Review: Burnout BBQ offers the UK’s Premiere Smokehouse Experience
If you go down to the City of Spires, you’d better believe your eyes. Set in the heart of Oxford’s Westgate, a feast of meat and fries. Welcome, to Burnout BBQ, the latest in a long-line of restaurants cottoning on to the ‘low & slow’ bandwagon, a phenomenon which has seen Deep South-style meats surge in popularity over recent years. So, with a stellar 4.5 average rating from a whopping 452 Google Reviews, just WHY is Burnout BBQ garnering SUCH a reputation amid the foodie industry, with various UK outlets – including long-time London pioneers, Bodean’s BBQ – side-eyeing an envious green glance at their Oxfordian cousins?
Founded in 2018 by two friends, Malcolm Moore and Thomas Trinder (alliteration enthusiasts, rejoice!), Burnout BBQ began from the depths of a converted 1952 Ford pick-up truck, morphed into a catering vehicle. The business soon started to skyrocket, on account of fresh American barbecue classics, served at festivals and events, with the establishment later branching out to a local Summertown venue, and now, a prime spot in the ‘Street Food’ section of the busiest shopping centre in the World’s capital of literature. But Burnout BBQ offers much more than a quick lunch for the thousands of tourists who frequent the historic City, which is more well known for its University and rowing team, than ‘Texan tapas’.
Showcasing the brand’s classic menu, which offers a range of small plates, smoked and pulled meats, and limited-edition offerings, CULTR hopped on down to the trending hotspot of brisket delight, with Burnout’s locally-sourced ingredients leaving a lasting imprint on our palate. Combining smokehouse flavours with street-food energy, the ‘BBQ Box’ and ‘Chicken Box’ Meals both offer remarkable value at just £15 for a smorgasbord of Burnout’s biggest-hits. Stacking the tray with a deep-dish serving of crispy spiced fries and creamy red coleslaw, the pièce de résistance arrived in the shape of juicy oak-smoked beef, melt-in-the-mouth with just enough char to remind you of the hours it spent in the smoker.
Laced on a bed of ice-cool pickles and chopped chillis – offering a crisp refreshment to the contrast of your dripping meat – the accompanying mountain of pork is tied together with a hickory BBQ sauce, sweet yet tangy in equal measure. Whilst the chicken, a rich combo of crispy buttermilk thigh and juicy, tender wings, is all backed up by an almost sensual sauce; Creamy with a spicy kick, this condiment is a hot, messy, mouthful. But don’t call it a comeback. Actually, DO. It’s literally called ‘Comeback Sauce’. And on the evidence of this, we’ll be coming back over and over again. A delicious BBQ symphony that builds to an irresistible crescendo, Burnout BBQ is so good, it flirts, teases, and leaves you wanting to pull your own pork. Oxford… Consider yourself well and truly smoked!
