When you arrive at a brand new restaurant and walk down a red carpet to be greeted by the wrinkled brow of Gordon Ramsay, your tastebuds prepare themselves for a special culinary experience. Ramsay turned out to be a lookalike (there was also a Mr T, both of them from ‘The Chippendoubles’ of Britain’s Got Talent fame) but the food at Smoke Shack, which aims to combine the best of British and American smoke houses, has a real authenticity.
Crucially for a BBQ restaurant, the quality of the produce on offer is clearly very good and it was mostly well-prepared. The smoked ham hock terrine starter was delicious, livened-up by the fresh, zingy house-made piccalilli. The nachos were about what you would expect and would have been more interesting if they had come topped with the smoked chicken and black treacle bacon lardons we had ordered.
On to the mains, the Shack Attack burger was delicious. The high-quality beef had a deep, rounded flavour and, cooked slightly pink, was still wonderfully soft and juicy, nestled neatly inside a rich brioche bun. We also had the grand spare ribs. These are not the huge, meaty, fatty ribs that we have had elsewhere (we asked the waiter to assure us that they weren’t the baby backs) but the pork was tasty and very succulent, falling off the bone and melting in the mouth. They were, as you would expect, deeply smoky. But somewhere between the smoking process and the spice rub they had become very salty. For some people, we suspect, they would have been inedibly salty. The crispy fries were fine but they were brought to life by the wide variety of fantastic hot and smokey sauces on the table.
When it comes to dessert menus, some BBQ restaurants can really disappoint. Not so here. We were disappointed not to be able to have the peanut butter fondant because it sounds amazing, but the black forest eton mess was everything we wanted it to be-very dark chocolate sponge, very sweet meringue and very boozy kirsch laced cherries. The special cheesecake was similar: super sweet, not very subtle but perfect if that’s what you are looking for in a dessert. We also have to mention how pleased we were that the restaurant offers the crisp, refreshing Curious Brew lager on tap.
There were, as you would expect, a few teething problems with service which we expect will be improved upon. In addition to the unavailability of the peanut butter fondant the kitchen ran out of chicken wings (our favourite!) and there were a few mistakes with our orders and a lack of knowledge about the menu among the waiting staff.
Our party was a little divided on the restaurant decor. One of us guiltily missed the gaudy Americana that adorned the walls of BBQ Bob’s, but the other admired the warm simplicity and the sense of space created by the giant mirror on the back wall. However, we were agreed on two things. First, that the effort that has gone into revamping the space in the short lead time since the restaurant’s announcement was impressive. Second, that we love the giant bear mural in the bar.
On what must have been a difficult opening night for the Smoke Shack team, we were left confident that with a few tweaks it will be one of Bedford’s top eateries. The menu has been designed deliberately so that diners will face a difficult choice in deciding what to order and the range of delicious-sounding burgers, dogs and grills on offer will certainly have us coming back for more in the next few weeks. We look forward to offering our updated impressions when we do.
