Barrio Burgers

At Barrio Chino, tequila once flowed late into the night. But following the end of the lease, and a major reduction in foot traffic in King’s Cross due to Sydney’s lockout laws, Nicole Galloway and Peter Lew restructured their once late-night venue, Barrio Chino.

The rebranded Barrio Burgers will serve daytime revelers, locals and nine-to-fivers from the surrounding offices.

Despite a few tweaks here and there, the layout has remained much the same, including the set of booths on the far-right wall, and the long communal table that runs adjacent to the open kitchen.

On a menu of six burgers, there are two surefire standouts. The first is the Fatboy Chicken, an ode to Galloway and Lew’s other venue Fei Jai (“fat boy” in Cantonese). It features five-spiced fried chicken, chipotle mayo, grilled cheese, tomato and lettuce.

The second is the Sweet Bacon Blues. It’s a sweet-savoury love fest of beef, bacon, dulce de leche and blue-cheese mayo; a huge hit at Burgerpalooza in April.

The glossy brioche buns can’t be faulted. Lew won’t disclose the bakery (burger joints are notoriously secretive about this key ingredient), but he can confirm that they have been custom-made exclusively for Barrio Burgers.