I went to a Northampton town centre hotel’s new undiscovered smokehouse restaurant – here’s what it has to offer

Deep South Smoke Shack is the new American-style smokehouse restaurant, located within the long-standing Plough Hotel on Bridge Street.

The team has brought a taste of American smokehouse cooking to the town centre, serving a range of favourites including pulled pork and beef, ribs and burgers, just to name a few.

They say what makes them special is that they smoke the food in-house, focusing on the flavours that make American-style barbecue cooking so distinctive.

As a new restaurant, Deep South Smoke Shack is keen to introduce itself to the people of Northampton – especially as they are on Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo, as well as developing their own website to make it easier for customers to discover the venue and its menu.

I was invited along to try the food for myself and learn more about what Deep South Smoke Shack is bringing to Northampton’s food scene, with the team having launched this new concept around a month ago.

Team member Aphrodite shared that with the menu being a new addition, they plan to make changes to the appearance of the restaurant to reflect the smokehouse vibe they are going for.

The restaurant shares the space with where hotel guests eat breakfast, and the team is putting their heads together to add details that differentiate it between morning and evening – in the hope they will attract those staying at The Plough and outside visitors.

What really matters is the taste of the food and the quality of the service, which were top notch at an affordable price.

To start, we had pulled pork nachos, which consisted of crispy tortilla chips topped with smoked cheese sauce, pulled pork and barbecue sauce, as well as a second dish of grilled halloumi. This was served with toasted pine nuts, roasted peppers and truffle mayonnaise.

For the main course, we had the smokehouse meat box, which had a hearty combination of slow-smoked pulled pork and pulled beef, served with your choice of chips or rice, house slaw and smoked barbecue beans.

We also opted for the velvet truffle shroom burger, which contained a juicy 6oz Angus beef burger layered with home-smoked cheddar, mushrooms, rich truffle mayo, fresh rocket and crispy onions – with a side of Texas-style dirty rice loaded with peppers, onion, garlic, celery and a blend of Cajun spices.

I had the opportunity to try the vegan and vegetarian option of the shack attack, which was a flavour-packed vegetarian burger topped with sweet roasted peppers, creamy garlic and chive mayo, and fresh peppery rocket. This is described as a fresh and vibrant alternative with plenty of character, which I would agree with.

To round off a delicious meal, we were served a taster of the three desserts on offer – Biscoff and white chocolate cheesecake with Biscoff sauce, peanut butter and dark chocolate brownie with clotted cream, and ginger and orange treacle tart with clotted cream.

It is still early days for Deep South Smoke Shake, but they have laid the foundation for what could be a staple smokehouse restaurant in Northampton town centre – with the added bonus of being able to enjoy their food from the comfort of your own home through delivery services.

As well as going home with full stomachs and a smile on our faces, the service was one of the standout aspects of the night. Aphrodite was welcoming and nothing was too much trouble, and it was great to meet the chef behind the yummy food when he brought out a couple of our dishes.

For more information on Deep South Smoke Shack, visit The Plough Hotel’s Facebook page here.