Bunsen Dublin: Burger Menu, Prices and Locations

Bunsen is the homegrown burger restaurant most Dubliners name first, and it has earned that by doing very little. Cousins Tom and Finn Gleeson opened it at 36 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, in 2013. The menu has hamburgers and cheeseburgers, single or double, made with Black Aberdeen Angus beef ground fresh every day. Add three kinds of fries and shakes and that is the whole card. A recent listing puts burgers between €9.65 and €14.75. Bunsen now has 11 restaurants: eight in Dublin, two in Belfast and one in Cork.

Bunsen Dublin at a glance

Bunsen is an Irish burger chain with a short, fixed menu, founded in Dublin in 2013 and grown to 11 restaurants on the island of Ireland.

Who is behind Bunsen? Tom Gleeson and the New York idea

Bunsen was founded in 2013 by cousins Tom and Finn Gleeson, who came back to Dublin from New York and could not find a burger at home that matched the ones they had left behind. The Irish News and food writer Lucinda O’Sullivan both tell it that way.

Some accounts credit Tom, the chef of the pair, as sole founder. I follow those two sources and name both cousins, with Tom in the kitchen.

What they brought home was the classic American burger joint: griddled beef, a soft bun, cheese or no cheese, fries and a shake. New York still has plenty of those, and our New York burger guide maps where the city does it well. For the longer story of the format, from German immigrants to the American lunch counter, read our history of the hamburger.

The Bunsen menu: why it is so short

The Bunsen menu fits on a card: hamburger or cheeseburger, single or double, three types of fries, shakes and soft drinks. The sources I checked mention no chicken, no veggie patty and no burger of the month (DublinTown, Hospitality Ireland).

I think that restraint is Bunsen’s smartest decision. A kitchen that cooks the same four burgers every service has nowhere to hide, and nothing to get distracted by. You choose size and cheese. That’s it.

Fries are where the variety is:

• Hand-cut fries, thick and cut on site.
• Shoestring fries, thin and crisp.
• Sweet potato fries.

What goes into a Bunsen burger: Black Aberdeen Angus and house buns

A Bunsen patty is Black Aberdeen Angus beef, ground fresh in-house every day. The Irish Times reported it in 2013 and the Irish News again in 2023, so the recipe has not moved in ten years.

The bun is Bunsen’s own as well. Reviewing the restaurant for the Irish Times in June 2013, Catherine Cleary wrote that it is baked to the house recipe with “flour, fresh yeast and some secret ingredients” (Irish Times).

Beef from one breed, ground the same day, on a bun made for it. Everything else on the menu plays a supporting role.

Bunsen burger menu prices

A burger at Bunsen Dublin costs between €9.65 for a single hamburger and €14.75 for a double cheeseburger, according to a recent DublinTown listing. The listing carries no date, and Bunsen publishes its menu only as images, so I could not match each price line by line. Check the board before you order.

Bunsen Dublin burger prices: €9.65 for a single hamburger and €14.75 for a double cheeseburger (undated DublinTown listing, checked 26 October 2026), against about €14 for a burger, fries and shake in 2013 (The Irish Times, 22 June 2013) (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, rendered with QuickChart; data: DublinTown and The Irish Times)

The 2013 lines are history: what a full meal cost when Wexford Street opened. By today’s figures, a single hamburger alone now costs about two-thirds of that 2013 meal. That is still fair for fresh-ground Angus in central Dublin, though Bunsen is no longer the cheap option. I found no verifiable price for the single cheeseburger, the double hamburger, the fries or the shakes.

Bunsen Wexford Street: the original restaurant

The original Bunsen is at 36 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, D02 PW56, and opened in 2013. The Irish Times reviewed it on 22 June that year, and Cheap Eats has reviewed it since.

Map of the original Bunsen burger restaurant at 36 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, opened in 2013, where Wexford Street meets Camden Street south of St Stephen’s Green (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)

Wexford Street runs into Camden Street, one of the busiest eating and drinking strips south of the Liffey. If you only visit one Bunsen, make it this one. Our guide to the best burgers in Dublin covers the neighbourhood and the rest of the city.

Camden Street, Dublin 2, by the Bleeding Horse pub on a June 2025 evening: this busy eating and drinking strip runs into Wexford Street, home of the original 2013 Bunsen (illustrative photo, not taken at Bunsen) (Photo: 瑞麗江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden\_Street,\_Dublin\_-\_2025-06-01.jpg)

Bunsen locations in Dublin, Belfast and Cork

Bunsen lists 11 restaurants on its official site: eight in Dublin, two in Belfast and one in Cork (bunsen.ie, checked 26 October 2026).

Bunsen locations by city in October 2026: 8 in Dublin, 2 in Belfast and 1 in Cork, 11 restaurants in all (source: bunsen.ie, checked 26 October 2026) (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, rendered with QuickChart; data: bunsen.ie)

Only two full street addresses could be verified: 36 Wexford Street in Dublin and 78-80 Botanic Avenue in Belfast. For the others, and for opening hours, use the store pages on bunsen.ie.

From one restaurant to eleven: the Bunsen timeline

Bunsen grew from one Dublin restaurant in 2013 to 11 by the end of October 2023, with Belfast as its first move outside the Republic.

• 2013: Tom and Finn Gleeson open the first Bunsen at 36 Wexford Street, Dublin 2. The Irish Times reviews it on 22 June.
• 2017: Bunsen opens on Hill Street, Belfast, its first restaurant in Northern Ireland (Irish News).
• 20 October 2023: A second Belfast branch opens at 78-80 Botanic Avenue, bringing Bunsen to 11 restaurants on the island.
• October 2026: The official site lists 11 locations: eight in Dublin, two in Belfast, one in Cork.

Belfast is the one Bunsen city where you pay in sterling, not euros. Our Belfast burger guide covers what else the city has.

Is Bunsen the best burger in Dublin?

Bunsen is Dublin’s benchmark for a classic American-style cheeseburger, but whether it is the best depends on what you came for.

If you want a straight beef burger, cooked the same way every time, with proper fries, I would send you to Bunsen first. If you want chicken, a veggie patty or a stack of creative toppings, don’t bother: none of that is on the menu, and that is deliberate.

There is no star rating here. Burger Breton rates only restaurants we have reviewed on a scored visit under our own method, and this profile is built from the sources cited in each section.

A cheaper Dublin burger: the spice burger

The cheapest Dublin burger is not at Bunsen at all. It is the spice burger, sold by chippers across Ireland.

Forget griddled Angus. A spice burger is a crumbed, deep-fried patty of beef, onion, cereal and spices, served with chips. Eat one, then a Bunsen double, and you have Dublin’s old burger and its new one in an afternoon. Our Dublin burger guide has more on it.

Bunsen Dublin FAQ

Who owns Bunsen in Dublin? Bunsen was founded in 2013 by cousins Tom and Finn Gleeson, according to the Irish News and Lucinda O’Sullivan. Some accounts name Tom Gleeson, the chef, as sole founder.

What is on the Bunsen menu, and has it changed since 2013? Hamburgers and cheeseburgers, single or double, three types of fries (hand-cut, shoestring, sweet potato), shakes and soft drinks. The 2013 Irish Times review and recent listings describe the same burger, fries and shake format.

How much does a burger cost at Bunsen Dublin? A recent, undated DublinTown listing gives €9.65 for a hamburger and €14.75 for a double cheeseburger (checked 26 October 2026). In 2013, a burger, fries and a shake cost about €14.

Where is the original Bunsen, and how many locations are there? The original Bunsen is at 36 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, D02 PW56. There are 11 locations: eight in Dublin, two in Belfast and one in Cork.

What beef does Bunsen use? Black Aberdeen Angus, ground fresh in-house every day.

Does Bunsen take bookings or offer delivery? I could not verify Bunsen’s current booking and delivery terms. Check bunsen.ie or your branch before you go.

Is Bunsen linked to Boojum or to chef Richie Wilson? No. Boojum is a Mexican burrito chain founded in Belfast in 2007 by John and Karen Blisard (Wikipedia, Fora), and its menu lists no burgers. Richie Wilson is head chef of FIRE Steakhouse & Bar at the Mansion House on Dawson Street, also described as executive chef of FIRE and SOLE Seafood & Grill (Image.ie). No source I checked ties him to Boojum or to a burger restaurant.

Sources and method

Every fact in this profile comes from the sources linked in the text, all checked on 26 October 2026: the official bunsen.ie site, the Irish Times (2013), the Irish News (2023), Hospitality Ireland, DublinTown, Cheap Eats and Lucinda O’Sullivan. This piece began as a commission on Richie Wilson and Boojum. When none of the sources supported that pairing, I wrote about the burger restaurant that fit the question instead. I left out claims I found in only one low-authority source or could not confirm: details of Tom Gleeson’s training, a named beef supplier and a European burger ranking. For more cities, browse our burger restaurant guides.