Decker Barbecue

Decker Barbecue
60 Robertson Quay
#01-17 The Quayside

https://www.deckerbarbecue.com/

Meal Flat Lay At Decker Barbecue

Exquisite, Authentic Texan Barbecue

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 9
Spent about SGD $52 per person.


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Established in May 2015 as a joint collaboration between Singapore's Club Street Social director-owner Min Chan and Bali's Smokehouse BBQ director-owner Elliot Decker, Decker Barbecue is a casual, unpretentious eatery that serves up classic and authentic Texan barbecue. Popular amongst both expats and locals for their consistent and delicious food quality, friendly service, relaxed ambience, reasonable prices, and good range of drinks, Decker Barbecue is a good dining destination of choice.

Ambience at Decker Barbecue is relaxed and casual. The open space, situated around a corner of a building, is neatly lined with wide and sturdy wooden dining tables flanked by rustic wooden benches or chairs, and high bar tables with metal chairs to perch on. Great buzzing atmosphere, a place suitable to pop by for a quick meal, or linger and catch up with friends. Slight drawback as seats are semi-exposed to the elements, including harsh sunlight and rain, and while the extendable awning provides good relief, more inclement weather will affect the experience here.

Taking center stage in the open kitchen is their iconic meat smoker, a USD $20,000 barbecue pit built by A.N. Bewley Fabrications in Dallas, Texas, United States Of America. Apparently, it's so heavy that it broke the floor when it arrived, which they then had to repair and reinforce. The barbecue pit uses oak wood, no electricity or gas, to slow cook meats at 140 degrees celsius (284 degrees fahrenheit), for up to 16 hours! Decker Barbecue also imports firewood from Texas to power their barbecue pit, mainly oak wood, though they sometimes have lychee or apple wood as well.

Service at Decker Barbecue is friendly and efficient. Staff promptly greet and seat guests, and demonstrate good knowledge as they share the ordering process and menu recommendations. Orders are quickly fulfilled, a pleasant surprise as I expected a longer wait for barbecue. I note they also clean up quickly when diners leave. Staff proactively help to ensure provision of cutlery and condiments; each table has a large bottle of their house special barbecue sauce, for diners to self-service. This is true to Central Texas style barbecue, where sauces are served on the side, never as a marinade on the meat.

Food at Decker Barbecue is American cuisine, specifically, Central Texas style barbecue. This means a focus on 3 types of meat - beef brisket, pork ribs, and sausages; rubbed with salt and black pepper (always simply seasoned), then cooked low and slow over indirect heat from a wood fire. Beyond these iconic meats, Decker Barbecue also offers Southern fried chicken and burnt ends, along with a range of 10 side dishes. Head Chef Summon leads the team to ensure each dish is consistently executed. Portions are served large, and may be shared. Prices are reasonable and mid-range, budget about SGD $52 per person for a meal here.


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I first came upon Decker Barbecue during the height of the COVID-19 circuit breaker, while searching for a place that offered food delivery. Upon realising that their takeaway travelled well and remained delicious, I decided to visit when restrictions lifted. Since then, I've been to Decker Barbecue several times.

Decker Barbecue Signage

Decker Barbecue Facade

Decker Barbecue Seating

Texas Oak / Lychee / Apple Wood

The Beer Decker Lager (SGD $14) is a refreshing house craft beer on tap, a pale lager brewed by the Trouble Brewing brewery in Kill, County Kildare, Leinster, Ireland. Pours a bright golden straw yellow color, with aromas and tastes of biscuit, lemon zest, corn, and cereal. The body is smooth, crisp, and rounded, with a bready grainy bitter sweet flavour. Nicely drinkable.

Beer Decker Lager (SGD $14)

Think of the Cocktail Vodka Finger Lime Lemon Myrtle & Ginger By Australian Seltzer Co. (SGD $12) rather like an alcoholic lemonade, with a blend of vodka, finger lime juice, lemon myrtle leaf essence, ginger, and water. Smooth and light in texture, with a sharp tangy zesty sour herbal sweet spice bitter boozy flavour, tasty and refreshing. Good!

Cocktail Vodka Finger Lime Lemon Myrtle & Ginger By Australian Seltzer Co. (SGD $12)

The Arnold Palmer Half-And-Half (SGD $6) is an iconic American non-alcoholic beverage that combines equal parts unsweetened ice black tea and lemonade. Has a zesty tangy sour sweet earthy flavour, with a cooling and refreshing feel. Named after famed American golfer Arnold Palmer, who often ordered this drink combination after playing on sunny golf courses, he eventually partnered with a beverage company to bottle this.

Arnold Palmer Half-And-Half (SGD $6)

Arnold Palmer Half-And-Half

On my 1st visit, I ordered the 2-Meat Plate Version 1 (SGD $42). The Kale Salad had a generous portion of crisp leafy kale with vegetal bitter herbal sweet flavour. The kale salad is garnished with crisp red onions with vegetal earthy sweet notes, crunchy almonds with nutty earthy flavour, and shaved parmesan cheese with cheesy salty flavour. The Mac & Cheese featured chewy al-dente macaroni pasta tubes, coated generously with a thick creamy blend of butter, milk, cream, and cheddar cheese, giving this a bold grainy cheesy sweet salty flavour. The mac & cheese is garnished with sprinklings of crisp bread crumbs, lending a nice contrasting crunchy texture and bready sweet flavour.

The Beef Wagyu Brisket was excellent, barbecued low and slow till tender, juicy, succulent, with the meat pulling apart easily. Together with the simple spice rub, the beef wagyu brisket has robust meaty savoury salty peppery spice smoky flavour, so addictive. The Pulled Pork was yummy, barbecued low and slow then hand pulled off the bone, with the meat having a tender, chewy, juicy bite. The spice rub and light sauce glaze lends robust meaty sweet savoury sour tangy flavour to the pulled pork, so enticing. Love to add their house special barbecue sauce to the meats, for added depth of tangy sour sweet smoky flavour. Highly recommended!

2-Meat Plate Version 1 (SGD $42)

Kale Salad

Mac & Cheese

Beef Wagyu Brisket

Pulled Pork

2-Meat Plate Version 1

On my 2nd visit, I ordered the 2-Meat Plate Version 2 (SGD $37). The Coleslaw was fresh, crunchy, and juicy, comprising shredded white cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots in a light sauce sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Each bite of the coleslaw holds bright vegetal sour tangy sweet nutty flavour, yum. The Cornbread was fluffy soft and moist, the cornmeal batter studded with corn kernels and jalapeno peppers. Each mouthful of the cornbread gets a pleasing grainy bready sweet savoury spice flavour, nice. Accompanied by more crisp red onions with vegetal earthy sweet notes, and juicy jalapeno peppers with sharp vegetal sour spicy flavour.

The Pork Spare Ribs was so good, barbecued low and slow till tender, moist, and succulent, the meat sliding easily off the bone. Simply seasoned with a spice rub, the pork spare ribs held big smoky meaty sour sweet savoury peppery spice flavour, so good. The Chopped Wagyu Beef Brisket was delicious, barbecued low and slow then roughly chopped, with the meat having a tender, chewy, moist bite. Coated with a spice rub and light sauce glaze that results in bold smoky meaty savoury sweet salty peppery spice flavour to the chopped wagyu beef brisket, so tasty. Love to add their house special barbecue sauce to the meats, for added depth of tangy sour sweet smoky flavour. Highly recommended!

2-Meat Plate Version 2 (SGD $37)

Coleslaw

Cornbread

Pork Spare Ribs

Chopped Wagyu Beef Brisket

2-Meat Plate Version 2

On my 3rd visit, we ordered the Feast For 3 (SGD $105). The Brisket Dirty Rice had chewy shredded wagyu beef brisket, soft caramelised white onions, and juicy bell peppers / capsicum, buried within the fluffy moist white rice. The result is an infusion of enticing meaty grainy vegetal sweet savoury salty earthy flavour into the brisket dirty rice, giving it a brown black white purple colour, hence its name.

The Southern style Fried Chicken was excellent, with juicy tender succulent chicken meat coated in a crisp crunchy spiced batter. The fried chicken has bold meaty sweet savoury salty spice flavour, nicely addictive. The Sausage Beef & Pork was alright, large and snappy crunchy in texture, though I would have preferred it to be larger, and cooked till slightly more smoky. Still, the sausage beef & pork has good meaty savoury salty spice flavour. The rest of the dishes I had tried before, and were just as good.

Feast For 3 (SGD $105)

Brisket Dirty Rice

Fried Chicken

Sausage Beef & Pork

Feast For 3

Feast For 3 Portion

Portion Of White Onions & Jalapenos

Portion Of Coleslaw

Portion Of Mac & Cheese

Portion Of Cornbread

Portion Of Brisket Dirty Rice

Portion Of Beef Wagyu Brisket

Portion Of Pulled Pork

Portion Of Fried Chicken

Portion Of Sausage Beef & Pork

Feast For 3 Portion

The Apple Cobbler (SGD $10) is served easy American style, with a base of firm crunchy cobbler crumble with lovely bready fruity sweet herbal spice flavour, made from all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla essence, milk, and cream. A layer of thin sliced juicy tender red apples, warm and caramelised with cinnamon sugar, goes on top, lending a fruity spice sweet flavour. Completed with creamy smooth vanilla ice cream, with gentle milky floral sweet flavour. Highly recommended!

Apple Cobbler (SGD $10)

Apple Cobbler

Didn't quite take to the Nutella Bread Pudding (SGD $10), with its firm spongy texture to the bread pudding and bready sweet fruity flavour. The use of nutella here was a little too mild, where a deeper chocolate sauce would have worked better. Could be improved.

Nutella Bread Pudding (SGD $10)

Nutella Bread Pudding

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