Hang fire claims top food award
HANG Fire Southern Kitchen has been crowned best restaurant at the 2018 Observer Food Monthly Awards.
The much-loved barbecue eaterie was presented with the prestigious award at a ceremony in London last night.
The restaurant was opened in Barry in 2016 by Sam Evans and Shauna Guinn who started winning over Cardiff with their brisket and ribs at a pop-up at the The Canadian pub in Splott, in 2013.
Since then they have won an award at the BBC Street Food Awards, released a cook book and appeared in their own BBC TV show.
After quitting their jobs in London, the pair travelled to the US in 2012 on a quest to find out everything about barbecue food and attended masterclasses by competition winning chefs.
Their adventures saw them help cook for a rodeo in Houston (smoking 50 briskets, 300 chickens, and 500 racks of spare rib), help an old mountain man repair his even older drum smoker deep in the Appalachians, and being entrusted with spice rub secrets that they have to “take to the grave”.
After their experiences, they aimed to recreate authentic southern-style barbecue and southern cooking using authentic British produce.
They say they serve the “finest meat” they can get their hands on and use freerange pork from local farms.
Items on the menu include 21-hour smoked pulled pork, 12-hour smoked brisket, eight-hour smoked pork belly and nine-hour smoked pork ribs.
The Observer Food Monthly Awards, now in their 15th year, celebrate the best in food and drink, voted for by readers and a panel of judges. Observer columnist Jay Rayner and food writer Nigella Lawson cohosted this year’s celebrations.
In the reader-voted categories, best food personality was won by campaigner and budget cooking expert Jack Monroe, while best new cookbook was given to Anna Jones for The Modern Cook’s Year, which features more than 250 vegetarian recipes.
The judge-voted categories saw food writer and cook Simon Hopkinson win the coveted lifetime achievement award. Cornerstone, a new restaurant in Hackney by chef Tom Brown who has won praises in BBC Two’s competition Great British Menu, was awarded best newcomer in food and drink.