Red Dog Saloon brings authentic American BBQ to Southampton

Southampton’s on the up with with the opening of the new Westquay building. It’s brought a whole host of culinary delights to try.

Red Dog Saloon, an authentic American BBQ smoke-house, is the latest family-run business to open its doors. I was kindly invited to the launch event to sample a wide range of their mouth-watering dishes.

BBQ is big in America. During my travels I spent time in California and Florida sampling some of their amazing smoked meats. It quickly became one of my favourite foods. I was thrilled when I heard one was in Southampton, let alone getting an invite to the opening event!

There was a real party atmosphere at the launch with a guest appearance from James Argent aka Arg from The Only Way is Essex, a live band, DJ and plenty of food and drink. Foxy from SAS Who Dares Wins was also in the crowd enjoying the evening. (I know, celeb-spotting on a week night – ‘ooo haven’t you done well’!)

The rowdy Junco Shakers, a rhythm and blues band or ‘skifflebilly swing’ as they prefer, helped to evoke a traditional American atmosphere with their toe tapping tunes. Check out a few seconds of the Junco Shakers sound here on my Instagram account.

Cocktails were flowing at the bar, a Gin-Ger Fizz, a Smoked Margarita Rock and Wild River Pacific Pale Ale were the picks of the day. The Fizz was refreshing and my favourite of the three on offer. The Rock packed a punch and the pale ale was a good partner to balance out the rich flavours of the food.

When the food arrived, a hungry crowd dived in to towering burgers, wings and the biggest ribs I’ve ever seen.

The owner Tom Brooke is dedicated to creating a true American BBQ experience and has imported award-winning smokers from the United States. The meats are smoked for up to 18 hours over aromatic hickory wood to produce that classic BBQ flavour.

The hard work pays off, the ribs were delicious. The meat fell off the bone and were just the right balance between smoked, sweet and wonderfully sticky.

It was a great evening and I can’t wait to go back and have a meal as those ribs rocked my little world.

Originating in London, Red Dog already has three restaurants spread across the big smoke. This opening and another in Nottingham are the first two outside of the capital.

Check out Red Dog if you fancy getting your teeth into some of those ribs!

Visit them at www.reddogsaloon.co.uk or find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks so much Red Dog for inviting me to your launch event – your BBQ rocks!