Smoke Shack Bedford - Opening night impressions

Smoke Shack threw open its door to the grateful, meat hungry denizens of Bedford on Thursday 4th June. Their second venue following a highly successful and well-reviewed start in Stony Stratford, the sequel to Smoke Shack has taken on the site of the defunct BBQ Bob’s on Mill Street. We were invited to attend the launch night along with some lucky winners of a ‘golden ticket’ competition and our first impressions are that, expected teething problems aside, Bedford could soon have a top class BBQ joint on its hands.


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.

BBQ Bobs

Barbecue is big right now. If you are even the least bit foody you will have come across (and probably consumed) plenty of pulled pork this summer and American-style BBQ joints serving authentically prepared ribs, steaks and other hunks of meat have been doing great business in the capital. Bedford, too, with its glut of Indian and Italian offerings, is crying out for a restaurant like BBQ Bob’s on Mill Street and we would like to see it succeed for that reason alone. But having visited several times in the last few months, it’s disappointing to report that the food at Bob’s is a real mixed bag.

‘Authentic’ is the key word here and Bob’s menu really emphasises the fact that all of the meat on offer has been smoked in-house and cooked on the day that you’re going to eat it. When they run out of an item, it says, there will be no reaching into the deepest recesses of the freezer to pull out weeks old bits of chicken. The idea of this focus on freshness and careful preparation is spot on. So when the reality of the food presented doesn’t live up to it, it’s doubly disappointing.

Bob has constructed a pleasingly tight, focused menu but the dishes which should be show-stoppers at any barbecue joint were not good. When we visited with a large party recently, five of us chose the delicious-sounding slow-cooked brisket. It’s no exaggeration to say that it was almost inedible. Dry and tough with chewy fat, it was like they had warmed up and plated slices of some sub-Aldi budget supermarket’s packet beef. Unfortunately it appears this was not an isolated incident—we’ve heard similar complaints about the brisket since. Bob’s pulled pork is ok, with a sweet, smokey flavour, but presented as it is in an uninspiring roll without any of the moist, sticky BBQ sauce (or even mayonnaise) that you would expect, it’s just too dry. So are the ribs which, though they have good flavour, were a bit too chewy.

In short, if the food is being prepared as the menu promises, it just doesn’t always taste like it.

There are positives. The service we received was excellent. All five of our very disappointing briskets were comped, as was a burger that was offered as a replacement. The burger was delicious. Tasty beef steak served slightly pink, it was very succulent and melt-in-the-mouth. The chicken wings were excellent, smothered in a lovely, smokey sauce with the meat falling off the bone. The accompaniments are great, particularly the fries which are seasoned with a nice spice mix. There’s also a strong selection of cocktails and Bob’s home-brewed beer is a nice touch, even if it tastes a little tinny.


So while there are signs of promise, as true meat lovers who were very excited about BBQ Bob’s our overall judgement can’t be a positive one. Some of the dishes need to be tweaked and others completely reconsidered. We hope they are: Bedford’s carnivores deserve the best.