We’ve tried to explain it countless times already: BBQ is not just the name of the sauce, or the same thing as grilling. It’s a cooking style, a kitchen technology. Simply put, the primary differences between grilling and barbecue are the cooking times and temperatures. While grill dishes are prepared quickly, with less smoke and over medium-high temperatures, barbecue dishes are cooked slow, over lower temperatures (110-120°C), which involves a lot of smoke. No wonder we call its main apparatus a smoker.
At the place of Zsolt Serényi and Roland Urbán, they have some very serious technology available. However, the “seething soul” of BpBARbq wasn’t put together by locksmiths in Texas – it wasn’t even imported from the States. It’s 100% Made in Hungary, and is called the BBQ Pit Box. This wood-fired smoke roaster has a very good ventilator and chimney connection, and is usually available in red, black, and blue. However, Zsolt and Roland wanted a white one. They got it. When we got to infiltrate the kitchen, we were surprised to find no grease stains or carbon streaks, but the place is young enough to be clean at this point. A contrabass already caught on fire on the opening ceremony, so we probably shouldn’t worry about the smoker staying pristine.The place is really a hybrid, and the superb meats are almost begging for a good drink to accompany them: a sip of brown beer goes excellently with a brisketsandwich, but a classic cocktail does the trick, as well. The whole concept is based on this idea: good drinks with good food, for reasonable prices. While this combination seems easy and obvious, it’s also hard to keep it going. These two guys, however, are definitely up to the task, paying attention both to quality and consistency.
For the time being, we can browse the selection on a blackboard: meat with meat, beef with turkey, as sandwiches, with homemade sauces. We started with a trio of foie gras, crackling cream, and pickled onion (2,490 HUF), in which the bread was excellent, just like the breads for the other sandwiches. However, these are not their own, but bought from the best and baked by them. We already heard about this mentality when talking with Zsolt at a dinner at Briquette: if we want the best bread, we should trust the bakers with that job, and not experiment ourselves. We agree.
Despite their foods called sandwiches on the blackboard, we should clarify that these are dishes large enough for a full meal, with plenty of meat, sauce, vegetables, and salad. We have to open our mouths as wide as we can, and half of the fillings will still land on the plate. So forget about eating with a knife and a fork. The meat of the pulled pork (2,490 HUF) is crumbly, while the salad is sweet and rich. The BBQ Reuben (2,790 HUF) is an indescribable creation, filled with the most perfect sauerkraut. The chopped-beef potato (1,990 HUF) and the Caesar turkey sandwich (2,290 HUF) are not negligible either, just like the fact that in addition to a permanent selection, they also offer daily specials: pork knuckle, aspic, or limited-edition meats.Naturally, they didn’t forget about dessert, either. We tasted a poppy-seed cake with vanilla ice cream, which was delicious and a worthy closure for our feast, but still came nowhere near the meaty dishes. Those took the crown.
