Hangover cures are for fools. Any doctor will tell you that prevention is the best medicine, and there's no better way to avoid a hangover than chasing your drinks with a hamburger. Unless, of course, you live in Montreal. Don't get me wrong-I love this city. Nowhere else can I get smoked meat, poutine, or hit on by a homeless person at 3 a.m. But, for whatever reason, Quebeckers insist on butchering some fast food staples. Exhibit A? Pizza. Exhibit B? Hamburgers.
The hamburgers served in Montreal aren't terrible. But, with precious few exceptions (La Paryse being the most notable), most restaurants treat them as an afterthought, with predictably underwhelming results.
That's why Buns Hamburger House caught my eye. Their first location opened near Concordia last September, and a second appeared at St. Laurent between Pine and Prince Arthur last month. The Buns menu only has four items: a hamburger ($4), a double hamburger ($6), grilled potatoes ($2), and soft drinks ($1). Tax is included in all of the prices-a nice touch if you're a few drinks into the evening, and counting change suddenly seems harder than differential equations.
Buns is best visited after a few drinks. If you're sober, the restaurant doesn't make a great first impression. Their decor can only be described as a yuppie kitchen gone wrong, with faux granite floor tiles, Ikea furniture, and cheesy photos of Times Square and Piccadilly Circus on the walls. Phil Collins was also blaring on the stereo when I arrived, which didn't help. I've never criticized a burger joint for its soundtrack before-and I'm used to eating at Alberta truck stops-but listening to "True Colours" changed my mind. Phil was still going when my burger arrived, but we'd moved on to the better part of his discography (thank God for "Sussudio"). And while the music disappointed, the hamburgers didn't. The patties at Buns are true quarter-pounders, well-seasoned and cooked on an actual grill. That's a big step up from the griddle-fried slithers of beef that are the norm in Quebec (I'm looking at you, La Belle Province).
The burgers are topped with your choice of tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Cheese is also offered at no extra cost, and it's mozzarella cut from a block-not the processed stuff. As for the restaurant's namesake, the bread around each patty is freshly toasted and seedless.
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