The portable grill formerly known as Mamak, Asado re-branded in the mobile food off-season, and now seems to be focused on southern BBQ, rather than a tenuous Malaysian theme.
For the past couple weeks, they've been set up on North Park Street, just a short walk across the Common for me, so after a failed attempt after they closed early on a previous day, I hit them up on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
Their new smoker/grill is an impressive get up, with wheels and a hitch so that it's easily hauled by a truck. They have a fairly compact menu for streetside eats, with ribs, chicken, corn on the cob and drinks available, and rustically displayed on a pallet/menu. On this day there was protein only (sorry, not sorry, vegans), but since I'm not a corn fan, I was indifferent. At $3 for a full chicken leg or rib (4 ribs for $10), I went for the half-ish rack of ribs and chicken.
After a quick finishing swab of BBQ sauce on the ribs, I was on my way back home to eat my carnivorous delights in the sun on my back deck. The ribs had a noticeable pink smoke ring, which was encouraging. The flavour matched, and they had a good bark as well. The meat was a marginally overcooked, as it didn't quite come off the bone in clean bites, but it wasn't appreciably dry. Note that these ribs aren't St. Louis cut, so they have the gnarly knuckles on one end. The sauce was good - not too sweet and with a hint of spice.
My chicken was just as good, with a nice smoke flavour and I thought the sauce was a bit spicier than the ribs, but I could be wrong and they could use the exact same one.
This sort of stuff makes summer days in peninsular Halifax what they are - a combination of beautiful weather (when we get it...), nice surroundings and easy access to entrepreneurs like Asado. Keep on smoking, folks.
PS. Asado has an impressive catering menu on their website, full of many southern BBQ delights. read more