BBQ38 came about because Chef “Yok” opened the restaurant in order to serve the kind of food he would like to give his friends. Flagship menu items are ribs and cold-cuts. The inspiration came from a period of study overseas in Perth, Western Australia. Chef “Yok” studied commercial cookery and did an internship in fine dining restaurant “Friends Restaurant”. Yok likes to experiment with food and developed a relationship with ribs in his smoke and grill period.
At BBQ38 all pork ribs are chosen by the owner from the morning fresh market for a perfect size and cut. Only the correct cuts are best to be grilled and smoked. They use the ribs with thick meat to maintain the moisture and natural fat and flavour. The ribs are marinaded overnight and are then grilled with charcoal and smoked with Longan wood logs from Lumpoon. This process takes around 5-6 hours until the ribs are super tender and juicy, which you can tell when they almost fall apart when you lift them up.
We are starting off with a BBQ38 cold cut platter, full of delectable cold cuts and cheese! The selection of cheeses include french Brie, Belgium Cheddar, Parmignano Regginao, Gargonzola. There are 3 kinds of Premium Italian Coldcuts.
- Prosciutto San Danielle (Age 18 Months)
- Coppa Stagionata (Age 6 Months)
- Salame Milano (Age 3 Months)
There was also another platter I unwrapped, full of nuts (Raisin, Apricot, pineapple, papaya), dried fruits (Cashew, Sunflower seed, Pecan), a Homemade Honey Figs Jam, some anti-pesto and Baguette &Butter. This was quite pleasant and definitely served as a warmup to the main event.
Braised Chicken red wine sauce
The dish is kindly served with bread, perfect for cleaning up the dish! This is a nicely done braised red wine chicken using Chicken Thigh and Leg. The chicken is tender and with taste, there is nothing plain about it. That taste is mostly helped by the marinade in Middle-East style spices which is then pan grilled the skin is a nice golden brown. The seasonal veggies accompany well, with the red wine sauce helping to create an overall complex taste profile. The accompaniments include grilled vegetables, mashed potato, homemade yellow Sriracha sauce and spring onion pesto sauce.
Pesto with spicy Chirozo
Next is Al dente Spaghettini with fresh aroma of basil and richness of Parmigiano cheese top with confit sun-dried tomato and slices of spicy Chorizo. I can get behind any dish that has sun dried tomatoes! I honestly do not see enough of this ingredient used in Thailand, I personally think its sensational. It’s a charming pesto dish with a good layering of pesto, some spicy chino with it just beautiful. Of course a little bit of oil to seep it soft and for taste.
Fettucinne Truffle cream sauce with Parma ham.
Staying on the pasta theme we have the Fettucinne pasta in rich and creamy Mushroom and Cheddar cheese truffle cream sauce. Top with slices of premium grade Prosciutto and ground roasted Pistachio nut. At first you but of course perceive the presence of the truffle, it’s been mixed in well and hence permeates the whole dish. There is sufficient cream to satisfy me, I really am not a fan of dry pastas with not enough sauce, so this one comes off smooth and rich. Also there is a parma ham, which adds a lovely balance to the overall palette of the dish.
The ribs
So now for BBQ38 main deal. The ribs come with a few accompaniments, so let’s start there. The mash is creamy and has a distinct taste, perhaps different to a mash you have had before, there are indeed a global array of ideas when it comes to mash potato. According to the Chef they mix with cream, butter and milk and then infused with thyme & garlic and diced potato. Then we have the sauerkraut, pretty straight forward. Shredded Red cabbage cooked and fermented with apple, white wine vinegar and variety of spices.
Again according to the chef all the vegetables are grilled slowly over the bbq barrel to extract the natural sweetness and spiced things up with smoky flavour
Like all good ribs, it falls gently of the bone, gliding ever so softly to your open nd waiting mouth. What is different here is these ribs are supper well marinated, but not to be confused with excessively sauced. There is a deep taste that speaks of a well made rub with a few tastes going on. Really, you don’t need sauces at all with this, there is a more then adequate taste going on.
However saying that, BBQ38 provided with a bevy of great sauces, all which come from Grandma’s recipes. A lovely yellow Chilli Sriracha sauce. A really nice BBQ sauce, with a touch of soft sweetness and balance of acid from tomato sauce and mustard with flavour of onion and Paprika hat was a perfect compliment to the ribs. Gotta say, the potato mash was handy to clean this all up and the sauerkraut really makes for a useful palate cleanser in between.
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