Red's True Barbecue

A late Sunday night and Monday off called for a top quality meat intake. Red's True Barbecue was the restaurant of choice. Having visited a couple of times before it's often required a long wait on arrival as it's always busy. So we hoped a mid-Monday afternoon may be a different story. 

Luckily we were correct as even our reasonably sized group were seated straight away without a booking. 

Red's True Barbecue continues to open in new locations and can now be found in Headingley, Leeds, Nottingham and of course Manchester. 

Red's True Barbecue

The Manchester restaurant can be found right on the corner of Albert Square. It's therefore surrounded by other popular bars and restaurants, so Red's were obviously confident of their product by selecting this location. They were right to do so though as Red's is almost always full, meaning you can have a couple of hours to wait for a table sometimes. 

Over the door on the corner of the building is the neon sign of "Red's True Barbecue," and on the walls within the porch are hands praying for meat. 

Pray for meat

As soon as you walk in the door, before noticing anything else, the smell of barbecue will hit you! I'm not sure if they vent the extract fans from the kitchen over the door or something but the smoky, barbecue smell is fantastic. I can't remember any restaurant where the smell has such a positive effect as this. 

As the waitress leads you to your table she'll likely lead you past the open kitchen where you can see the barbecuing in progress. Chefs pulling apart racks of ribs which have been cooked and smoked for hours, while another will be mopping other meats with barbecue sauce. 

The rest of the restaurant is a mix of brushed steels, colourful neon signs and church like symbols. Under the kitchen partition logs are stacked for the grills and smokers. 

Fuel for the fires and the open kitchens

"The Good Book"

"I believe"

The bar is a colourful display covered in chicken wire. 

Bar

As we sat at our table the waiter left us with the "good book" (menu) to look over. You may need some time to make your choice in Red's as the menu is very extensive (You can read their "good book" HERE). 

"The Good Book"

The Ten Commandments

If you decide before the rest of your party then it gives you chance to try the 5 different barbecue sauces in the middle of the table. 

1. Triple 6 hot sauce - from 5 types of chilli
2. South Carolina BBQ - a mustard based sauce with spicy kick
3. North Carolina BBQ - a vinegar based sauce
4. Judas Ketchup - their own made tomato like BBQ sauce
5. Kansas City BBQ - a sweet & smokey barbecue sauce

Barbecue Sauces

As the names of the sauces suggest, their barbecue is based on some of the most famous barbecue towns in the USA. This is why almost every American style barbecue item can be found on the menu, from pulled pork, barbecue ribs of various varieties, burgers, chicken, you consider it barbecue and it's probably on the menu. 

You can sample quite a lot of the menu with their wide selection of starters. Ribs tasters, burnt ends, BBQ chicken wings etc. Or there are other great American favourites such as macaroni and cheese. 

On this visit I decided to try their "swine fries." Sweet potato fries, topped with pulled pork, cheese, sour cream, onions, jalapeños, and salsa. 

Having not tried these before I was apprehensive about having fries as a starter, but I wasn't having fries as a side with my main so figured why not. The fries were excellent, nice and crispy but I had to dig to find them. They were lost under mounds of sour cream, and huge chunks of pulled pork! 

Swine Fries - £6.95

The pulled pork was easy to pull apart and combined with the fries, salsa and sour cream tasted incredible. Toppings you'd normally find on nachos were even better on sweet potato fries! 

Then it was on to the mains. 

Red's True Barbecue burger creations are famous for including extra barbecue in the form of steak, or replacing the traditional bread buns with doughnuts or waffles. 

My partner ordered their "Sleepy James," a southern fried chicken breast, topped with bacon, lettuce, burger cheese, and ranch dressing all between a couple of waffles. 

The Sleepy James - £14.40

As you can imagine they also offer pulled pork sandwiches, steaks of all varieties, barbecue sandwiches, brisket etc. 

The Meat Memoirs were here for some proper barbecue on this particular day and needed to try their ribs. In previous visits there had always been one of the 3 types of ribs sold out. Luckily as it was quieter this time they were all in stock so I jumped at the chance to try them all. 

Red's offer up 3 types of barbecue ribs. You can try a small sample of their pork ribs as a starter but we wanted a proper portion. There's the choice of Kansas City wet style pork ribs, Memphis dry rub pork ribs, and huge beef long beef ribs. To try them all, they offer a "bucket o' bones," and seen as they were all available on this visit I opted to try take that down alone. 

All the mains in Red's True Barbecue are offered with either 2 "humble" sides (e.g, fries, onion rings etc.) or 1 "divine" side, such as mac & cheese, grilled cheese on toast, bbq beans, bbq corn on the cob, or sweet potato fries. 

To side my bucket of ribs I choose the grilled cheese on toast. 

Grilled Cheese on Toast side - £2.95 or included with a main

Not long after the starters had been cleared the mains arrived. The bucket of ribs didn't look too overwhelming to begin with. A combination of small racks of ribs could be seen from the top of the bucket which didn't look too much to finish. I therefore took a bite of the side of grilled cheese on toast first. Huge, doorstop thick sized slices of fresh bread were topped with a thick layer of melted cheddar and finished with garlic and herb butter. For simple cheese on toast these were very good. I figured I best make a start on the ribs though before I got full! 

Taking off the first small rack of ribs the meat was full of smoke flavour! 

The barbecue flavours are some of the best I've tasted. 

After the first little rack I pulled out a bone sticking vertically up one side of the bucket. It was then I realised how much I'd underestimated the challenge of finishing this bucket alone. This beef rib was one of the biggest ribs I'd ever seen. The rest of my party agreed! Taking this down was challenge enough. 

Bucket o' Bones - £23.95

Beef Long - the largest rib I've ever eaten

Throughout the bucket of ribs the barbecue flavours were outstanding. The meat was a little dry though and the ribs were perhaps a little overdone for my personal liking. The selection of barbecue sauces in the middle of the table helped to soften some of the drier ribs but I'd have preferred some of the ribs to be cooked a little less. 

The bucket of bones could easily have served 2 people, if not 3! I managed to complete it alone though, but feel sorry to say I have to take the grilled cheese side home (I finished it later, I'm not one for letting food go to waste!).

Conclusion

Red's True Barbecue brings a larger American menu to Manchester than anywhere else I'm yet to discover. The traditional tastes are fantastic and all the senses are involved when you eat at Red's. The small is better than any restaurant I've yet visited and the barbecue methods are brought through from the states to the tastes.

The portion sizes are very generous, even if you opt for a more traditional sized meal unlike me who ate what was probably a meal for 2 or 3 people! 

My criticism is that the ribs were too dry, and the barbecued exteriors too tough. The great selection of barbecue sauces helped alleviate this issue a bit but it couldn't over power some of the charcoaled edges. 

I did finish the ribs though which I wouldn't have done had they been that bad. Had they been a little softer and more moist they'd have been perfect! 

@RedsTrueBBQ

Red's True Barbecue Facebook 


Meat Rating: 7/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full

Solita - Didsbury

Solita (or South of Little Italy) has become a cornerstone of Manchester's food scene, becoming famous for their use of expensive Inka charcoal grills, and their tactic of frying most foods, some you wouldn't think of frying. Their popularity is boosted by the heavy use of social media, word of mouth and not to mention some famous customers. 

Bright lights of Didsbury

The original restaurant is based in the Northern Quarter, just south of Ancoats (or little Italy), thus providing the name. The Northern Quarter restaurant isn't a huge venue though and so the increasing popularity has lead them to open a second premises in the ever popular Didsbury area of Manchester.

The Didsbury restaurant opened in September this year, and I'll admit I visited not long after opening to leave a little disappointed with the cooking skills. I'd heard the chef had changed though and a birthday gave the perfect excuse to give it another try.

We booked a table for early evening despite it being mid-week, but it's a good job we did as the restaurant was full before long, so booking is recommended.

Inka grill explained

The restaurant is decorated with a clash of colourful tiles, artwork of various film characters by local artist Stan Chow, all against rustic exposed brickwork and timber. There are huge chalk board displays hung around the building, showcasing their latest special dishes, or explaining some of their cooking techniques. It all works very well though to create a perfect balance of trendy and smart.

Artwork by Stan Chow

Overlooking Solita

We were seated at our table which was at first quite "cosy," but the waitress saw how cramped it looked and gladly offered us a larger alternative table.

She handed us some menus and explained the process of ordering at Solita, all burgers come with a side of fries, which can be upgraded for an additional cost to cheese fries, sweet potato fries, chilli fries or their current special side of pizza fries, and she then left us to dwell on the menu for a good while. We needed some time though, as there's so much choice to pick from. 

Wall display of Solita's bacon double cheeseburger

Solita have recently overhauled their menu to include some new items which were already becoming famous throughout Manchester.

Solita Menu

There has been a lot of talk about a particular new starter they have included, cheeseburger spring rolls. These traditional spring roll exteriors contain a traditional burger ingredients of minced steak, cheese and gherkins.With so much talk about this latest menu item I had to give them a go.

Starters

The other item I was keen to try was a burger that had only been released that day, but had already become famous throughout the UK (thanks to a mention by the national news and a national supermarket on social media). This burger wasn't on the standard menu though, as this was their Christmas special, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Solita's burger options

The burger choices are huge, with a whopping 14 burgers to pick from on the menu. These include traditional cheeseburgers with funky twists (how about some candied bacon stuck in the top, and 2oz of cheese?), or remakes of well known burgers such as their Big Manc (a much larger, fresher, all round better recreation of a Big Mac which tastes just the same, just a lot better). You'll be spoilt for choice if you're here for a burger. 

For those who prefer steak to burgers, Solita serve a up a range from a simple 10oz steak right through to a whopping 1.2kg on the bone rib eye steak cooked directly on charcoal. Or if you prefer the sea to land, there's a number of fish steaks to pick from. Failing that, there's chicken wings or hot dogs (including a 24" long widow maker!). 

There's even a selection for the vegetarians, not just the single halloumi dish usually found in restaurants. 

Once we'd all finally decided the waitress returned and we placed our orders. Then before long the starters arrived.

The cheeseburger spring rolls immediately lived up to the hype surrounding them. WOW. The soft contents of moist mince, melted cheese and diced gherkins give the cheeseburger taste we're all familiar with, yet it's all encased within a not so familiar pastry wrapping.

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls - £5.50

I can understand some people's hesitation about this dish, but Solita have got it spot on, and those willing to give it a go will be left craving another plate of these!

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls - perfection in filo pastry

After the starters there was a bit of a wait for the mains but the restaurant was busy so this was forgiveable. All the other mains arrived at the same time, except mine, which took at least another 5 minutes to arrive which was a bit disappointing. It arrived hot and fresh though.

So, onto the main.

For Christmas, Solita have come up with their Christmas burger (they ran a competition to try find a better name but I think they've just settled for this title). Between and atop a single brioche bun they have managed to include a whopping 8 different meats!

They start with a 6oz Angus beef & venison patty. This is laid on top of a patty of panko fried stuffing and cranberry and port sauce. On top of the beef and venison patty then goes a slice of Aldi's 5 bird roast. This on it's own consists of turkey, duck, goose, chicken, and pheasant, layered with more stuffing. If that wasn't enough, then on top of that goes deep fried sprouts.
To finish the burger off (and you thought that was it!) they skewer a caramelised pig in a blanket to put some pork into the mix.

Solita Christmas Burger - £14.50

I started with the caramalised pig in a blanket from the top of the burger. The sticky, sweet sugary glaze doesn't overpower the pork contents within, so you get just the right mix of sweet and savory.

There are some ingredients between the bread that even I was hesitant about. I'm one of those odd people who actually likes sprouts, but deep frying them just seemed outrageous to me, but Solita so far has excelled at outrageous so I had to trust them on this too. They don't batter the sprouts, they just dip them in the fryer and the frying process adds an extra sweet taste to the flavour of the sprouts, not how I imagined they'd taste at all.

Christmas Burger

Fried Sprouts

The beef and venison patty was very generous. A great thick patty full of high quality minced beef and venison tasted fantastic. There was a good amount of venison in there too, I didn't have to search my mouth for the taste of it. 

Fried sprouts on a 5 bird roast, on a thick beef & venison patty, on cranberry & port sauce, on Panko fried stuffing, on bread

The slice of Aldi's five bird roast tasted more of turkey than anything else, but the flavours of the other birds may be being lost within the rest of this burger. I believe Solita tested numerous 5 bird roasts and found this to be their favorite so at least they did the research for the best one.

The real flavour hit came from the panko fried stuffing. The crumbly fried coating around traditional stuffing was excellent. The stuffing was the herb packed explosion of taste you'd expect from any good stuffing. 

For the side I'd opted to upgrade to another special, pizza fries. 

Pizza Fries - £2.00 supplement

It was great to see whole slices of pepperoni on top of fries, combined with cheese and tomato sauce gave a real pizza look to the fries. If you got all the ingredients together they tasted similar to a pizza (as they should). My only criticisms were that the fries could have been a bit crispier for my liking, although this probably wasn't helped by the heavy dousing of cheese on them. May be a little less cheese would have gone just as far with the taste.

My partner opted for the plain cheese fries and the cheese on those was a lot better than the cheese on the pizza fries I thought. Apparently they use a combination of brie and a a traditional white sauce which creates an amazing soft cheese when melted with a fantastic taste. Next time I'd opt for these as a side.

Conclusion

Despite some early teething troubles at their new location, Solita have managed to open a restaurant that's at least on par with their Northern Quarter restaurant. 

They've managed to take their quirky Northern Quarter attitude and fit it into the trendy Didsbury location, combining the smart building exterior with trendy decorations within. 

Their specialist Inka grill (mixing roasting and grilling over charcoal) manages to serve up meats and fish with unrivaled taste. While their burger inventions and daring frying techniques intrigue customers and keep them coming back for more. It's easy to see why they had outgrown the little Northern Quarter location. The Didsbury restaurant also seems to expand their client base even further. 

Solita burgers are arguably Manchester's best, they're certainly make Manchester's biggest. The special Inka grill is worth the huge up front cost as it creates amazing smokey charcoal flavours while allowing food to be cooked to perfection. 

The food delivery was the only criticism on this visit really, as it's a shame my main was brought out so much later than all the others on the table. The fries could also have been a little crispier for my liking but that's personal choice. If it wasn't for the delay in the main it would have been an easy 10/10 for Solita. Safe to say though it hasn't put me off coming back and I'll be returning to introduce yet more people to Solita Didsbury. 

Now I wonder if I can sneak another of their Christmas specials in before they take it off their menu after Christmas! 

@SolitaNQ 

Solita on Facebook

Meat Rating: 9/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full