With two very hungover heads on us, Jim and I made our way into town recently to check out Bunsen, the new burger joint on Wexford St that everyone’s been raving about on social media since early June. Bunsen’s menu is very small, so small, in fact, that it fits on a business card-sized menu. Choices are a hamburger, €6.95, or a cheeseburger, €7.95, fries, €2.95, milkshake, €4.50, and soda, €1.95. The end. We both chose the cheeseburger with fries, a chocolate shake for me and a strawberry one for Jim.
The restaurant is very casual, simple and I really like the fit-out, the place was busy too with a nice, buzzy atmosphere – although I had to ask the waitress to turn down the extremely hip music (Drive soundtrack anyone?) that was blaring from their sound system. I would like to think my hangover was to blame and not my age, although it was very loud, I swear!
We weren’t waiting too long for our food. The burgers were very, very good, nice and juicy, excellent quality Angus beef patties and cooked exactly how I like with a bit of pink in the centre, perfect toppings/condiments, and the bun, in particular, was really lovely, I believe they bake them in-house daily. Something important to mention: you didn’t have to dislocate your jaw to eat it, burgers are supposed to be eaten like a sandwich yet it’s rare to find a good one in Dublin that you can easily do this with. The fries were just plain old string fries, nothing to write home about, pretty blah for nearly €3, I only ate a few of them. I love milkshakes and obviously I know they’re supposed to be sweet, but the Bunsen shakes were too sweet for my liking, so I’ll stick to my beloved H2O in future!
Including a can of Coke, our total bill came to €31.75. The quality of the burgers is fantastic but I was a bit taken aback at the cost for what is essentially fast food. It’s definitely cheaper than other gourmet burger restaurants around the city though, so I will give them that. We also ordered shakes and fries etc, next time I’d just focus solely on the burger, which is what this place is all about.
Friday 28 June, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Thanks. Another Camden Street eatery to check out.
Everyone says the fries are not as good as the burgers. Better than vice versa I guess…
Friday 28 June, 2013 at 7:03 pm
Looks great Rebecca, though I think I’ll skip the fries and the milkshake… It’s very difficult to get fries just right; most restaurants have to do a lot of testing first and very few achieve the results they want.
Saturday 29 June, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Couldn’t agree more with you – awesome burgers, but the fries and milkshake are definitely a let down, especially for the prices they are asking at the moment. Also, the milkshake is thin and milky, not a ‘thick’ shake like you might expect. Top tip though, Bunsen are using social media very well, and it would definitely be worth keeping up with their FB page etc… They do seem to be genuinely interested in feedback, and they ran a poll about their chips a little while ago to find out if people preferred hand cut or the shoe string ones. Most people seemed to opt for hand cut, and many also mentioned being disappointed that the portion size was on the small size, especially considering the price. I’ve eaten there since and ordered the hand cut chips and they were definitely more generous with the portions. Maybe they will listen about the milkshakes too!
Monday 1 July, 2013 at 9:35 am
Ate there last night: burgers good, lots of fries per portion, and a good milkshake.
Friday 12 July, 2013 at 12:47 pm
Plus one for Bunsen. Suzanne and I both thought the fries were excellent, so they must have fixed that problem. Also, hey split one portion of fries between t us, which we both thought was a really good touch.