Joe’s Southern Kitchen and Bar

It’s a misnomer that American Southern food lacks sophistication. As someone who has been to the region and heartily sampled the cuisine, I had my prejudices smashed about the quality on offer. It happened the first time I tucked into a pulled pork sandwich. The way in which the meat had been transformed into something incredible led me to look more into the ways of Southern food. Cheese grits, chicken and waffles, and hushpuppies turned out to be fantastic pieces of cooking. Don’t call me a convert yet, a bad experience with something called sausage gravy leaving me with some residual doubts. But on hearing about Navajo Joe turning into Joe’s Southern Kitchen and Bar, I was intrigued enough to sling myself all the way down to er, Covent Garden.

The interior of the place is modest with no ersatz Americana in the shape of football shirts, crocodile heads or cowboy hats. On the night I visited, it attracted a mixed crowd of families, groups of friends and one boisterous birthday party. I started off with the slow braised beef brisket chilli cup with sour cream and tortillas. This came with a finely-nuanced kick, not too spicy and the tenderness of the meat being a consistent pleasure. My companion plumped for the fried soft shell crab, vegetables and cajun mustard. He was soon eulogising over the softness of the batter and how the crab had managed to retain its flavour.

For main course, my companion choose the Premium Steak with Southern fried potatoes. He was equally enthusiastic about his choice and delivered me a slice of the steak to try out for myself. I found it a little characterless, lacking a true distinct flavour. On telling me this, he gave me a look which said, ‘Why? Why do you always do this? Why can’t you just enjoy something for what it is? It makes me happy and I enjoy it.’

Ah, the perils of mixing with non-critics.

As for myself, I picked out a staple from the menu, Joe’s Long Horn Burger, which came with onion rings, pickles and fries. I added a side order of mac n’ cheese, this being another discovery in my Southern Odyssey. This was met my definition of a good standard of burger, by which I mean that you keep on biting in, despite knowing that at some point you’ve got to stop and chew.

We rounded off the meal with a shared brace of desserts, a brownie and a sundae competing with the diminishing space in our stomachs. We left more than sated, not bloated from an abundance of carbohydrates and high density fats, but through being overwhelmed by the sheer quality which meant that we had no choice but to go with the quantity.

Joe’s Southern Kitchen and Bar
34 King Street
Covent Garden
WC2E 8JD

Tel: 020 7240 4008

Image credited to Nick Beer