The Smoke Co., A meat lover's paradise

There are meat lover paradises. And then there is The Smoke Co. When a vegetarian friend suggested this with the disclaimer to make sure there are no vegetarians in our group, I guess we were sold. A twelve minute walk from my office in Koramangala, the look and feel of the place lifted our moods. The prices on the menu didn't throw our eyeballs off the socket either.

An amuse bouche served in any place, ups my expectation and creates a soft corner at the same time, so the little bread crumb with cream set our tables as our friends ordered their pitcher of beer and two of us helped ourselves to virgin, liver friendly tonics.

Sticking to recommendations, we ordered a plate of chicken wings and bone marrow. The marrow arrived first, and unlike the price, the dish did throw our eyeballs out of their sockets. Beef marrow. Massive. I mean, massive sized bone marrow that got us wagging our tongues. I almost could feel the joy that my dog has when I dangle a bone in front of him. After the eyes caressed the dish, the little long spoon to scoop out the marrow, helped us slid it into our mouth and melt away. Smokiness was the single flavour. Mildly spiced, the marrow did all the talking. The chicken wings were beautifully tangy and good enough to get ourselves another plate.

Without the appetite for a full meal, we settled for one smoke platter, which gives you the choice of four meats. A consensus was reached after each of us got to pick one dish and thus we had one smoked chicken, a 12-hour smoked pulled beef, a 6-hour smoked leg of lamb and a portion of thinly sliced pit beef, served with a corn on the cob and a small salad. For 900 bucks, this was a steal and every meat tasted different, but united by the smokiness! The chicken was probably the least amazing, while the lamb leg was the most!

A peanut butter and chocolate pie, with generous amounts of the former in a thick, chewy pie and a sticky toffee with date pudding with extremely strong rum, that didn't hit right spots initially, but turned into a beautiful dessert after a few minutes with the alcohol evaporating and leaving a beautiful after taste, completed our dinner.

The damages were about Rs. 4650 for a pitcher, 2 drinks, 3 appetisers, a smoker and 2 desserts. We were a happy lot.

The Smoke Co, is in Koramangala, 6th block.