Don’t confuse the Bun Shop for some breakfast place that serves up goopy, frosted cinnamon pastries. Oh, no, these buns are internationale—Paraguayan empanadas, English pasties, Malaysian rotiboys and steamed buns from Vietnam. Add a few Cuban guava- and-cheese pastries and you’ve got a melting pot of street foods all under one roof.
The Bun Shop was started by a couple of restaurant neophytes— Minh Vo was a Ph.D. student in pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins and Andrew Bui worked for a design firm in New York—but both have traveled extensively. Their Mount Vernon space looks like something from the Gilded Age, with its vintage sign, gold-trimmed ceiling beams, comfy couches and distressed metal tables, handmade by the owners. Best of all, the buns run $2.50 to $3 each, which means you can sample just about everything on the menu for less than 20 bucks. 239 W. Read St., 410-989-2033 —J.S.
