Kota Damansara is somewhere I visit quite a lot due to my gigs/rehearsals, but apart from the odd visits to Super Kitchen Chili Pan Mee, I’ve never eaten at other places. There are actually quite a lot of interesting outlets and Burger Junkyard is one of the newer additions to grace the neighbourhood. Yes, the burger joints are sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain, but burger junkyard prides themselves in providing the freshest ingredients with all components of their burgers made in house. Even the decor is pretty eye catching, with their signature graffiti wall.

Reminds me very much of Hosier Lane (which houses Movida) in Melbourne, felt a little homesick for a moment.

I visited Burger Junkyard yesterday and met a whole bunch of new people as part of the Foodirector Hangout. Sometimes it’s great to come out of my shell and get out of my comfort zone. Just because I perform on stage a lot, doesn’t mean I’m a complete extrovert. It does take me a while to warm up to strangers.

Before we got to the burgers, the owners came out to say hello and we got to pick their brains a little. A few things that stands out in their ways of preparing burgers: the patties are charbroiled to get that perfect flame grill smokiness, their cheese (Pressed Cheddar, Processed Cheddar & Smoked Mozzerella) are steamed to achieve that signature silkiness while perserving the body and flavour of the cheeses, they also never stop experimenting with interesting combinations.

Too bad I wasn’t there to experience the Volcano Burger, but last week they had The Vampire Slayer burger with Garlic Aioli, Garlic Confit Sauce, Garlic Butter Slab, Smashed Garlic Croutons which sounds to me like something you should never eat on a first date (or any dates, for that matter).

It didn’t take long for the burgers to reach our table (20 minutes maximum), and confronted with 6 different varieties of beef burgers, I reached for the Balsamic Beefin’ Onions first.

From the menu description, this is my favourite Oz Style burger with caramelized onion jam, balsamic raisin sauce, roast tomatoes, steamed aged cheddar and my favourite burger ingredient: pickled beetroot. Paired with a 90g all Australian beef patty, it tasted exactly how I imagined it to be, the tango of sweet and savoury. The patty had the distinct smokiness they promised, and is juicy with rather loose granules of beef (I would actually prefer it to be slightly firmer for more bite). All burgers come with buttered brioche buns, and their buns are soft, almost a bit too soft for me but still a great vehicle to transport all that delicious flavours into our hungry tummies.

I noticed that this wasn’t actually on their menu board but the ratatouille caught my attention so I had a little taste. Featuring tomato, onions, eggplant, zucchini, capsicum stewed to the point of mush. This is a good burger to meet your vegetables intake of the day. I think it would also be nicer if I could taste the individual vegetables though. Yes, it does get a little sloppy and note that no cutlery is supplied for the authentic burger experience.

This burger came with a full-sized 180g Beef Patty and look how massive it is! With turkey ham, beef bacon, grilled pineapple, tomato, onions, fried egg, cheese & aioli, this is one to please a manly appetite.

The Mushroom burger comes with a mixed mushroom sauce made of Portabellas, Swiss Browns, White Buttons & Shitake Mushrooms for that extra earthy note. I wasn’t fast enough to reach for this one, but it made some people very happy. Have to come back to try this. I also didn’t get to try the Texas Hold Me and Beef in Blankets.

Their fries are usually served with house special Demi-Glaze (akin to a brown sauce) which didn’t really impress me, but the Tomato Concasse was very good indeed with just the right balance of sweetness and piquancy. I’ve had better fries/chips elsewhere though. These are sufficiently crunchy, but it was the spice blend that confused my taste buds a little.

Chicken burgers at Burger Junkyard are made with only chicken thighs for the maximum juiciness and tenderness. That is such a brilliant move. I never would have order Chicken burgers anywhere for fear of dry and bland patties, but these really change my whole perception.

In this burger, the thigh was basted with Buffalo Hot Sauce (Frank’s, I presume) and char-grilled, then topped with sour cream, celery sticks and tomato slices. I loved it! Like eating Buffalo Chicken Wings, only without the bones. The smokiness of the thigh leaves you wanting for more. You can taste just taste the hot sauce and the spiciness is pretty mild for my taste (next time I’ll ask if they can make it spicier). I only have two more words: celery works.

This was another burger I missed out. The combination of pineapple, chicken, smoked turkey ham and special cocktail sauce sounded very appetising indeed.

Burger Junkyard also serves desserts, which is another reason the outlet stands out.

The Panna Cotta has the perfect wobble, wasn’t overly sweet and has a soury note (yoghurt?).

The flamboyant brownies came with super delicious salted caramel, designed to please the chocolate lover (especially those who prefer their chocolate desserts to be rich and dark).

So does this warrant a revisit? I think so, and I will bring Frank along for that delicious sounding vegetarian burger.