Bisi Bengaluru: The Smoke Co The marrow road to meat manna

This is a tale about a busy neighbourhood chef who became a smoking scientist! The duo, in the year 2006,  fashioned a smoking machine for bacon! We trudged the bylanes of Koramangala, unsuspecting and wondering what The Smoke Co was. We landed slam dunk in the middle of deep Texas, verdant Italy and spiced Nagaland. Their machine? Two large clunky iron barrels attached to busy looking contraptions, heat inducing, to smoke meats for the Café Thulpe family across the city. The old grandfather machine now stands at this new address as a showpiece, replaced by a state of the art version!

This idea fuelled by a succulent bite of smoked goodness, was nurtured over two years, and has finally been put to Gautam Krishnankutty and his partner Padmakumar Pillai’s chopping board, beautifully rendered. The men behind the 'moo burger' decided to throw caution to the wind, and journey the age old tradition of meat preserving and smoking, from the North East’s meat pickling legacy, thanks to a Naga friend who curated a festival at Thulpe. The Smoke Co opened its delectable doors for all meat lovers, and it speaks through its gorgeous smoked tenets.

The glass walled, high ceilinged hub is expansive, in earthy tiles, rust imbued interiors and an open kitchen. And it now has an offset smoker made by Lang BBQ in the US. Steps lead to the formal dining area. On the second floor is the Primal Bar and live music hub that is to launch soon (blame bureaucratic woes). A filament-bulb hued space, which Gautam promises will have live strains of rock, blues...

We started our smoking hot escapade with a Switchel, a mint infused jaggery potion that was delectable… with a sugarcaney taste… without the cane! Then came the smoked soul food. Conversing with a lipsmacking onion marmalade, and the most toasty sour dough bread, the Smoked Bone Marrow, it had us at ‘hello!’ A crisp, sizzling fired piece of bone with the most buttery marrow with a kick of spice, caramelised richness, just begging you to scoop out dreamy slurps. The smoker had outdone itself, so had self taught chef Gautam!

The platings were perfect, very “grandma” kitchen-like, stone, ceramic and terracotta.

The magnificent charcuterie platter came heaped with olive oil drizzled meats a flavourful smoked sopressata salami, that had that oh so spicy hit, the beautiful cured ham that Gautam informed us took six months in the making fresh and so delicious, brilliant with the fruit compote and tangy gherkins. We absolutely loved the beef bresaola, florets drizzled in olive oil, so dreamy and berried in notes. The soy and sesame cured yellow tail was pink in freshness, and the baby baguettes were perfect. The pungent house mustard is a must, and so is the lighter yellow one. There was a mango and harbenero salsa in the sauce tray, a raseela mango meet Mexican chilli goodness which we tasted before the flurry of meats made us forget we had to have more.

Gautam suggested the Gambas Pil Pil piping hot, in a terracotta dish. Pink-orangy fresh prawns cooked in the kick of smoked red jalapenos, baby shallots, garlic pods in a saliva inducing sauvignon blanc and garlic butter, decadent. Spectacular! We swabbed the terracotta dry with the freshest ciabatta for a dunk high.

The magnificent Smoked Platter came next, which like the Charcuterie platter is served in small and large options. There was a beautiful tossed coleslaw in mustard… a kashundi meet tang punch … Then came the army of meats that Gautam has explored scientifically lacto bacilli goodness thanks to their in-house food scientist. We first chomped happily on the kiel basa…. Phew! Singular in texture and flavour, by far the best we’ve had. The next was the baby back ribs, the smokiness distinct, a woody texture and juicy meat. We didn’t care much for the tamarindey marinade… The pulled pork, cooked for eight hours, tender, infused in spices was a bit too curryish … You can choose your meats from the other options that looked equally chomp-worthy.

There were sides of Mac and Cheese, cheesy and delish, smoked baked beans, tangy, kinda salsaish and corn bread, with butter honey… which crumbled into your mouth… a bit dry.

Smoked meats, a tradition Gautam has truly understood and nurtured is something he has taken upon himself to learn, experiment and perfect. With a little help from friends and Google! Padmakumar calls Gautam, “A chemist!  and this smoked fervour naturally extended to cold meats as well. “I would say there are two elements - deep American south cooking, and the charcuterie. Sourcing is key. By sheer luck I met a kid called Amol Kadam, who had this piggery and I saw these lovely pigs, in such a clean environment. That was three years ago, today, we buy whole pigs and break it down. The beef due to our politics is always a tough search.”

The interiors team is from Silverneedle Hospitality, Singapore, who understood their essence, and thanks to a super speciality exhaust system, The Smoke Co interiors are not smoke filled! It’s been two years of conceptualising and  experimenting. They call it a momentary lapse of reason that brought these unlikely individuals together, and today their duties are down pat, “He does the food, I do the numbers,” smiles Padmakumar.

It is obvious the Smoke Co has risen from the ambers of a deep seated belief in their trade, an ummistakable passion. The menu has Gautam’s trademark simplicity, where classics rule. “I want people to understand that even though smoking meats looks simple, it’s a lot of effort, we start work at 4 am! Our pulled pork takes 12 hours and our aged ham took six months! I have kept classics, and a few popular vegetarian dishes too, but essentially it’s meats. Even our bar will have distinctive classics… I hate the whole shovel and drip routine everyone does. We have built something that is hopefully timeless,” says Gautam. Prices are on the higher rung and the waiters know their meats.

We tasted what Gautam refers to as “chef bits” beef bits, the waste parts, which the purposeful chef tossed in butter, sugar and chilli, and dunked it into a smoker for six hours! Mouthwatering in flavour, spectacular in taste… watch out for it! Slurp.

The bread too had us flummoxed, we simple couldn’t get enough of its fresh toasty perfection. A young dreadlock sporting girl supplies it, “Like me, Christina is not trained, at 19 she was running her own restaurant in Kodaikanal. She is in tune with my thoughts, I don’t believe in fancy desserts just classics cheese cake, apple pie, etc.” We were satiated, happy souls at the serious meat decadence at play. We had the baked flan, which was delicious, though more caramel custard than flan. We are still thinking about that spongy loaf of flat bread, dipped in the Gambas. Mmmmm. Smoking hot, we want more. 

Next to The Koramangala Club, CA-17, 6th Cross, 6th Block
Koramangala
080 46218500
Opening hours: 12.00pm  - 3.30 pm ( Lunch time ) 7.00 pm - 11.30
Meal for two: Rs 2,500 onwards
Must haves: We’d like to say everthing, but sadly, we could not taste all, The Charcuterie Platter. The Smoked Platter, The Smoked Bone Marrow. The steak looks biteworthy and so does the Pan Seared Barramundi. We spotted the Baked Brie and lots more. They will be retailing the smoked meats in a month and also plan a retail outlet.
Website: www.thesmokecompany.com http://www.thesmokecompany.com