Shake The Bun has smash burgers in Phu Nhuan, Saigon
It wasn’t difficult to locate Shake The Bun between rows of clothing stores and tattoo parlours, owing to the prominence of their griddling cart right outside the restaurant. Located in Phu Nhuan, Ho Chi Minh City, this spot has garnered traction on social media for it’s immaculate American-style vibes and tantalising smash burgers.
And boy did these burgers smash our expectations. You can already see how plump each burger and bun was, served with fries and a dollop of spicy garlic aioli. As mentioned, they’re prepared on a streetside cart outside, where you can catch the smashing in action (unfortunately, it was too dark for good photos at the time of my visit!)
I went for the Double Beef Burger (80,000 VND) to set a benchmark on what to expect here. Each patty was flattened to get that crisp char and to maximise flavours from the Maillard reaction—the secret to what makes a smash burger so damn tasty. An Emborg cheese slice is used, then topped with pickles and their original sauce.
The beef burger was thick, juicy, and honestly quite a monster to behold (and hold). Sinking my teeth right in yielded an explosion of flavours—from the smoky grilled beef, cheesy-creamy sauce lathered atop to the lettuce, tomato, and pickles that cut through the noise with a burst of freshness. The bun was supple, buttery, and well-toasted, providing a great base to the goodness within.
FYI, you can also get the single-patty Original Burger for only 65,000 VND if you’re a lighter eater.
We also tried the Hue Shrimp Burger (100,000 VND), which due to the absence of diacritics, wasn’t very clear if it uses shrimps from Huế, or had a vibrant hue (though I’m definitely assuming the former). Instead of the beef patty, this burger uses—you guessed it—a fried shrimp patty, alongside Emborg cheese and their pickle mayo sauce.
This iteration was much oilier than the beef variants, well mostly because of the deep-fried nature of the patty. The breezy freshness of shrimp did well to counteract the heaviness of the oil, though it still leaned thick due to the rich cheese and sauces.
We also had the Cheesy Beef Fries (Khoai Phủ Bò Phô Mai), which were priced at 80,000 VND. Unfortunately, this was much less impressive than the burgers, as the lack of sauce and overcooked beef lent an extremely dry texture to the fries, even with the assistance of the (rather skimpy) cheese, tomato sauce, caramelised onions, and pickles.
There’s quite a variety of drinks to pair with your meal, but only one option for beer—Huda (55,000 VND), an award-winning Vietnamese pilsner-lager produced by Carlsberg Vietnam in Huế.
Though the space is rather narrow, the aesthetics of the decor is lively with Mexican-inspired murals and rows of vinyl records lining the right wall. There’s even a TV playing the comedic classic Tom and Jerry, which my partner found rather amusing.
Sadly, my contention was with their service: the staff who attended to us took an extremely long time to provide simple condiments such as mayo, sauce, and extra cups of ice, and even needed multiple reminders for these. As the restaurant was not too busy, we weren’t entirely sure why this was an issue.
Shake The Bun Burger – 7.5/10
The burgers here at Shake The Bun Burger certainly impressed, being quintessential, no-frills smash burgers that delivered on taste and size. Though it’s lamentable that the beef-cheese fries and service were not up to par here, I think it’s definitely worth a visit for their burgers alone, perhaps paired with the refreshing Huda beer.
Address: 525/20 Huỳnh Văn Bánh, Phường 13, Phú Nhuận, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam
Opening hours: Daily 10am to 10pm
Website
This was an independent review by Mordecai.
