Holy Smoke

We’ve seen the Holy Smoke meat smoker in the beer festival circuit quite a few times. Most of the time, there was either a long queue of hungry people, or they were sold out, both a good indication of their popularity and quality. In 2017 they opened an actual restaurant near the Porte de Hal, with an even bigger smoker, to provide everyone in the usually fully-booked restaurant with heaps of pork ribs, sausages, brisket, and pulled pork…

Smoking meat until it almost falls off the bone takes a lot of time, so for the full Holy Smoke experience, it’s best to book a table for dinner: during lunchtime the menu is limited to smoked meat burgers.

The star dishes are the meat platters, basically serving trays full of all they have to offer: pork ribs, sausages, brisket, and pulled pork, and also some coleslaw, pickles, cornbread and other sides. Although it’s not explicitly mentioned on the menu, the ‘small’ platter is intended for two persons, the bigger one for three. We didn’t get the memo, and really had to stuff ourselves—but we happily did so—to finish the big platter with two…

If you’re not having one of the platters, but another dish, you might have room for a starter as well: a special mention for the bone marrow, accompanied by a shot of whiskey to rince out the last bit of goodness.

Half the beer menu is as American as the dishes served: beers by big players like Anchor Brewing Company and Boston Beer Company, but also Flying Dog, and Kona Brewing Company.

Starring alongside these American beers, are some local heroes by En Stoemelings, L’Ermitage, L’Annexe, De la Senne, and even Cantillon. Catering for beer festivals seems to have had a good influence  on the beer list…

When it comes to grain based drinks however, the main focus in Holy Smoke is on whiskey: rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, single malts, Tennessee whiskey, and of course bourbon!

As mentioned above, you’re unlikely to get a table if you’re not at the door when it opens, so book early, come hungry, and take your time to get it in your belly.

Since the restaurant takes up most of their time, Holy Smoke sadly doesn’t do the festival circuit  anymore. However, their mobile smoker has been sold to some new kids on the block: Sweet Smoke. We’ve had a first taste of their meat during Swafff, and they actually seem to be worthy successors, so don’t hesitate to give them a try as well, when you see them!

tl;dr

Beers

• No beers on draught
• Nice selection of Brussels and American beers

Bites

• Meat, lots of smoked meat!

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What have people been drinking here recently?