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[title]Homeburg, the short-lived burger shop that was in On Nut, was one of those restaurants that proved money can’t buy everything. Steered by owner/cook Taiki Rattanapong Tsubota, the shop took in an extremely limited set of customers, cooking and serving only four so-called “crafted burgers” per day, each of which took around 20 minutes to prepare and cost the price a customer was willing to pay. Homeburg became an overnight sensation soon as it opened, and inspired a months-long waiting list. But to everyone’s surprise, the owner of this rather inaccessible burger joint decided to close shop, only to join the mainstream fray at popular Thonglor complex 72 Courtyard with Bun, Meat & Cheese, a pop-up version of Homeburg that’s now serving 100 burgers a day.
Time Out meets with the burger purveyor to find out what triggered his decision and what we can expect from the expansion.
What motivated you to open a pop-up at 72 Courtyard?
72 Courtyard asked me in December last year, right when the leasing contract of the [Homeburg] kitchen was about to expire. Before that, actually, no one in Thailand had approached me before. I am not quite sure if I can really make the switch from making just four burgers a day to a hundred. So Bun Meat & Cheese, which is running for six-month duration,is to see whether I can do it. Homeburg was like a lab where I experimented with my burgers. I don’t want to make the same kind of burgers forever. I have been trying new things for my creations to progress.
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
So how are you coping with the the drastic change of previously serving just four burgers a day to now selling a hundred?
Consistency is the key. We give priority to precision in each and every step of the burgermaking process, be it measuring the right amount of ingredients and the right temperature, or using a timer to control the cooking process. The main issue here is the amount of the burgers we have to make and the very limited time we have [so customers aren’t waiting too long]. We are trying to reduce the time to make each burger, from 20 down to 15 minutes. Actually, what that takes the most time is the bread—it must be toasted on a low heat for a long time for it to have the right amount of crispiness, and that’s the process we cannot compromise. To solve the problem, we’ve doubled up on kitchen appliances so we can end up with more burgers in the same amount of time.
"I am just doing what I love but I won’t stop developing what I’m doing."
What can we expect from Bun, Meat & Cheese?
We still take precision and consistency very seriously as at Homeburg. The difference, however, is the bun. Sadly, the Japanese baker I used to buy my bread from has now closed his shop, so we are now using buns from the French baker at Amatissimo. It has an incredibly soft texture, which is highly crucial to our burgers. Most Thai people don’t like it when the bun is too heavy, and they tend to take the bun away when eating their burgers.
What was the inspiration behind the Homeburg burger?
The inspiration of my burger comes from those served at Brindle Room in New York City. Actually, I came across this shop after I started Homeburg. When I went there, I realized we shared many things in common on when it came to making burgers. For example, we both use a cast-iron skillet and use dry-aged beef to make patties.
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
How did you learn to make burgers?
I studied it on my own. I used to hate mathematics and science, but I ended up finding those sciences intriguing once they were related to food. On YouTube, for example, there are online lectures provided by MIT on the science behind cooking, like scientific approaches to searing and roasting. I also enjoy reading books like Food Lab [by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] and Modernist Cuisine [by Maxime Bilet and Nathan Myhrvold ].
So science must play a major role in your cooking.
Yes. Science is important because I use it to control consistency. For example, we use infrared [technology] to measure the temperature of the patties and the skillet.
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
What is your plan after the six-month pop-up?
I must admit that I am not fully confident about opening at 72 Courtyard. The early popularity may only be a hype—people could be like “Oh, let’s try to eat at this place that used to be impossible to book!” So opening for only six months is a safe plan for us. If it works out, it could become a permanent location. I am just doing what I love but I won’t stop developing what I’m doing. It’s funny that I used to be so confident about how I made burgers during the first months of Homeburg. I taped what I was doing, then re-watched what I did, and I realized that some of the things I did were really silly.
What do customers need to keep in mind before joining the queue?
Don’t choose too much toppings. And we make burgers very slowly, so sorry in advance!
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok