Southern Hospitality at Hickory’s Smokehouse in Poynton, Cheshire

Say hello to the newest smokehouse and grill restaurant in Cheshire – so new, in fact, that it’s not even open! Last night, I was invited along to a preview evening of the brand new Hickory’s Smokehouse in Poynton, ahead of it’s official opening on 5^th August next week. With a couple of other Hickory’s across the North West and their head office in Cheshire, I have heard a lot of hype about the small chain of grill restaurants. Known for their deep south style (both in food and hospitality), I was excited to pop along and try it out for myself.

The new Hickory’s Smokehouse Poynton is located just outside of Poynton village on London Road, a short 15 minute drive into Cheshire from my home in South Manchester it was super easy to get to with a large free car park on site. The restaurant itself is huge, and decorated beautifully! Based on that deep South American style, it is full of wooden panelling, exposed bulb light features, quirky wall out and rustic decor. The restaurant even comes complete with it’s own ‘insta booth’ area for taking photos (conveniently located outside the ladies’ loos) and even a small cinema for kid’s to watch films in! It has a lovely big outdoor garden area – perfect for the weather we are having right now – and a massive bar area inside too.

Upon entering, we were greeted by the absolutely amazing team of staff who made us feel totally welcome and at home throughout the whole evening. In fact, we ended up staying for nearly three hours as we felt so welcome and at home! The manager, Holly, taught us all about the history of Hickory’s and it’s focus on Deep Southern food and hospitality. Hickory’s was originally inspired by a road trip across Texas and Louisiana, that encouraged the founders to bring home the flavours, culture and hospitality of the Southern States. As the restaurant name suggests, Hickory’s Smokehouse specialises in slow cooked meats and smokers.

After having a tour of the restaurant, we were asked if we would like a drink. I asked for a cocktail… And Hickory’s went one better and ushered me behind the bar to create my own! With the help of bar tender, Dan, I was lucky enough to create my own mocktail (I was driving!) as a pre-dinner aperitif! I decided to make a ‘Lily Kitten Spritz!’ which contained 5cl raspberry pure, 2.5cl lemon juice and 10cl apple juice. Add in some ice, use a cocktail shaker to give it a big old maraca style shake and pour into a glass of your choice (preferably a tiki one like mine!). Finish with some crushed ice on top and garnish with a piece of fruit of your choice and a banana leaf to give it some height, and voila, you have your very own Lily Kitten Spritz!

As we settled down to get stuck into the menu, Hickory’s truly excelled themselves and demonstrated their Southern hospitality by presenting me with my very own Lily Kitten Spritz mocktail making kit, including all the ingredients I used to make it, a list of the amounts I would need of each and even my very own Hickory’s tiki glass to take home and create by myself. You guys know I have my own bar at home, so this was truly a lovely touch and my kit is now nicely settled at Kitten Palace!

Now, on to the food! I am going to pre-empt this by saying that our charming waitress Becky was very keen for us to try a wide selection of their food (both to try something new and to test out the restaurant before it opens) and so we were encouraged to order more than we usually would. So, for starters we went for two meaty dishes – the Southern Fried Chicken in a Basket (£5.99) and Burnt End Popcorn Bites (£5.99) – and two vegan options to shake it up a bit; the Vegan Jackfruit Chilli Taco (£4.99) and Frickles (£4.99). All of these starters were delicious and really reminded me of my time living in America, but the Popcorn Bites and Frickles were unlike anything I’d ever had before. The popcorn bites are created from chunks of Hickory’s speciality 16-hour smoked brisket, and then tossed and fried in a blend of spices, meaning that the whole brisket gets used and nothing goes to waste. The Frickles, suitable for vegetarians and vegans, are kinda what they sound like – fried pickles with a South Carolina BBQ dip.

For our mains, Hickory’s very kindly tried to encourage us to order a main each AND some sides AND a meat platter for sharing, but we didn’t want to be too wasteful and instead just chose three mains to share between us and a couple of sides(!). I say that with a pinch of salt of course, but for our mains we went for a mix of their American style steaks, smokehouse meats and grilled fish, so get a good idea of what they were all about. I chose the Louisiana Steak (£19.99) with a side of chilli cheese fries – a delicious ribeye steak, blackened in a spicy Cajun rub. It was delicious and cooked just how I like it! My friend Michele went for their Texas Style Brisket (£14.99), which is slow cooked for 16 hours and served with house-slaw, skin on fries, pickles and Tennessee bourbon gravy. I too tried some of this and it was incredible, we totally understand why Hickory’s are so proud of it!

Also to share between us, we got the Cedar Plank Roasted Salmon (£14.99) – a cajun-rubbed salmon fillet served with guacamole, corn chips and dirty rice – although we didn’t manage to get much into this and I am SO looking forward to having it warmed up for my dinner tonight! For sides, we went for Hickory’s signature Gooey Mallow Mash (£3.99) and Mac ‘n’ Cheese (£3.75). I have to admit, the Mac ‘n’ Cheese was the only dish Michele and I managed to fully finish between ourselves – we are just such bloody suckers for mac ‘n’ cheese and I have to admit I think this is the best I ever had! The Gooey Mallow Mash on the other hand, was something I have NEVER heard of before. Sweet potato mash topped with toasted marshmallows. Sounds so wrong, but was so, so right!

After a little break, Hickory’s Poynton also managed to tempt us into trying a dessert each. How could we resist? I went for the Hickory’s Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich (£4.99) which was truly a work of art! Two M&M cookies create an incredible super-soft Fro-Co ‘ice cream’ sandwich, filled full of lashings of chocolate, butterscotch sauce, marshmallows and honeycomb. It was just INCREDIBLE! Michele went for the Rich Chocolate Brownie (£5.50) which was just as delicious (I know because I shared it!). This is Hickory’s take on a Mississippi mud pie, a chocolate brownie with extra chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and homemade rocky road pieces for extra chocolate on top!

Over all, Michele and I had the best time at Hickory’s Poynton pre-opening evening. Although it is a big restaurant, it has a lovely, homely feel thanks to it’s wonderful staff. Becky, Holly, Dan and the rest of the team were excellent, the food was delicious and the setting was great. I would definitely recommend trying out Hickory’s next time you’re looking for somewhere new in Cheshire, and in the mean time, I am already planning my next return!

[Gifted meal]