Melbourne's First UFO Burger is Vegetarian with an Indian Twist

Melbourne’s first UFO burgers didn’t arrive with a social-media strategy – they crash-landed by accident. Pop101 owner Jaynam “Jay” Shah was trying to prevent burger fillings from sliding out the bottom of the bun, when he unintentionally became the city’s first pilot of the viral “sealed” burger: a patty and toppings welded into a crusty, rimmed bun shaped like a flying saucer. In a social-media galaxy of UFO burgers, Jay’s is unique – it’s completely vegetarian with an Indian twist. 

Despite the UFO burger’s recent online fame, its history began more than 60 years ago. The first known sighting was at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, where a local club pressed and served “Spaceburgers” (seasoned minced beef between two slices of white bread) to coincide with the opening of the Space Needle. Modern recognition belongs to South Korea’s UFO Burger chain, which opened in 2019 and closed in 2024, but not before the concept spread across Europe (Paris helped cement the craze) and to the United States, where California’s Less Mess Burgers food truck helped propel the trend.

Sealed burgers reached Australia in January 2025 at Turtle Burgers in Sydney, and Pop101 followed a few months later in Melbourne (soon after in June, UFO Buns landed in Sydney). All of this was unbeknownst to Jay, who first experimented with the idea by sealing a burger in a Kmart pie maker during a family function. The machines now used in the food truck come straight from Alibaba – a sign of the growing popularity of sealed burgers. 

“When I started this business, I was selling just traditional burgers… but I was also looking out for a solution in which people don't have to spoil their hands,” says Jay. “It’s practical, and also it’s a little bit of innovation as well, because burgers have never seen innovation in the past century.”

Jay never intended Pop101 to be defined by a viral trend. The food truck opened in September 2024 to fill what he saw as a gap in the market: vegetarian burgers that deliver fast-food nostalgia.

Jay moved from Mumbai to Australia in 2016 to study accounting, working as a Domino’s delivery driver and becoming fascinated by the company’s processes. He felt a pull to do something more than accounting. Years later, sitting in a food truck car park with his wife, Kinjal, and brother, Moxshes, Jay decided he didn’t “want to procrastinate anymore”. 

Using his wife’s recipes and his brother’s cooking skills, the three opened Pop101 – a burger-and-soda truck in an Indian food-truck park in Melbourne’s southeast. 

“Burgers are very much different in India, especially in Mumbai… vada pav is the authentic Indian burger… and that's one of my childhood memories. Any Mumbai person reading this would resonate a lot with me,” says Jay. “I thought, let's bring something which is non-traditional – not just for the community, but to the market as well.”

But rather than serve vada pav, Jay wanted to fuse fast-food nostalgia with his Mumbai roots – something to appeal to the Indian community while introducing others to flavours that are different, yet familiar. 

“Pop101 is not just a brand, it's a feeling; it’s a nostalgia that each and every one of us has, specifically coming from the Asian countries; the things that we miss over there,” says Jay. “I want to create a place where people can go and try something new, and taste something that's different.” 

So, what does Pop101’s UFO burger taste like? Meat patties lean heavily on the Maillard reaction for caramelisation, but Jay coaxes the same satisfaction from his sealed bun with an assault of homemade sauces: mayonnaise, tomato, smoky chipotle, tandoori and a signature green chutney. Red onion and just the right amount of tomato pull back the richness of a melted cheese slice, but the revelation is in the contrast of a squishy spiced potato-and-pea patty, engulfed by a golden bun with a crunchy buttery outer shell. The result is exactly as promised: a little nostalgia, a touch of Mumbai, and the naughty-nice delight of junk food.

Pop101’s menu goes beyond UFOs. There are a dozen other burgers and a line-up of pastas, the most popular being pink sauce pasta, characterised by a creamy, tomato-cheesy, spiced sauce with a hit of Sichuan and chilli flakes – akin to an indulgent Indo-Chinese take on vodka sauce. Because the family follows Jainism (an ancient Indian religion that avoids root vegetables and only eats food prepared less than eight hours earlier), everything on the menu can also be made Jain-friendly. The banana fries even have Jay’s father’s tick of approval. 

Sodas are just as central, hence the business name. Jay believes no burger experience is complete without a soft drink. His range blends Indian spices with the fizz of childhood fast food: jeera masala soda (made with a house spice mix and amchur, or dried mango powder) and the sugar-free Kashmiri soda of cumin, lemon juice and soda water. Both contain spices that, according to ayurvedic principles, aid digestion – or, as Jay puts it, “it just gives you that burpy feeling.”

Less than a year after opening, Pop101 has already expanded with a second truck in the western suburb of Truganina. For Jay, it’s only the beginning. 

“Every time we go out on a trip, all the pit stops you always see are Maccas and Subway, and I see myself over there as well,” he says. “I want to become like a 500-store, 1000-store business… everywhere in world there are vegetarians out there, there are vegans out there, and I want to support them with whatever I can.”

23 Meriton Place, Clayton South & 6B Network Drive, Truganina, pop101.com.au