Soul Burger - Randwick (inside Umami House) — Restaurant in Sydney

So how do you know you're onto a winning thing when you own a completely plant based burger joint? When carnivores like myself show up purely on word of mouth, that's how!

I rocked up to Soul Burger for lunch today on a sporadic tip off from the Yelp Community. Passing through the Eastern Suburbs, this place hit my radar quicker than my Mum knocking down the frail at a Uniqlo sale.

Saddling up to the counter, I threw down the gauntlet & ordered a Cheeseburger (plant-based beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, tomato relish & mustard aioli, a large serve of Kumara Fries & a Chocolate Coconut Shake. Ambitious perhaps, but I wasn't leaving this place without a decent go at it's menu. Having read reviews indicating that their burgers tasted as close to meat as it comes, I wanted to eat as much 'I Can't Believe It's Not Meat' as I could stuff in my eager face. With offerings extending as far as a Battered Fish Burger (which isn't actually fish at all), I found it intriguing just how creative this menu posed itself to be. Unfortunately for me - too much menu, not enough time & definitely not enough stomach!

Taking a seat with my friend, the Chocolate Coconut Shake arrived no sooner than we'd gotten settled. Throwing in 2 straws, we buckled up & jumped in with both feet. For the record, let it be known the first words that left my mouth weren't at all work or child appropriate. This shake legitimately left every previous shake I've ever had weeping pathetically while I kicked dirt in their eyes. Henceforth, this shall be the One shake to rule them all.

Setting the bar extremely high, our meal quickly arrived at our table. Very cooly plated on blue rimmed-white enamel plates, everything looked majestic. The Kumara Fries, served with a with a small side of aioli, were wonderfully crisp & perfectly salted. These fries were unreal. Not my first rodeo with kumara fries, I've often found these to be a real 'hit & miss' in the chip world. Not so here, not even close.

Up next, the Cheeseburger. Mustard aioli oozing from its belly & a forbidding knife pointing skyward from it's vegan guts, it eyeballed me realising my intentions. On first bite, aioli covered my hands & face; flavour punched me in the mouth repeatedly. This was a seriously messy burger. Seriously messy = Seriously f*#@ing epic! While not one to mince words, this burger is legitimately made of the good stuff, minus the bacon.

As a self confessed 'Meat Junkie' there are just so many unexpected elements I loved about my meal at Soul Burger, suffice it to say, I will be back. If this is a place you've found yourself considering, do animals a favour & get on down here for a...

We arrived at The Spot 2 hors earlier before our movie started, so we decided to grab a meal beforehand. Looking through the bunch of resturants open, we decided to try something new and went to soul burger, an all vegan restaurant.

I had a look at the menu outside and they have a decent selection, and apparently use some sort of 'plant-based' meat as a replacement for meats such as beef or chicken. i was considering trying out a burger but i was surprised that they even had the option of a HSP, something that sounded really good to have at the time. My partner had the portabello mushroom burger.

It didnt take very long until our order had arrived and i was honestly disappointed. For the price i paid, the HSP honestly did not live up to my expectations, but who am i to expect such a delicacy from a vegan restaurant. It was such a poorly presented meal too, and although i did remove the BBQ sauce which may have made it look a bit fuller, it just looked kinda sad. The sauce (garlic aioli and peri peri) looked very stale, solid, and off-putting, though it tasted bearable. The amount chips were so minimal, being shoe-string fries as well, it should at least match the amount of chips that would normally be on a HSP at any other kebab shop. The amount that was put on was definitely not enough to satisfy anyone. The meat was also another lackluster. There was probably a total of 10 short, thinly sliced pieces put on, and while it did taste quite odd and unique (plant-based), it was definitely not enough. On the other hand, the portabello mushroom burger was apparently very tasty with plenty of flavour. I do have to add though, that the burger looked pretty sad and lonely on the plate. For the price it costs, it could very well have a side of chips to go along with it.

The service was minimal and straight to the point, no hassle with anything else. Water is self serve right next to the counter, which I did not realise until I left.

Now for the price of what that HSP costed me i could've gotten my self an actual one for potentially cheaper or at the same price, and i suppose this is just part of what happens when you try out new things. Will definitely not be getting this same meal ever again, though id be willing to try out the burgers...

The staff have no idea what gluten free means and to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t know what vegan means either. The menu says some burgers are gluten free if ordered with a gluten free bun, however an old PDF of the burger allergens found online state that the very same burgers in fact do contain gluten. I asked staff about whether or not the burger contained gluten and she didn’t understand what I was asking and ended up coming out with a gluten free bun on my burger which I ended up removing myself anyway since I personally don’t like it and find it too dense (I ordered a bun less burger and asked staff to make sure it was gluten free - they asked if I wanted the burger to be bun less or with a gluten free bun, and I said I would like it to be bun less and if there are gluten free ingredients just let me know or remove them. I think this just confused them unfortunately). I decided to give the staff and menu the benefit of the doubt but after vomiting at 2:30am that night, I won’t be returning. This was more of an issue with communication than quality of product because as bad of an experience being sick later at night is, if I weren’t gluten intolerant I would have really...