Now that fact is being spread far and wide after the Cooper Street eatery were awarded an Australian Good Food Guide Readers’ Choice award.

Burgerfiend was deemed to have the best burgers in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley and owners Marlene and Matt Fulham said that, while blown away with the honour, they initially though it too good to be true.

“I thought it was a joke,” Marlene said.  “Like one of those clickbait emails so I didn’t initially open it. But I eventually read the email and thought ‘well, that looks legit,’ so I went to the AGFG website and it was true. It was extra special because we didn’t post anything on our page about voting either, so it’s really nice, and I think there were only 25 venues in Newcastle and the Hunter that got readers’ choice.”

Known for their staples such as the Fiend burger, the Bellbird chicken concoction and an array of weekly “special burgers” like the Fresh Prince of Cessnock Burger on offer this week, Matt said the secret to Burgerfiend’s success lay in the beef.

“It all starts with the beef and the love and care that goes into it,” he said. “Because we are such a small team, there are only a couple of us who make the burgers, so there is a consistency there.”

He added that the team derive a great deal of pleasure from coming up with new creations to tempt the tastebuds.

“You can have a lot of fun with a burger,” he said.  “You can literally put anything between a bun and as long as it’s got a beef patty on it, it’s a burger, right?”

The award comes after Matt was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non Hodgkins Lymphoma late last year. He said that he had what he thought was indigestion for around a month before his diagnosis and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment since. 

Thankfully it seems the treatment is working with Matt returning to the shop over the last week for some small stints behind the counter.

“Before the last lot of chemo I had a scan and pretty much all of the tumours had all gone,” he said.  “I’ve got another week to go before more chemo then I’ll have six weeks off and I’ll have another scan and if it’s the same I should  hopefully be given the all clear.”

Admitting that the diagnosis had been “tough” Marlene added that she was overwhelmed with the support they had received from the Cessnock community.

“The people in Cessnock have been amazing,” she said. “People coming in just to check up on how we were going it has been really nice.”