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MELBOURNE | San Antone by Bludso’s BBQ Southbank is one of the American BBQ restaurants to open up in Melbourne since the cuisine captured the minds of Melburnians a few years ago. Kevin Bludso was surprised to be opening up a restaurant in Australia – it wasn’t something he’d ever considered until the people from Crown approached him after sampling BBQ across America. Blusdo himself is no newcomer to the BBQ game. He grew up in Compton and spent summers in Texas learning how to smoke meat “low and slow” from his grandmother from the age of 9. His Compton restaurant has been voted as one of the best places to get American BBQ in the United States, and the West Hollywood location has received many accolades too so expectations were high when Melburnians found out he was going to be opening up a restaurant down under.
The menu isn’t strictly BBQ, and features a range of Tex Mex options too – think of it as a gateway for those who haven’t experienced BBQ before. When were invited to visit as part of a Zomato meetup we found out that one of the difficulties in running the restaurant was managing expectations. Customers who hadn’t tried American BBQ before were coming expecting an Australian-style BBQ and were confused by the pink chicken (caused by the smoke) and the room temperature meat (being cooked at low temperatures for up to 12 hours, the meat never actually gets hot). The meat on the menu is of the highest quality and the highlights in our opinion are the brisket and the pork ribs. Full of flavour, with melt in your mouth fat. The chorizo also impressed with its surprisingly spicy kick – toned down this is not. When it comes to desert, the banana cream pie is a winner. The Tex Mex options – nachos, quesadillas etc are perfectly acceptable but aren’t what you’re coming here for. Skip the Tex Mex, and go straight for the BBQ.
To wash it all down, there’s a good range of American and local beers and spirits, along with a decent selection of wines.
San Antone by Bludso’s BBQ
Crown Melbourne
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank
Victoria 3006
Australia
Telephone: (03) 8658 3441
E-mail: n/a
Website: https://www.crownmelbourne.com.au/restaurants/casual/san-antone
Open
Mon – Sun: 12:00pm to 10:00pm
Fri – Sat: 12:00pm to 11:00pm