Smokestak

Smokestak sits on Sclater Street near Shoreditch High Street, and the giant smoker visible from the open kitchen tells you what to expect before the menu arrives. Chef David Carter, who co-founded nearby Manteca with Chris Leach, built this as a barbecue restaurant that takes the smoking process seriously rather than treating it as a gimmick.

Brisket is the dish the restaurant is known for, smoked for twelve to fifteen hours over English oak, and it is worth ordering whichever format you go for: the pre-ordered whole brisket for a table, or the more casual brioche-bun version with chilli-spiked slaw for a single portion. Two sharing menus cover the wider range of smoked meats, and the kitchen also does a solid job with meat-free options, a coal-roasted aubergine with red miso and cashews is a genuine highlight rather than an afterthought for vegetarians.

The room has an industrial, rustic feel, blackened walls, weathered wooden furniture, which fits the Shoreditch setting and the barbecue focus without feeling overly styled. It gets busy and loud, particularly at weekends, and is better suited to sharing plates across a table than a quiet meal for two.

It has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for its combination of quality and value, and reviewers have compared the brisket favourably to barbecue eaten in the American South, which is high praise given how competitive London’s barbecue scene has become. The trade-off is that smoking takes time, so the kitchen’s output can be limited on the busiest nights, and popular cuts do sell out.

For serious, patiently smoked barbecue rather than a quick grill-house meal, it remains one of the strongest options in east London.

Carter and Leach’s wider stable, which includes Manteca just around the corner, shares a similar nose-to-tail, produce-first philosophy, and fans of one restaurant tend to find plenty to like at the other. Prices are fair for the quality and the hours of preparation involved, sharing menus sit in the £30-£40 per head range before drinks, which feels reasonable set against the labour that goes into a proper long smoke. Sunday lunch, when the whole roast programme runs, is worth planning ahead for given how quickly tables go.