Good but not great...yet.
I was extremely excited to try the newest to London’s gang of American/BBQ style joints.
On arrival you are assaulted by the bright and flashy décor, the audible rock music, the random collection of images on the walls and the very long bar. Having never visited I had to ask where to order and with no visible menu on the wall I was given a printed menu listing their various options.
Being a BBQ enthusiast I was keen to learn about how they handle and prepare their slow meats. I asked whether the pork was BBQ, smoked or braised and after a bit of thought was told that it was in fact braised. Apparently they braise the meat low and slow with a concoction of ale and herbs including (from what I can remember) thyme and fennel seeds, as well as a few other things that I don’t remember but nothing that stood out as unusual for such purposes.
I ordered the pulled pork and slaw sandwich with a side of fries and my bill came to £10.90.
I found a seat and began to take in my surroundings. The tables are adequately spaced out and didn’t make you feel like you were on top of anyone. There were several areas with couches (and a coffee table) for a more social type experience that looked quite comfortable. While waiting for my food (maybe 10mins in total, so not too long) I noticed that everyone who was eating there seemed to be 30 something or less and on reflection that made sense as the decorations were very much geared toward the tragically hip.
When my food arrived the first thing that struck me was that the fries looked slightly undercooked and that they appeared to be from frozen. The sandwich looked appetising with its pretty brioche bun which had been graciously put on the grill for a few seconds to leave light grill marks on the top. Examining the sandwich closer (ie removing the bun) I noticed there was not much in the way of slaw on my pork. First I sampled the pork alone to gauge the flavour and was met with a very savoury and herby flavour which was curious and quite nice. The fries were as expected, undercooked and from frozen so they were certainly not the star of the show. After a proper bite I deemed the sandwich nice and continued eating. The pork proved to be very tender indeed and the long braise certainly did the trick. Nearing the end of my sandwich a few things became clear to me:
1. Although the pork was juicy and tender the flavour did not deliver on its own and needed a bit of help. This came in the form of the sriracha sauce on the table which wound up becoming the dominate flavour of the sandwich.
2. Due to cooking technique the pork retained quite a bit of the braising liquor and eventually soaked into the bun leaving the last 1/3 of my sandwich more of a fork mission than one achievable with my hands.
3. The fries are rubbish. They were massively overpriced at £2.95 for a “regular” size portion of from-frozen and undercooked fries.
I welcome Lazy Bones to the London BBQ scene that has experienced a massive boom as of late, however I do see room for a fair amount of improvement before they can join the big boys of BBQ. Firstly, ditch your overpriced and undercooked from-frozen fries. Potatoes are a national treasure in the UK, surely you should be able to source some local spuds (and feel free to brag about it) and produce fries of a much higher quality with minimal effort. Next you need to address the flavour situation of your pork. While your braising liquor is tasty and does produce a nice tender final product, it does not have enough to carry the sandwich. Why not give some sauce options such as sweet/tangy/spicy which could easily be produced in house and lift that sandwich to epic status. Doing this would add a whole other dimension to your food and would, in my opinion give you greater opportunity for repeat business; especially with such a small menu. Finally, for the love of Pete, if you are offering a Pork and Slaw sandwich, make sure there is enough slaw on there (read: enough to taste) as mine definitely did not have anywhere near enough.