In my usual contrary fashion, the opening of the new Burger Meats Bun on Forth Street in Edinburgh said only one thing to me: it was time I finally gave their Glasgow branch on West Regent Street a visit.

While the Edinburgh restaurant is finding its feet, the Glasgow place is now firmly part of the furniture. From their below street-level premises, they’ve been doing a roaring trade since they opened last year.

The place is decked out in the expected “dirty burger” chic with a blend of wood and industrial metal. This was really quite smart but the naked bulb and spotlight lighting made things unnecessarily bright and just a trifle oppressive.

The menu is much as you would expect: burgers across meat, chicken and veg; an ever changing specials board; and various interesting whatnots like wings and shakes. I kept things simple opting for their smokin’ bacon burger and sea salt chips. The friendly waitress took the order accurately then brought over the inevitable roll of kitchen towel, chequerboard paper and Hellman’s mayonnaise.

Items promptly arrived in paper wrapping (the burger) and a paper cup (the chips).

The chips were very good and a blessed relief after the poor quality offerings I’d recently had at Los Argentinos and Bar 50.

The brioche bun was very good, too. Sadly, the burger, although it poured juices everywhere when I picked it up, was way too lean, very overcooked and rather light on flavour for my tastes. I mopped up the liquid with the chips but it didn’t pack the expected beefy goodness either. This was was rather disappointing.

So overall, Burger Meats Bun was a let down on the burger front. It was all dirty burger chic without the dirty burger to match. Chips and bun were very good, though. I’ll give the Edinburgh shop a visit in a few months, once it has had time to settle in. I hope to find the meat on better form than it was today.

Scores
Blythe scores Burger Meats Bun
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for service
3.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 14/20

I ate: smokin’ bacon burger, sea salt chips

I drank: sparkly water

I wore: pinstripes

Total bill: £11.50