They say you should never mess with a classic. Avoid eating spag bol on your Bali trip, salad at a fast-food joint and at Heidelberg’s new aptly named Heidelburger beware of coloured buns. But more on that shortly.

The suburban takeaway joint has been slapping Italian flavours between bright buns since July, after Bean There coffee kiosk owner Izzi LaBrocca and former customer Peter Scoleri took over a rival café’s digs across the road. The 50-seater is made for grab-and-go  grub and easy dine-in eats. On this visit, a rowdy party of pre-teens is munching on monster burgers and slurping sugar-laden milkshakes (the Nutella and Oreo drink with stirred-through chocolate glugs and biscuit crumb and domed with whipped cream is admittedly a naughty but nice treat).

La Brocca and home-cook sister Anna Mandolfo stack their menu with anything they can think of to get punters through the door – pasta, soup, loaded fries, salads, cakes, tiramisù and a  specialty from their Italian hometown Gaeta, tielle di Gaeta (a sort of stuffed pizza). Then come 10 burgers with five choices of buns made by Cheltenham’s  Baked for Sofia. They look the goods on Instagram but like anything on social media, all is not as it seems.

The Italiano ($15.50) in a dish-sponge textured matcha bun is disappointingly dry, as is the overcooked beef patty, with too much oily onion shoved between those tasteless bread discs. Stick with the Classico ($13), which has all the things a great burger should: chargrilled minced beef with a blushing pink centre, gooey tasty cheese, crisp bacon and a long-squirt of tomato and mustard sauce. Pickles add bite and salad brings freshness, while the soft white brioche holds in the juices for the most part.

 If Heidelburger dials back the cheesy gimmickry and perfects the classics, the burgeria could become a local hit.