Billed as a restaurant and late-night music space, Hon’s BBQ will take over the former site of zero-waste pioneer Silo above Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick.
Formerly Uncle Hon’s BBQ, the brand has now evolved into Hon’s BBQ for the move into its permanent home.
The 80-cover canal-side restaurant will combine Texan-style barbecue with Chinese and wider Asian influences.
Dishes will include snacks such as braised tofu and lotus root, as well as smoked tea egg with candied walnut.
Small plates will include ox tongue with Asian chimichurri, pork and cuttlefish meatballs, curry fishballs, smoked duck breast with pancake, and spring onion pancake.
Smoked meats will feature short ribs with Sichuan peppercorn sauce, Taiwanese pork belly, Iberico pork ribs with Texas rub, Asian-spiced ox cheek, and Xi’an-style lamb shoulder.
Hon’s BBQ will operate on ‘true Texas barbecue principles’, with meat smoked low and slow for up to 12 hours and sold by the gram until it sells out.
The drinks list will be overseen by Oliver Dibben, who is also a sommelier at Brat.
Billed as characterful, unpretentious, and quietly considered, the wine list leans into the spirit of the food.
The interior at Hon’s BBQ has been designed by founder Man Hon Luk.
What was already in place at Silo has been thoughtfully repurposed and reappropriated, layering in a bold new colour palette with red as the main colour.
The furniture throughout, from pinwheel-patterned tables to the bar stools, is custom-designed by friend and Chinese designer Mo Tong.
The story of Uncle Hon’s BBQ began in 2021 when Luk took a trip to Austin, Texas, and was introduced to Interstellar BBQ pitmaster John Bates.
He returned to Austin in early 2022 to train, despite having no professional kitchen experience at the time.
Back in the UK, Luk ran a number of pop-ups and in 2023 Uncle Hon’s BBQ secured its first long-term residency at All My Friends in Hackney Wick, running until December last year.
The restaurant is independently funded, backed primarily by Luk, with personal savings invested into the project.
Hosted on the Kickstarter platform, the crowdfund raised £36,000 against a target of £20,000.