‘I went to one of Northampton’s newest restaurant spots to see what all the hype was about – it's well worth a visit’

Hickory’s Smokehouse, known for its Texas-style BBQ, opened last November at the former Lakeside pub, just off the Bedford Road – creating 100 jobs in the process.

Over the course of a year, Hickory’s has been in the top three most searched-for places in Northampton on Google.

It’s also amassed a 4.4 out of five-star rating from 475 Google reviews.

So I headed over to see what all the hype was about.

A group of four of us headed down midweek to have a catch-up and watch the football.

On arrival, you step into a typical American smokehouse, with leather booths, wooden fittings and open kitchens.

We sat down in the bar area and were given little bags of free popcorn. A nice touch.

The team kindly put PSG v Barcelona on one screen and Liverpool v Villarreal on another. Happy days.

After browsing the brand-new autumn menu, and wanting to order one of everything, we eventually settled on a few starters and mains.

We ordered the brisket popcorn bites, which are smoky, Southern-fried brisket bites served with Kansas-style BBQ sauce.

We also had the giant garlic-buttered pretzel bites, served with a beer-infused cheese sauce for dipping, alongside the Southern-fried chicken in a basket, which comes with honey mustard dip.

We also ordered the smoked wings with Kansas BBQ sauce, blue cheese dip and celery.

For the mains, we went for two of the Carnivore meat platters, which come with Texas-style brisket and gravy, cowboy-buttered smoked chicken, smoked pork, jalapeño and cheese sausage, and 14-hour smoked pulled pork, served with fries.

We also ordered the Smokehouse Platter, which is huge and ideal for two people to share.

This comes with beef brisket, pork baby back ribs, smoked chicken, pulled pork, beef ribs, smoked chicken wings and smoked pork, jalapeño and cheese sausage.

I have never seen so much meat in my life.

Despite the huge amount of food we had, we demolished most of it. But if you’re struggling, the team will happily box up your leftovers so you can take them home and have them for lunch the next day.

Despite being stuffed, the dessert menu came, and it was hard to say no to the mouth-watering options on offer.

We had the Cookie Monster ‘freakshake’, which comes with cookies, salted maple, Oreo, chocolate and wafer curls, and even more cookies.

We also ordered a couple of Alabama chocolate fudge cakes, served with chocolate fudge sauce, vanilla ice cream, toffee sauce, squirty cream and chocolate cornflake crunch.

All of the food was as good as it sounds.

As well as the food, we had a few Guinnesses, and there are loads of cocktail options, too.

This was more of a lads’ night out, but there is something for everyone at the venue. You can sit in the dimly lit restaurant and enjoy the atmosphere of the open kitchen from one of the booths.

The venue caters for the whole family, too. There’s a cinema room showing classic films, a full kids’ menu, a frozen custard station where children can create their own desserts, and an outdoor play area.

We spent around two hours here. The food was great, the service was incredibly friendly and, like I say, there really is something for everyone.

Thanks to the team, especially our waiter Tom and managers Charlie and Tom, who were incredibly accommodating, friendly and seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs.

Definitely worth a visit if you’ve not been. Just make sure you arrive hungry.

If you’re just having food, you’re probably looking at around £30 – £40 a head.

Check out their Facebook page for the latest deals and upcoming events, including £10 burgers over Halloween, £6 cocktails on Fridays, Super Bowl Sundays and Christmas specials.