Review: BBQ Shack at World’s End pub, Brighton

Review: BBQ Shack at World’s End pub, Brighton

This was another pub on my hit list to visit owing to a lot of buzz about it on social media. A friend of mine visited the week before and when I asked how it was he just showed me a photo and said “man, my eyes were bigger than my belly.”  Challenge accepted!!

When we arrived at around 2pm the pub was fairly quiet. It’s very spacious and the clientele was very mixed – young, old, families, couples and it had a very friendly vibe.

The barman was equally friendly and evidently very proud of their American fayre menu.  As if we needed to be taken through the “concept”, he asked if we had been before and how they make everything from scratch, do their own meat smoking and only serve homemade bbq sauce as a condiment - mayo and ketchup are sacrilegious apparently.  We said we were here for the famous burgers to which he recommended the Memphis burger and warned us it was big! No problem J.

My monster-sized burger arrived after a little while (all cooked to order) and came piled high with the most tender, succulent pulled pork piled on top. I ate that mostly separately, drizzled in the bbq sauce so I could savour the flavour. The meaty burger was wide but not too thick and they cooked them all the way through which I believe might be an EU law. It had a nice smoky char flavour and packed with umami savouriness. It wasn’t all that juicy because it was on the thin side, but it gave a nice chewy texture, complemented by the coleslaw underneath.

Pickles and tomato were placed on the side – this is something I am starting to realise is done by restaurants as they are the extras that divide people when it comes to burgers. Plus a hefty helping of French fries. Think they were packet ones, but who care – all chips are lovely!

The only small criticism is the bun. It was just a bit ordinary compared to the effort they had gone to with their meat and bbq sauce etc. Just a basic supermarket white burger bap – and this was where the challenge defeated me. I left about a quarter of bun. That’s all though (and surely you can forgive me for leaving a measly bit of bread?)…  everything else was demolished with greedy gusto… and followed by a long nap at home!