Turns out there is BBQ in London

Took a bit of walking, but look what we found.

Don’t skip the Indian-Pakistani-Lebanese food to go to restaurants in London displaying this sign. In fact, don”t pass up the pub grub or even sushi to go there. “There” is a place called Bodean’s, a chain of “American BBQ” restaurants in and around London. “Smoke it slow, cook it low” is their byline, and they claim it is all smoked meat and done in accordance with British Health Department guidelines.

The inside of the restaurant was more than a bit disappointing, especially after looking at their web site pictures. The walls were drab, empty of pictures, and badly in need of a fresh coat of paint. Or maybe some soap and water. It was dinner time, but the place was pretty empty, possibly a result of the open sign being turned around the wrong way. Undeterred by all this (and having walked two miles to get there), we sat down and placed our order. I decided to have a combo plate with 1/4 chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, and pulled pork. It was served with a side of chips (fries) and cole slaw.

What I got was big plate, small meat servings, and a boatload of fries. As they say in the westerns, “all hat and no cattle”. Or pork and chicken, in this case. If you look carefully you can see the three bites of cole slaw at about one o’clock in the picture. For those of you that grew up in the digital age, sorry about that reference. Go ask your grandparents where one o’clock is in the picture.

In short, the pulled pork was fairly tasteless and required sauce from the table. The sauce choices were Bodean’s house brand, and weren’t bad in spite of being rather on the thin side and not tasting all that different (one was hickory, the other chipotle). The ribs were tiny, but surprisingly good and properly cooked. The meat came away clean from the bone yet left a proper bite mark. About the only complaint I had with them is that like the rest of the meal they were lukewarm and not hot. The chicken was disappointing; no real smoke flavor, small pieces, and rubbery skin.

My wife, brave soul that she is (after all, she did marry me and is still around after 15 years) ordered their “famous” burnt ends.

I will be charitable here and give them the benefit of doubt that these were actually smoked, and not cooked from scratch in a crock pot. We assumed they were cooked much earlier then left in a crock pot or warming tray all day with lots of liquid. My wife took one bite and said they tasted like crock pot meat; I took a bite and had to agree with her. The sauce flavor wasn’t bad, but the meat clearly had that boiled taste to it.

We also had a side of BBQ beans. Seemed like the thing to do…

Not much to look at, but other than an overly tomato flavor the beans were pretty good. So if you find yourself in one of these restaurants and having to order, have the ribs and get a side of beans. Better yet, walk a little further down the street and have some Indian food.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tagged as: bbqblog, review, travel