Jacks Newtown

Jacks Newtown is more than loosely based on Shake Shack in the US. The cult American burger chain is famous for three things: soft one-handed burgers, frozen custard desserts and milkshakes.

Jacks Newtown only serves two kinds of burgers: a cheeseburger, with optional bacon and onion, and a vegetarian burger. The cheeseburger is two ends of yellow-tinted medium-soft buns filled with a layer of molten cheese, sauce, a juicy patty, lettuce and tomato. And of course, salty crinkle cut chips.

Fonteyn’s worked with Vic’s Meat’s Anthony Puharich to develop a specialised patty with the perfect 80–20 per cent meat-to-fat ratio.

The sauce is thick, mildly tangy and more savoury than its mayo-like appearance suggests. Aside from the burgers and chips, the only other things on the menu are sodas from The Soda Press Co and frozen custard. Try the custard blended into what is probably the only choc-hazelnut milkshake in Sydney that doesn’t have Nutella in it. It’s luscious and bestrewn with custard globs and semi-melted chocolate chunks.

Like the menu, the fit-out is similarly uncomplicated. Besides a back wall mural and a neon burger plaque by New-York-Sydney artist Dave Homer, it’s essentially just a counter, a set of wooden benches and wide-open glass frontage.