney's World Square

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Burger Project's spicy chicken number with salted chilli, pickles, pickled slaw, lettuce, coriander, soy and mayonnaise.
Burger Project's spicy chicken number with salted chilli, pickles, pickled slaw, lettuce, coriander, soy and mayonnaise.Supplied

Fast food is about to be given the Neil Perry treatment, with his latest venture, the Burger Project, set to open its doors in Sydney's World Square.

The Rockpool Group's gauntlet to every glammed-up burger joint in Australia opens this Friday, October 31. It's located next to Din Tai Fung and directly above another burger purveyor Grill'd.

"I've set out to make the Australian burger I remember before McDonald's came to this country," says Neil Perry.

The cheeseburger at Burger Project.
The cheeseburger at Burger Project.Supplied
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"And that doesn't mean beetroot, that means the one the corner milk-bar made with beef, lettuce, tomato, onions, bacon and cheese, and sauce that wasn't mayonnaise."

Goodfood.com.au had a preview tasting of the Burger Project's cheese and bacon burger ($9.50). Immediately you're taken back to post-beach walks to the corner store on school holiday afternoons. A corner store where a cheeseburger and $2 worth of chips was the order of the day and any change would be spent on pinball while cool tiles healed your feet after the hot asphalt outside (because only wimps wore shoes to the corner shop).

And brioche? What the heck is brioche?

The Burger Project cheeseburger even comes in a little white paper-bag that's conveniently grease proof (it's also compostable) and perfect for capturing errant lettuce. The 'secret sauce' bends tradition with a backhand of chilli, but the burger is better for it.

The best thing? It's not a grease-trap and you don't want to fall into a cholesterol coma after eating it. The fat content of the Cape Grim beef patty is about 18 per cent, which is pretty much perfect. The meat is 36-month-old grass-fed chuck and brisket steak. It's ground in-house and you can watch the process in action through the shopfront windows.

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Other menu options include a Korean burger ($8.90) with beef, kimchi, onion, lettuce and spicy Korean dressing. A vegetarian option featuring grilled confit mushrooms ($12.50). House-cut chips ($4.90), thrice cooked with your choice of salt, salt and vinegar, or chipotle chilli. And fried chicken wings (three for $9) with Sichuan pepper and salt.

Perry has also hinted at the possibility of negroni slushies soon.

Burger Project seats 100 guests inside and out, and has a smart-casual feel.

Shop 11.06, World Square, 644 George St, Sydney, burgerproject.com

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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