30 July 2019

Sink your teeth into the best burger in town at Young and Frisky

| Lachlan Roberts
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Young and Frisky’s Classic Cheeseburger has been awarded best burger at 2019 ACT Hospitality Awards. Photos: George Tsotsos.

What makes a good burger?

Is it the soft bun or the finger-licking sauce? Maybe it’s the slice of cheese perfectly melted onto the patty, or maybe it’s the protein itself, cooked to perfection and melt-in-your-mouth?

According to the chefs at Young and Frisky in Gungahlin, who won the 2019 ACT Hospitality Award for the best burger in town, it’s all of the above.

With 10 burgers on the menu including Cajun Fried Tofu Burger, the ever-popular Kansas Chicken Burger and The OG, it was the humble pub’s Classic Cheeseburger that caught the attention of the judges’ tastebuds.

Chefs David Carvajal and Caleb Chubb said the secret to their award-winning burger is simple ingredients done right.

“We like to have different textures hit the mouth in our burgers,” chef Carvajal shared. “The milk buns are really important and maybe the most important part of the burger.

Chef David Carvajal said the bun is the key ingredient.

“The bun needs to hold its consistency and not melt and fall apart in your hands. It can really make the difference.

“We also love our ketchup and our American mustard, which is why the bun is so important. We want to serve a saucy burger but we don’t want it to fall over the place.

Sweet dreams are made of these…

“Then you top it with patty, sliced onion, pickle and cheese. We don’t like to cook our meat patties all the way through because we like to keep a bit of colour when you bite inside. We let the patty rest so the blood doesn’t ooze through the burgers.

“It’s a cheeseburger so you can’t forget the American cheese. The way I like to describe our burger is simple ingredients done right.”

The OG and the Classic Cheeseburger have your name written all over them.

Young and Frisky co-owner Brian Smith, who owns Hopscotch and the recently opened burger joint Flash Eats in the city, said all the credit has to go to the chefs in the kitchen, especially head chef Caleb Chubb.

“Last year at the awards, Caleb said ‘I am going to win that next year’ and sure enough he did,” Mr Smith said with a laugh. “All the credit needs to go to him.

“He has put a lot of time and effort into this. Personally, I think the key is consistency.”

Mr Smith said the gamble of opening up a pub in Gungahlin three years ago was starting to pay off.

“We opened Young and Frisky three years ago and this is our first award. Absolutely it was a gamble setting up in Gungahlin,” he said. “It’s always a risk but you have to back yourself and I think after three years we are finally seeing a lot of action.

“It’s going really well and we are extremely happy.”

Young and Frisky is located at The Marketplace, Gungahlin Place West and Efkarpidis Street, Gungahlin and is open every day from 11 am til late. Visit their website or Facebook page for more information.

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Went to Young and Frisky recently and ordered a steak sandwich. Requested barbecue sauce instead of tomato sauce and was charged $5 extra….
Was a reasonable steak sandwich but I won’t be back.

American mustard, American cheese? No thanks!

Sounds like a decent burger cafe has finally opened in Gungahlin. The other place is, well…

Haven’t tried the burger here still, will be trying soon……nevertheless the spicy $0.50 cents chicken wings with chilled beer is the best in town here I can say.

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