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Buns Out is open and attracting some of the most famous names in the country to come and check out Maps Maponyane's take on burgers.
Buns Out
32 Seventh Street, Linden
2/5
I pull up on a Saturday evening and do what everyone has been suggesting – get my takeaway meal at Buns Out because Maps Maponyane’s new eatery can get quite full.
Upon arrival, though, I realise that it isn’t as full as I was expecting and I could’ve easily eaten there. The atmosphere is relaxed and makes for an intimate hang-out for young professionals.
The decor boasts industrial-looking floors and a blue corrugated iron counter where the till is. The joint has standard wooden seating and a long yellow couch down the one side of the room.
We know the man for his understated style, which is represented in this space. At the front of the room, where you collect your order, there’s a back-to-school box for people to donate for learners in need.
I’m all with it, but the boxes looked a bit tacky. Deep House music throbs in the background, and although the music isn’t party loud, it’s slightly too loud for a restaurant.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that I was able to place my order on WhatsApp before it was soon ready for me.
I wanted to get a milkshake to go with my burger, but they don’t do milkshakes at Buns Out, something they should definitely reconsider.
I look at their menu for dessert and settle on deep-fried Tinkies (R28), which look like eclairs that graduated varsity, to cap things off after my New Yolk City Burger (R115), which comes with a 200g beef patty, a soft egg sunny side up, crispy bacon, spinach and grilled tomato.
To be honest, the menu is a bit bland. With only 12 burgers, there isn’t much in the way of options, although vegans and vegetarians can expect to be catered for.
The actual menu also looks a bit passionless too; the white laminated sheets don’t scream Maps Maponyane, or Mr GQ, for that matter.
The open-plan serving area also wasn’t as suave as I had imagined.
On the whole, when it isn’t busy, Buns Out could make for quite an intimate dinner setting. But frankly the burgers could do with some work.
As soon as my order was ready I left Buns Out and rushed home to dive into the eco-friendly brown bag packaging. I started with the chips.
They are decent, the same way decent restaurants serve decent bread while you decide what to order. They were just chips, and there weren’t that many of them.
The restaurant is not called chips out, I reminded myself, brushing my doubts aside.
I finally take a bite of the burger. I chew, swallow and wait. Nothing jumps out at me as far as flavours go.
I take another bite and then another, and, before you know it, the burger is finished and I’m still waiting for my taste buds to tingle, or for a surprise of sorts.
It didn’t happen. Eating the burger was like listening to a song that has no crescendo.
Luckily I had the deep-fried Tinkies in the brown paper bag. I don’t exactly know what goes into those little pastries, but their flavour made me lie back in bed and ponder all things sweet and delicious in life.
The seminal little pastries saved the day.
