Bodeans Barbecue Smoke House in Fulham is a carnivore’s delight in the heart of West London, serving up impossible-to-finish meals to a lively crowd enjoying the sports and rock music almost as much as the food.

The Venue
Located on Fulham Broadway, Bodeans is a couple of minutes walk at most from the Fulham Broadway tube station, and is easy to spot from the underground exit with proud neon and white lights declaring its entrance. Once inside, the restaurant is pretty much divided into a top section with studded leather booths and the bar, and down some steps you’ll find an open-plan restaurant area with a few tables set around a huge plasma screen, showing American sports such as ice hockey. There’s an authentic down-home American feel throughout, with ribbed oak panelled walls, stag antler light fittings and chandeliers, and beer trays adorning the walls.

The Atmosphere
The vibe here is fun-loving and noisy, with sports shown on the TV’s all night and an upbeat Springsteen rock soundtrack. They’re getting something right with the Stateside feel, as many of the customers are Americans on vacation, or those who have relocated to London in search of something to remind them of home. A lot of families come here too, to take advantage of the kids menu, and the sports element guarantees a lot of single males dining alone and enjoying the TV. The staff are friendly and attentive, though this place is limited on space and gets packed early on, and the waiting staff find themselves running from table to table trying to take orders. It can take a few minutes before your order is taken, but the staff are apologetic and polite so you shouldn’t mind waiting a short while. The close proximity of the tables makes this a sociable place, so strike up conversation with your neighbours while you wait and you’ll hardly notice.

The Food
Perhaps most authentically American is the menu – as well as serving up a vast range of steaks, burgers, ribs and shrimp, the portions are enormous, served on plates the size of trays and piled high. You’ll need some appetite to finish any of the meals here.

Starting with Teasers, there’s a good choice of starters with crab cakes, buffalo chicken wings and flame grilled shrimps. Worth a try are the nachos, served in abundance and smothered in smoked chicken, guacamole, sour cream, melted cheese, salsa and jalapeno peppers. There’s enough here to share, and you get plenty of sauces and dips to ensure you don’t run out of anything. A little less enthralling were the smoked chicken quesadillas, served with sour cream, which were a little flat and bland, though still generously portioned and very filling. The starters are priced from £4.00 to £7.00, which is pretty average for this kind of restaurant and more than fair given the size of the starters.

If you want to enjoy your main course, you’d do well to leave half your starter! Bodeans serves exceptional Aberdeen Angus ribeye steaks, which are tender, marbled with just the right amount of fat and cooked to perfection. Add a sauce to your steak if you want to make it interesting – the Bearnaise sauce is a creamy delight and subtle enough not to overpower the juicy steak. Just as tasty, and in keeping with the American theme, is the Meatlover’s Meatloaf, a tasty combination of beef and pork, served with a slightly disappointing watery mash and buttery corn-on-the-cob. The meatloaf tastes strongly of onions which detracts a bit from the meat, but it’s sweet-tasting and filling. If you’re blessed with a particularly huge appetite, you can add onion rings or cornbread muffins to your meal to bulk them out even further, but it’s unlikely you’d be able to finish them. Main courses range wildly in price from £5.00 to £18.00, so there’s something here to satisfy everyone’s appetite and pocket.

Force yourself to find room for dessert, because the offerings here are well worth it. As well as cheesecakes, homemade ice creams and chocolate fudge cake, there’s interesting options such as apple cobbler, pecan pie or sweet potato bread pudding. The chocolate and macadamia nut cheesecake is rich and almost overpowering, but you won’t be able to get enough of the key lime pie, which is tangy, light and sweet and served on a perfect crumbly biscuit base. Desserts are cheap at £4.00 and under, so don’t feel too guilty if you can’t finish them.

The Drink
With Coors on tap, and Moosehead lager the house speciality, Bodean’s is a beer-drinker’s delight too, though there’s also a decent selection of white, red and rose wines, and a house champagne for special occasions. The house white wine, the Cote de Gascogne, is light and easy to drink, and priced under £12.00.

The Last Word
Bodeans pack a lot into their Fulham restaurant – loud music, live sports and the biggest plates in West London, and is a must try if you can handle so much meat at one mealtime.

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