There aren’t many halal smokehouses. So, when Pitmaster opened their doors on Wilmslow Road in Manchester we had to go check them out. One thing is for sure – they are and will continue to be very popular as there is a big gap in the market for such food. Smokehouses traditionally focus on meat and the high quality of the meat. Key offerings will include brisket, ribs and burgers. It is no different here. View more of the menu here.
What we ordered:
– 16 hour smoked brisket
– 8 hour dry rubbed and slow smoked rib
– 16 hour smoked brisket melt burger
The good:
This ones for the meat lovers. High quality meat executed exceptionally well. Everything tasted wonderful. There was no overpowering meaty taste in any of the dishes. It had the perfect texture and taste. Soft, succulent and smokey! I preferred the rib while others in the group preferred the brisket. I had the burger later on and it tasted amazing!! I just wish I had it straight away. A reason to go back I guess. I feel it has the potential to be my favourite burger.
The not so good:
The service was extremely slow the day we were there. There were about 4 customers/groups ahead of us in the queue, but it took almost an hour to actually get served. It was a Saturday so the queues were expected, but the service was just strangely slowwwww. There were like 7 staff members behind the counter, but oddly they ALL seemed to deal with one order at a time even if it meant 6 of them just stood there and did nothing. Strange. As I watched 7 people take the order and make and then charge for one burger, I had to actually ask “is it me now?” The funny thing is the 7th man at the till didn’t even know what our order was and we literally had to repeat it all over again. And even then some side dishes were missed out from our order.
As people walked past us, they said don’t worry it’s worth it. And that’s the thing I think. The meat is really that good here that it may well be worth it. However, I don’t really like queuing THAT long for food twice. So, I’d happily go back as long as there’s no queue.
Overall, this is definitely a spot for meat lovers and the quality of the offerings is second to none. However, they really do need to work on the pace of their service. Also, the prices… before writing this up, I was going to mention the prices were a bit steep, but now with Nusr-et London restaurant, nothing is expensive in comparison. The definition of the word “expensive” has changed forever!
Getting there
Google maps location link: click here
