That's the closest I ever got to Bodean's...until tonight.
In 2002 Andre Blais brought the Kansas City style BBQ to London, in the form of Bodean's BBQ Smokehouse. His family owned business has won a load of awards basically saying how insane the food is and rightly so.
Seeing as I was crutching it up there with my dodgy post-surgery knee, we rang ahead to book a table which is pretty much unheard of (unless there's 8+) they were extremely accommodating and after waiting a short while on the ground level, known as the deli, we were seated below deck in tiny restaurant. The tables were just far enough apart for rib-ripping elbow room. The tables adorned with the essentials; kitchen roll on a holder, steak knives, wet wipes, tooth picks & sauces galore. I rearranged (copied the guy next to me by placing it all in the space between us) to make room for my Passionate Cosmo Cocktail. Priorities, right?!
As I was contemplating my top 3choices from the menu (I always have to do a short list and then revue the options before I rush into any kind of mad decisions), I realised I hadn't even looked around. There was a lot of dark green for the seating and a mid brown varnish on all the wood. Giant beer tops along the upper walls and a tv to my left showing the world's most boring sport after cricket, baseball.
Look, if you can wear bling and chew gum so casually it's not a proper sport.
Our super lovely waitress Lisa arrives to take our order. I was contemplating the Boss Hog Dog, Pulled Pork Meal or a Burnt Ends & Pulled Pork combo. On an old menu was a sausage platter with sauerkraut slaw which was a definite contender!
However the Captain informed me there most certainly will be pulled pork & burnt ends on the table so order anything.
I went for the former.
Aaand we got some burnt ends & spare ribs to share. 
Our food came shortly after, I remembered everything Triple D and Man v. Food had taught me so I went to town on the protein.
I picked at the perfectly crispy and fully loaded with flavour bacon bites on the top of my hot dog, dug in to the mound for some pulled pork and then reached over to the burnt ends. Oh my gosh. Burnt Ends. I've been on this earth for 21 years, I've watched a solid 3years worth of american food programmes in which every presenter drools over the hours-smoked cow breast and I had finally experienced this tantilising, melt-in-the-mouth piece of Southern cooking's history. It was and is so worth waiting for.
Ours came 'wet', already coated in a sauce that reminded me quite a lot of lamb/goat curries from the West Indies. The difference was the slight sweetness and tang you traditionally get in BBQing.
The ribs were also fantastic! I'm not a huge fan of meat on the bone but there was so much flavour and perfectly cooked meat that I soon cleaned them up too.
In between ribs and ends I had started to devour the best tasting hot dog I've ever known. It was slightly charred on the outside, the casing wasn't any kind of rubbery and the inside was so juicy and flavoursome!
A yellow sauce had started to dry on it, which I had presumed mustard but tasted a tad cheesey. I'm guessing that would be the 'Chilli Con Queso', something that tasted amazing but I didnt pay enough attention to. The pulled pork in the middle was delicious and soft but not in the crap way that most English places do it, in the way that feels authentically smooth on the tongue. Due to the feast my eyes were experiencing, my food had cooled substantially by the time I was nearing the end and I think, had the pork been 'wet' it would have survived the queue into my pie hole. (It made the cut regardless, but it was no longer at its full potential, I'm afraid to say 😩)
When the meal was set down in front of me, I made a conscious decision not to fill up on carbs and it's a good job the hot dog bun wasn't as spectacular as the rest of the meal otherwise I would have struggled. Setting that and my rib bones aside, I popped in a few of the flawless chips that come with most meals. They didnt portray anything special however it must have been the cosy, low lighting that meant I had to take a second look after trying, because there was a delicious spice coating on some of them. Kinda like in Nandos when you ask for peri peri salt, except better. Much better.
The sauce pictured was a chipotle mayo and the sauce woodshop type holdal on the seat next to me had hickory smoked BBQ and spicy chipotle sauce which was amaaazingggg. As was the refreshing and balanced slaw.
The Captain cleared his plate and shared some of the burnt ends with me but mainly let me run riot across our mini banquet.
I had at some point ordered another cocktail in which I wasn't even sure of the ingredients but apparently there was some spirit choice to go in it and I chose gin. Clever girl. I'm new to gin so that's a whole nother story..
That was also delicious, as was my first aromatic cocktail 👌
Bevved and BBQed Lisa asked if we wanted the dessert menu (what a joker...always!) and informed me the special was cookie dough cheesecake.
I like to think she was entertained by my reactions to everything and could most certainly tell I was a Bodean's Virgin.
Needless to say I ordered the Cookie dough cheesecake...to go and that went in a bag full of goodies for the Captain's family (creamed corn, more cheesecake and some deli bits).
I hobbled to the restroom where the lovely Latvian waitress who had helped me down the stairs started chatting to me again. She was calling me by the Captain's first name (the name we booked under) like we were good friends and so I just went with it. It proved how attentive and friendly the staff were and as she helped me back up the one flight of stairs we managed to discuss my injury, her masters, her interviewer and the fact it was her last month there which did disappoint me. Rel, housemate of BabyHitler and Pizza Hut waitress often tells me off for my 'high standards and low tipping' (paraphrasing politely) of wait staff when we go to dinner. I am also in the service and hospitality industry, I wait on a wide variety of customers and so have ideas about what I think is actually good, proper & appropriate service...and Bodean's is it.
Just perfect.
