An American-style all-day dining joint offering up smash burgers and sweet pancakes has opened in Exchange Place.
Burger love as Jumbo Smash hits the CBD
From L-R: Saba Maghsoudi and Jimmy Garside
When deciding on the concept for Jumbo Smash, Jimmy Garside’s new burger joint, he says he just “wanted somewhere to hang out”.
“It’s just somewhere cool,” he says. “It’s just tailored for what we want.”
“The main reason we did it was selfish reasons obviously, but hopefully we make a bit of money out of it, but the main thing if we can sit here and eat good burgers every day we’re pretty happy.”
Although Jumbo Smash has had a speedy rise to success – Jimmy says they’ve sold out “in like an hour and a half” on their first three days of trade – this hospitality venture has been a long time coming.
Jimmy co-owns Jumbo Smash alongside Saba Maghsoudi, Elijah Makris and James Brown, who all also co-own Pastel Wine Bar. Saba and Elijah are also co-owners of Pinco Deli.
But Jimmy says there’s nothing like Jumbo Smash in Adelaide which opened just last week in Exchange Place.
“We love burgers and… we couldn’t find this style either in Adelaide,” Jimmy says.
The Jumbo Smash options are heavily inspired by American food culture.
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“Junk food is the best in America,’ Jimmy says as we sit on the corner spot inside, away from the noise in Jumbo Smash.
The Jumbo Smash patties use a method named Oklahoma Smash which Jimmy describes as a “lighter burger”.
The Oklahoma Smash spreads the meat out into a thin – and visibly smashed – patty, and is fried on the grill with onions.
“It was designed when meat was quite scarce and expensive,” Jimmy says.
“So they’d bulk up with onions. So not a lot of meat, the onions keep it really moist and it’s just super light.
“You could eat a burger and go for a run around the block. You don’t feel bad. I feel really terrible when I eat bad food so that was the whole idea around it was something pretty light.”
The smash patty on show. This picture: 2049©.
As Jumbo Smash is designed to take you from day to night – AM trade was a later decision when the crew realised they would be missing out on daytime office foot traffic – Jimmy was strategic when choosing this style of burger.
“In the middle of the day, [heavy burgers are] not going to work for most people,” he says.
The menu is small with five burger options and has no room for substitutes.
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“We do a classic American with tomatoes, mustard, pickles, and we do a Jumbo burger which is a bit of a [take] on a Big Mac I suppose,” Jimmy says while CityMag salivates.
“Fried fish sandwich with tartar and cheese. Fried chicken, which is pretty special – you don’t get good fried chicken here either, so that’s pretty good with hot honey and we do the exact same with mushrooms, so vegos actually get a pretty decent sandwich.”
The chicken and fish sandwich. This picture: 2049©.
The sides consist of loaded fries, a blooming onion which is a “whole onion, fried like fried chicken with honey, buttermilk and sliced so it all opens up”, a wedge salad which Jimmy says “nobody orders because nobody’s here for a salad”, and more.
“It’s a small kitchen. We don’t want to do anything else,” Jimmy says.
“We don’t do gluten-free, we don’t do vegan, because I want to do it properly.
“If we get another venue with a bigger kitchen I’d like to do it, but we have to use the same grills, the same fryers, so unfortunately, we just say no.”
The breakfast style is again “pretty classic American” with sandwich options including a loaded choice which Jimmy says is a “hungover breakfast [sandwich]” including hash browns, eggs, bacon and sausage.
The art-filled space. This picture: 2049©.
When we spoke to the Pinco Deli team as they opened their sandwich joint on Glen Osmond Road in September 2022, they described their style as “retro-futuristic”.
When we walked into Jumbo Smash, it had that same feeling. The space was covered in artwork sourced specifically for this venue, some created by James and Elijah who also co-own creative agency 2049 with Saba.
“Well, we’ve got a look,” Jimmy says. “It was a tricky one because we had to do something that was all day.
“We’re going to start doing Friday, Saturday nights, we’ve got DJs on the weekends, we’ve got a real party vibe.
“So it can’t be a lunch café that people just come and drink in… it had to be functional all day.”
Although Jimmy keeps his cards close to his chest, he says a CBD Pinco Deli and bakery is coming soon to the old Paddy Barry’s spot, and “something on the burner for later on in the year” which he says is an “exciting evening project” with a “very exciting Adelaide chef”.
Jumbo Smash is located at 50 Exchange Place, Adelaide and is open from 7:30am until 3pm from Monday to Friday.
Connect with the business on Instagram for more.
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