Warm summer days seem to be made for smoky food cooked over fire and we just don’t have enough good barbecue restaurants in this country, especially Brazilian ones.
I visited a proper ‘Churrasco’ (BBQ) restaurant in Rio de Janeiro a number of years ago and I still dream about the mounds of sweet smoky meat that kept coming to our table; you simply flipped a disc from red to green and more would arrive.
BSkewers is on a simpler scale but the flavours are the same and you need to visit; and I need to go back very soon. BSkewers was created by Brazilian couple, Bruno Amado and Thaís Eloá, both of whom have worked in hospitality in Ireland for a number of years. The restaurant began as a market stall, but the pandemic forced them to find a permanent home and food delivery is a core part of the business. The restaurant itself is charming if tiny, with just a handful of tables and counter seats but with a clutch of seats outside which is where we opted to sit on a warm Wednesday evening.
The drinks list is short with one lager (Madri from Sao Paolo), a sweet Swedish cider and a half-dozen solid inexpensive wines imported by Tindal-Searsons, all very fairly priced between €28 to and €36. Our bottle of Croix des Vents Rosé from Southern France had lively strawberry fruits and a a crisp citrus tang that suited the warm evening and the spicy food nicely.
The menu is short with a selection of BBQ Skewers costing €5-8, a Cheeseburger (€10) and some sides and sauces. There are also faux-meat alternatives just in case an unwitting vegan shows up.
First to arrive were the skewers. We ordered five and they were all a delight. Meat is sourced from FX Buckleys and quality was high. Picanha was the highlight for me, cooked perfectly rare as requested with rounded, complex meaty flavours enhanced by the light char of the barbecue.
Dipped in the tangy, fruity-herbal Salsa Verde, it tasted even better, bringing out the grassy, nutty notes found in fine quality Irish beef.
The marinated Angus skewer was also good but next time I’ll be ordering two Picanha instead.
Tuscan-style pork sausage was so juicy it spurted and ruined my clean white shirt but I didn’t care.
This worked best dipped in the hot chilli African Pepper sauce, as did the Chicken Hearts which are the bargain on the menu at just €4.69. Nutty and tasty as the hearts were, they worked best dipped in chilli.
Belly Pork Skewers were coated in a sticky sweet glaze which along with the bbq char lifted the sweet pork flavours nicely. Once again the sauces added complexity and pleasing accents.
Besides the sauces we also dusted our food with farofa for extra texture; the nutty cassava crumbs that are on every Brazilian table are a must-order.
Now to the Cheeseburger, my goodness, the cheeseburger. There has been a rash of new burger joints in Dublin in the past couple of years but I’m not sure any can compete with this gorgeous cheesy intensity of BSkewers Burger.
Crucially, the meat had not been overcooked as is virtually always the case in Ireland, and the creamy, meaty richness was mind-blowingly good, the BBQ char crust on the meat being the final flourish that elevated this to ‘God-tier Burger’ status, a phrase I have never used before.
We finished with a rich, chocolatey dulce de leche-filled smoked brioche bun each; sheer indulgence but one would have sufficed such was their richness.
BSkewers is elevating BBQ food to the level it deserves: the perfectly cooked meat is the core, but the supporting roles played by buttery sweetcorn, supremely crispy frites, properly made sauces and of course charming staff took this to another level. Viva BBQ, Viva Brazil, Viva BSkewers.
