Barbecue is the new cronut. And it’s not your average kettle-barbecue-in-the-backyard-with-men-standing-around-it either. This wave of smoked meats has recently swept from America’s deep south all the way to Sydney, and it looks like it’s here to stay. Looks like that shrimp on the barbie is getting some company.
Parson’s Bar and Kitchen is the latest to offer up smokey meaty goodness with Smoke Week: plating up brisket, ribs, wings and sausage in a restaurant that they’ve built themselves.
Owners Joe, Nick and Byron spent years working in the grueling hospitality industry, before deciding that they wanted to build something to call their own. Literally, build it. Located in a vintage house in Potts Point, they’ve installed a bar, a fantastic brick wall, a lovely deck with outdoor seating…all with their own two hands.
Pork Crackling with Bacon Salt
The newest addition to the family is a stove top smoker, which impressively churns out brisket, bacon, ribs and an amazing twice smoked (!) chorizo, where the meat gets smoked, then minced and put into sausage casings, cured, then smoked again.
Bacon, as if it wasnt glorious enough on its own, is also fried, dehydrated and ground into a bacon salt, which is used TO SEASON CRACKLING. As you do. Needless to say, this simple cup of crispy salty bacony goodness caused me to turn into that emoji with hearts for eyes. Because that’s how you fall in love, my friends.
Smoked Brisket Sliders
Plum Glazed Beef Short Ribs
There was also some pretty amazing pork and beef ribs, but, as with most other cases for me, the beef ribs with its sticky sweet glaze came out on top. Tender but with just the right amount of pull, these ribs had me licking my fingers the way the good colonel intended.
Smokey Southern Fried Chicken
Speaking of the colonel, the team at Parson’s have decided to forgo the plain smoked chicken, and tszuj it up a bit by also frying it. Because everyday can be #fryday too. Served with a ranch sauce, these were crazy juicy, and had just the right amount of salty crispy goodness that it nearly had me reaching for a beer.
And I don’t drink.
Potato Salad and Slaw
And to help you along with your five-a-day, a lemon juice-based potato salad, and slaw to cut through the richness. Which, impressively, was a line finely toed by the guys at Parson’s. The trap with a smoker is that sometimes it can be “more is more”, and the resulting meat becomes just a conduit for smoke, but with this order, they have hit the meat with just the right amount of smoke to enhance the other flavours. If you can get a hold of them, the Southern Fried Chicken, Twice Smoked Chorizo and Plum Glazed Beef Ribs were absolute standouts to me.
I can’t wait to see what else they are going to come up with that smoker!
Insatiable Munchies dined as guests of Parson’s Bar and Kitchen.
Parsons
3 Kellett St
Potts Point, NSW 2011
Phone: 02 8540 6320
Website: http://www.parsonsbar.com.au/
Opening Hours: Tues-Sat, 5pm-12mn, Sun-Mon, Closed
