Googies featured a menu centred around brioche thick-cut bread and eggs. When we’d first seen the store in February, we were amused by the names on their menu that seemed a fun spin on the names of some superstars — think Bun Jovi, Hen Solo, One Direggtion and Eggy Mercury – to name a few. Alas, when we returned in June, the fun was nowhere to be seen. But we tried their food anyway.
This is the Prawn G ($12.50), with a ‘crispy prawn patty, free-range scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, onion, cos lettuce, pickles, googies wasabi & chilli mayo’.
This is the burger on the menu that caught our eye, but the reality was vastly different with the prawn patty being a couple of deep-fried battered prawns cooked from frozen. The scrambled eggs were also dense and while the mayonnaise did deliver some of a kick, there were no wasabi notes.
This is the Angus G ($11.00.95), with a 100% beef patty infused with a sweet soy marinade, free-range fried egg, cheddar cheese, onion, cos lettuce, tomato, pickles, googies sweet & bulgogi mayo.
This burger did not fare much better, the beef patty tasting rather dry and under-seasoned, while the egg was well cooked. The salad component, to their credit, was fresh, but there was an overly generous amount of pickles to skew any balance of flavours in the burger. The ‘bulgogi mayo’ had a prominent sweetness to it, but again, was nothing special.
The highlight of both burgers was the soft and fluffy brioche bun, but it was likely not a component made in-store to be worth the credit.
These are the Fried Chicken Wings (3 pieces, $4.50). We were pleased by the complete lack of greasiness in these wings, yet they were served barely at room temperature and tasted bland.
We have a sneaking suspicion that sometime after February ’22, the store changed hands and so resulted in the change in menu. Whatever the reason, those after good eggs on toast should stick with Toastiesmith; Googies is not even competition.
Googies is located at Shop 228, Westfield Chatswood, 1 Anderson St, Chatswood NSW 2067.