If you’re looking to enjoy a casual night out with the lads, then Hot Buns at A Place Where (APW) Bangsar might be just the place. While APW can be a busy area during working hours, you will probably visit Hot Buns during the evenings—for some reason, we picture this spot as a prime selection for post-drinks munchies—and that’s when this location becomes a convenient choice, away from the main congestion of the city.

What is Hot Buns in a nutshell, you may ask? It is approachable food, done at a professional level. So think fries, burgers, corn ribs, and waffles, but with attention to detail, thanks to the masterminds behind the outlet, Chef Moe and Min.

Besides the myriad efforts they put into presenting their dishes the best way they can, what stood out to us during our visit was the fact that everything on their menu was made in-house. Most notably, the buns, which are, after all, the namesake of the diner.

Named P&D buns, after the founders’ previous establishment called Patties & Dough, these keepers of the burgers, as I’d like to picture them, hold in the hearty fillings without crumbling or turning into a sad, soggy mess. You would think that a detail like this would often go neglected, because a burger is just a burger, after all. Not for Hot Buns it ain’t.

And this is the exact type of pride in the work that sets this place apart. Not only that, the buns are freshly made every day, and transported over from their main operating kitchen right across the street. I don’t know about you, but I trust a restaurant that much more when they focus on doing the best by their customers, even if said customers (like myself) are unaware of what goes behind the scenes. And we haven’t even gotten to the meat (ha) of the story.

We were offered three burger varieties upon our visit: The BMO, Creamy Jalapeno Burger, and Chicken Burger. I would encourage you to try all three, but if you had to pick one, perhaps you could start with my favourite, The BMO, which stands for bone marrow onion.

On paper, this juicy delight consisted of compound bone marrow butter with confit garlic and roasted herbs, double-pressed Hereford beef patties, sauteed onions, sliced pickles, American cheese, and the aforementioned P&D buns.

In reality, it was more of a combination between soft buns, gooey cheese, and crispy-on-the-outside-juicy-on-the-inside patties, all married together in the rich sauce. One bite alone takes you through various levels of textures, which soon makes way for the tastes, going from the fattiness of the meat and cheese to tasting the sweetness of the onions, and ending with the sharpness of the pickles.

It was a decadent meal for a sober night out, but perhaps now you can understand why this place makes for a great choice after a few drinks. If it does not end your night with a fulfilling and delicious meal, it’ll at least provide some stomach fodder for the next day’s potential hangovers.

But let’s not talk about hangovers just yet, because you know what Hot Buns also serves? Great cocktails. And through its long list of lovely offerings—such as the Xiao Long Nu or the Sbagliato—the one that stood out most was the Kiam Hu Mary, which was an interesting take on the Bloody Mary.

What they did here was infuse salted fish into the drink which, while it sounded suspect at first, actually worked well for this cocktail. It was surprisingly refreshing, too, which was unlike the fish’s usual reputation of only being present in the most pungent of recipes. It doesn’t deviate too far off the expectations of a Bloody Mary, but it does allow you to taste the cocktail in a very different light.

To think that we’ve waxed lyrical on just one burger and cocktail. There is so much more to discover at Hot Buns, but heed this advice: bring a few friends. Because hearty food like this is best shared. Plus, you probably won’t be able to finish one serving by yourself.