85 South, Kau U Fong, Hong Kong Central

We were recommended to check out 85 South (6-10 Kau U Fong, Central, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2337 2078) just next door from Le Port Parfumé for some supposedly good South Carolinian barbecue that was done by a couple of guys from North Carolina. The approach was supposed to be home styled; recipe, from family and method, traditional. But since I don't really know anything about Carolinian barbecue, it was just really exploratory for me. 

There's no briskets to be had, just ribs and pulled pork. Both of which were fortunately not slathered over excessively with sauces. That being said, I was hoping that the meat of the meal (pun intended) would pass muster. The dry rub on the ribs was....well, nothing very exciting. There was too much bone and too little meat on those ribs and it was definitely not fork tender. 

We were expecting the pulled pork to be tender and juicy. The reality was a little dry and stringy. That's where the sauces in squeeze bottles on the sides came in handy with an East, West and South style in concoction. Personally, my favourite was the East which really tasted Middle Eastern in a good way. Second was the South that had a smokey and peppery tomato base. 

What I liked was the slaw on the side which was tomato and I believe, vinegar based. It was appetizing for a start and did it's job to cut the heaviness from the meat and carbs. But it became a tad acidic at the end.

I couldn't say that I didn't like the food, but I was kinda hoping that this would be a more impressive experience. Then again, I don't actually have much expectations to tie the experience to since I've never had American styled barbecue before.

We got ourselves some of their home made lemonade and Southern tea which was really just sweet tea. The lemonade was waayyyyy too clean. It felt like cordial rather than squeezed lemons unless they had an extremely sophisticated machine out in the back that filters the tiniest particles or sediments out of squeezed fruit juices. It just didn't taste like fresh lemonade to me.