The place is big, modern, clean and impressively American. It certainly reminded me of my time in Memphis with the atmosphere being warm, friendly and full of cheer despite the blustery day outside. We were the first in through the door at a minute past 12 and shown to our booth before being shown the menu. The kids had the mac + cheese and hot dog respectively which were pretty good on first inspection.
I liked the macaroni and The Child managed to see most of it away. The portion sizes were impressive but I'm afraid the Hot dog was not up to muster. Exactly what you would expect a mechanically reclaimed meat tube in a classic* bun to taste like, but it was at least grilled and had decent char. Other than that, the kids loved the corn on the cob - an excellent addition in side dishes where most restaurants fail at providing even a half healthy supplement.
Mrs P went with the burger with added pulled pork:
An excellent stab even if I do say so. It may have been the happy tablets talking but given the absurd amount of burgers consumed over the last few weeks this one held up well, even if it wasn't quite to the Five Guys standard and the addition of the pulled pork brought it back into contention. The slaw was also tasty with Mrs P remarking that it certainly brought a crunchy third dimension to the tray. Not pictured here was the IMMENSE bowl of onion rings she ordered. I'm not sure I can quite describe the scale of the task that was placed in front of her but with crispy batter and a strong onion-y twang they provided a challenge that she dived into with enthusiasm but her plan, just like Captain Scott's foolhardy South Pole winter holiday, was attempted despite all signs to the contrary and as such she was ultimately doomed.
My brother and I had only one choice, everything. The #lovemeattenderplatter** contained in no particular order: pulled pork, beef brisket, pork short ribs, pork spare ribs, smoked sausage, buffalo wings, chips and onion rings***
The BBQ sauce was heavy on the tomato base that most of us in the UK seem to know as 'BBQ'. It would have been nice to see an attempt to educate the locals to the wider examples that BBQ cuisine includes, even if the main sellers are the expected sweet and smoky base. Clearly these guys are proud of their product and the sausage, ribs and brisket were all great. My bro loved the sausage and I have to say that it was a lovely addition you don't often see. A great, course but still densely packed sausage that has spent some time in the smoker to get that nice smoke ring on the inside, this should have been what's in those Hot Dogs. The pulled pork was a little dry for me but looking at the bark I can see how much effort they went to to get the authentic taste. To mis-quote Swiss Tony, a good pulled pork is very much like a beautiful woman, it's the magic balance of fat distribution that turns any evening into a moist revelation. However, the rub could have brought far more to the table, my overriding memory of pulled pork at the Memphis BBQ Championships was that burst of sweet, salty, smoky layering making the dish different to anything I had expected. This didn't hit those heights still, the bark was good and dense with a savoury punch.
The shake menu was amazing and had some unique flavours including bubble gum or marshmallow, we preferred the salty caramel which was enjoyed by the whole table. The marshmallow flavour not so much. The ribs were served wet and lovely, both the spare and the short versions were great, beautifully smoked with a bit of bounce these were one of the first items to go and were perfect for sharing out but again a more powerful rub wouldn't have gone amiss here. However, the brisket was likewise really good and we both enjoyed it, tender and full of beefy flavour.
The Smoke Stop should be applauded for trying to bring genuine American BBQ to almost-Wales. As such it almost succeeds but I don't hold that against it at all. There's too much pork for proper Texan style, no mustard sauce for Carolina style, not enough rub for Memphis style so is this Kansas style? It is certainly UK style and clearly it must cater to the local market but I hope it can also try to bring over a few of those other key flavours that I love, and I think others will also love about BBQ. At £70 for lunch for 3 adults and two kids, it's not a cheap option but you certainly won't walk away hungry.
Oh, and when I asked to see their smoker, they said they were too busy. Boo.
http://smokestopbbq.co.uk
* when I say 'classic' I don't mean it in a good way.
** the use of a hashtag on a menu item seemed a little odd at the time and doesn't get any better in repeat
*** In retrospect the choice of more onion rings, once we saw the portion provided to Mrs P, was clearly madness
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