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.

The Kings Arms (Cardington)

Front garden Kings Arms

If any of you don't know Cardington it is a beautiful little village nestled just outside Bedford in the shadow of the magnificent air ship hangers.

The Kings arms has had a mixed past. I remember it years ago when it was inevitably run by some awful chain pumping out microwaved cardboard-esque gruel.

However, more recently under new ownership and after a long overdue make over the gastro pub has really come in to its own.

It’s less a pub and more of a restaurant (still a chain) now and is beautifully decorated inside and out. I have spent countless Sunday afternoons sitting out in the garden with a cool drink and warm wholesome, freshly produced meal. The menu has a home cooked feel about it. However, it is a far cry from anything the average cook could rustle up in their kitchen. The food is more often than not brilliant. I think I would say they do simple food really well. Things like their fish and chips and Sunday roasts are always very good. That is of course when they have the ingredients! As last Sunday I went at about 4.00pm and there was only one out of the four roast dinner options to choose from. It was beef, not my first, second or third choice but I have to say it was cooked to perfection being tender and full of flavour. The vegetables and potatoes were also seasoned well and very moreish.

The restaurants does all kinds of courses (which I must say I wasn't aware of until I looked at their website) like two for £10 and three to £13 on certain days of the week; full details of which are available on their website.

www.thekingsarmscardington.co.uk

Blue ginger

Blue Ginger facade can be lost in its surroundings

Blue ginger is a popular little Indian restaurant on Bedford Road, Kempston. It is easy to drive past without giving it a second look especially now with the addition of The Elephant; the Chinese and Thai restaurant that is situated practically on top of the understated Indian.

The restaurant is rather small inside and on a busy Friday or Saturday night it feels as though you are eating from the table of your neighbour. However, I feel this adds to the charm of the place. It has always had a really nice atmosphere whenever I have been there. Indeed a lot of customers that come to pick up their take-away order come early to have a drink and a chat at the bar. The staff are friendly and indeed the owner / manager likes to come to the tables of his guests and engage in conversation, which is a bit more than the usual, “Is everything alright with your meal?” You can sit and relax without having courses thrust under your nose as soon as you have finished the starter, which is very welcomed especially when considering how busy the place gets.

The takeaway menu is also very good and is quite often found at the top of the pile in my house. Their menu can be found on their quite comprehensive website http://bluegingerbedford.co.uk/default.asp

The one thing I really like about this restaurant is the quality of the food. You can have a really nice, large meal and still feel as though you are eating healthily. The menu isn’t as lengthy as other Indian restaurants but all this means is that the chef can concentrate on the quality of the dishes they do provide.

The restaurant is great for meals with friends, partners or family and I have been with all and had a good experience each time.

There are so many Indian restaurants to choose from in Bedford and its surrounding area and I being a great lover of Indian cuisine have never really dined in one that I have truly disliked. I think it’s fair to say that the level of Indian cuisine in Bedford is generally quite good. Let me know if you think otherwise.

Blue Ginger really carves out its niche in the market by being a small, friendly, wholesome restaurant that achieves success through customer loyalty. I believe that if you visit there once, you will more than likely go again.

Quality 9
Service 9
Price 8
#Wicbha? Yes

The failings of chains

With our economy on the brink of another recession, we will inevitably see more and more local businesses and services folding. However, what I have noticed is that people are still going out to eat and socialise over food and drink and where chains tend to withstand difficulties, independent restaurants always have to up their game to survive. The service has to be top notch and the food has to be above average. And it shows. However, are the chains over-confident and taking their customers for granted? Perhaps.

In the last week I have been able to experience three big chain restaurants and to say I was disappointed is an understatement. Last night, with a pizza craving, we headed to Pizza Hut on the Aspects Leisure Park. Just driving past we could see it was busy- it is school holidays, but that didn’t worry us. However, walking in we were firstly unable to even get inside owing to the pile up of people in the tiny waiting/ take away area who were waiting for orders or to be seated. We stood at the front desk where you wait to be seated and we were not acknowledged for over 5 minutes even though we saw three members of staff standing around chatting for a couple of minutes. It was also awful to see they had a table of 2 literally in the doorway although at the back of the restaurant there were many empty tables. We noticed the floor was covered in pizza, napkins and cutlery and the salad bar looked as though a bomb had hit it. When we were eventually seen to, we were told it was a twenty minute wait and so we left as we had already gone off the idea. It’s a shame that in this day and age, huge businesses such as the Whitbread Group who are lucky enough to be able to withstand these worrying times and have such a large market captured, are unable to meet basic customer service standards.
Sticking to the chains, we headed to Frankie and Bennies. We were served as soon as we got in, although by the door where the front door is always open and so there is a draft, but the staff were very friendly and polite. We were served quickly and ordered chicken wings to share to start, a New Yorker burger each and then pancakes to share for dessert. Unfortunately, in true chain- standard the wings were quite fatty and burnt and the burgers were dripping in fat and grease. Maybe we were expecting too much?
However, with these big eatery companies and names, is good food too much to ask? The dessert was nice but we were left waiting for it and the bill for nearly 20 minutes. The polite female member of staff explained they were very short staffed and apologised for the wait- a shame as we saw three sets of people walk in, fail to be acknowledged or seated and instead left to go elsewhere.

Lastly, the worst experience was last week. I went to Pizza Express with a friend and we went earlier at half past 6. Again, we realised it was school holidays and so there were many kids with parents. However, once again we were sat in a rather awful place- a table for two right by the cutlery and so you are constantly battling over the sound of the knives and forks to be heard. Literally as soon as we were sat down and given the menus, a female member of staff (who we found out to be new) asked us what we wanted. We kindly explained that it might be nice to have a few minutes to have a look at the menu and so she stood two steps away and waited for us, whilst watching. In a bid to end the awkward moment, we quickly chose olives and dough balls to start and a pizza each. For 20 minutes we chatted and then we realised we had not had our starters- we understand it was busy but the problem was we could see them sitting on the side along with 4-5 pizzas with no-one taking them out. However, the new member of staff was standing around doing nothing and another came and stopped to talk to her. We had to ask for them to bring them over.

Whilst eating them we were constantly faced with children running passed our table- not the restaurants fault but annoying at the same time as the gap between us and he table next to us was around 1 foot and so the table was nudged every time. We also noticed a back member of staff continually take a full dirty rubbish bin from the back through the restaurant to the outside bins- which smelt and was quite unhygienic.

By the time we got our pizzas, nearly an hour had gone and mine was dry with the cheese hard where it had been sat out. I didn’t want to wait another half an hour and so I notified the waitress and said it might be worth keeping an eye on others. I then heard her tell a manager who said ‘if she doesn’t want another one that’s good and we don’t have to give anything away free.’

In the meantime, the new member of staff attempted to carry a tray with 4-5 bottles on it which then were dropped and glass was shattered all over the floor and by our feet- this then took around 20 minutes for them to clear up.

I was quite keen on leaving by the end- luckily we had vouchers (which Pizza Express is very good at) and so we didn’t spend much.

I look forward to visiting more independent restaurants now- I’m quite happy to give the chains a rest.