TESTED: BOOMERANG BARBECUE

WITH MORE CAMPSITES ELIMINATING GROUND FIRES, THIS UNIT SHOULD INCREASE IN POPULARITY.

OVER the years we’ve tried many barbecue plates and grilles for open-fire cooking, but the Boomerang BBQ is the lightest one we’ve used and the only one made completely from 316 stainless steel.

The basic barbecue comes as a flat-pack in a carry bag, with a two-piece pole, a boomerang arm and a grille. The pole base can be hammered into any surface, apart from solid rock, while the arm’s height above the ground can easily be adjusted to the desired height. Suspend the tray from the arm and you’re ready to cook.

An optional Boomerang Fire Pit is a clever design that is stored as a flat-pack in a carry bag. The fire pit consists of two side-plates and two end-plates that slide together, while two small pegs clip into special slots on the side to add rigidity and stop the unit from coming apart. The Fire Pit is a little fiddly to put together the first time, but it gets easier.

Once you have put a fire in it, the stainless side and end-plates will show discolouration and some signs of distortion, but this isn’t an issue; the unit still goes together easily and works just as well. The size of the fire will be more than adequate for cooking and keeping a couple of people warm on a cold night.

Still, we found the fire pit a bit flimsy, especially on uneven rocky ground. The boomerang arm tends to swing in the direction of the lean of the unit and not necessarily over the centre of the fire, and the supplied pegs did little to the overall stability so we stopped using them.

There are a couple of other options with the Boomerang BBQ that you may find handy. A Patio Kit allows the barbecue and fire pit to be set up where you can’t hammer the poles into the ground. The lightweight T-bracket clips to the base of the fire pit, and the unit’s two-piece pole slips into a square tube, while a bracket helps secure the pole to the fire pit. Flat ground (or even a patio) is required for this to work well.

The Boomerang BBQ blades clip onto the corners of the grille cooking tray and slowly rotate the tray over the fire, ensuring the food is evenly cooked. It’s a smart idea and it works. Plus the unit can be easily washed in a dishwasher.

Whether you buy the entire system or just the barbecue, it should give you many years of faithful service.

AVAILABLE FROM: www.boomerangbbq.com.au RRP: Basic Kit ($189); Fire Pit ($249); Patio Kit ($49); BBQ Blades ($20). WE SAY: Well designed, packs small and light, expensive. RATED Dual purpose – for cooking and for keeping warm at night.

Designed as a flatpack, the fire pit is easy to carry around.

A little fiddly to put together at first, but it gets easier with time.