Matthew C.
Yelp
I had been told to expect a lot from Jus, which is perhaps why it failed to meet my expectations. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed my burger. I just didn't think there was anything special about it. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if the place wasn't promising anything special. But I paid five dollars extra for the thing to be served with truffled chicken parfait. By offering such extravagances in the first place--whatever happened to the modest pickle?--Jus indicates but one thing: that it is consciously, and quite boldly, attempting to launch itself and its product into the realm of the luxury, prestige brand.
It is not the only one trying to do so, of course. There are so many gourmet burger chains around nowadays--MOO and Burgerlicious in Sydney, Jus in Perth, Grill'd just about everywhere else--that the word gourmet is begins to lose all meaning. Once you take into consideration the hundreds of gastropubs and fine dining establishments that have started peddling their own increasingly refined take on the humble burger, too, the word loses the rest of its meaning completely. What Jus doesn't seem to understand is that sourcing local ingredients and throwing around foie gras and wagyu doesn't automatically qualify you to use such a word. Your burgers need to be made with care, as well as with attention to details like flavour and texture. Both burgers I sampled on my recent visit were hastily made and bland. We paid Neil Perry prices for a Ronald McDonald result. (Actually, Rockpool Bar & Grill does a cheaper and more elegant burger than Jus's Guvnor.)
The real problem here is value for money. Even without the somewhat tasteless parfait, which set me back an extra five dollars, there wouldn't have been any. I know that Jus is everywhere nowadays and that its staff are constantly run off their feet. People clearly love the place, or at least say they do, so it's doing something right. But it seems to me that the place could stand to pull its head in nevertheless. These burgers could be so much better. And they could start by being much more humble.