CARNIVORES, feast your eyes on this beautiful platter of barbecue smoked meat from one of Berkshire's best smokehouse restaurants.

When Bluegrass BBQ in Windsor was named Best American BBQ Smokehouse in the UK at the Food & Drink Awards 2021, we just had to see what all the fuss was about.

On Thursday, December 9, me and my partner were kindly invited to try the food with stomachs rumbling at the ready.

Bluegrass is an independent American BBQ smokehouse with locations in Reading and High Wycombe, so it felt humbling to eat at a local business.

The smokehouse serves burgers, wings, pancake stacks, ribs, beef brisket and more.

Slough Observer:

Restaurant owner David Stimpson encouraged us to try the big four platter, which comes with slow cooked baby back ribs, brisket, burnt ends, bbq chicken, pulled pork, large portion of fries, string onions, slaw and chipotle corn ribs.

This is more than enough for two people to share and gives you the chance to try all of the meat that's available on the menu at a cost of £35.

I loved the piece of chicken and would never of thought to order it had it have not been included in the platter.

The seasoning was delicious and the chicken had a soft texture, which I believe is down to the longevity of the smoking process.

The same can be said for the beautifully cooked beef brisket. The thin pieces of meat melted in the mouth and tasted delicious. I was expecting the meat to be dry but it was tender.

The pork meat also fell off the ribs and paired well with the sticky Tennessee sauce.

Slough Observer:

Another thing to add is that the restaurant specialises in their own sauces. From the spicy Louisiana (which I hesitantly tried and almost burnt my mouth off) to the sweet Carolina which I couldn't stop dipping my chips into.

The vinegary flavoured sauce was delicious with their Texan Spiced chips.

We also tried the Mac 'N' Cheese side dish (£4) with added bacon on top but this was a little disappointing.

It was lacking in that strong cheese flavour and the texture was a bit stodgy, not creamy nor crispy.

But, the same can't be said for their Famous Frickles (£4) which are absolutely delicious.

They're meaty in texture and the tangy gherkin packs a punch against the crispy batter.

There are plenty of options on the menu at Bluegrass to please everyone with their cheapest main, the Bluegrass Burger at £8, a stack of wings (£12) or a full rack of ribs for £20.

They also have Brisket N Burnt ends (£16), which will give you the best tasting smokehouse food.

Now onto the dessert. We were full but of course we had room to try something sweet.

Slough Observer:

We opted for the donuts (£5) and they were warm and doughy with a lovely crispy coating.

We tried all three sauces, chocolate, caramel and maple peanut sauce (although typically you can only choose one). 

I was a huge fan of the caramel as it tasted like sweet American maple syrup! 

Overall, we had a fantastic time and couldn't praise the lovely servers for their excellent customer service on the night.