I do love American BBQ. Sometimes there’s nothing like a succulent and tasty piece of meat that’s been treated with care and respect. Third Wave Cafe has been pumping out their famous slow-cooked American BBQ from their custom built smoker for the last seven years.

There’s a new menu at Third Wave Cafe, so our visit naturally involved a lot of meat. There are Spicy Chicken Wings marinated for 24 hours, smoked, then grilled. Instead of avocado rosettes, you can get a rosette of Bacon Candy, which is flavoured with maple syrup and chilli. An chewy treat of sweet and salty flavours. If you love pork, you might want to try the Oink Balls. It’s pork on pork action, with the smoked and grilled pork meatballs (a tad dry on this occasion) being wrapped in streaky bacon.

Third Wave’s meats can also be enjoyed in burger form. The Cheeseburger Royale has a standard combination of ingredients like beef patty, cheese and bacon, whilst the Oh Mamma is a tall stack containing smokey beef short-ribs and pulled pork from the barbecue.

Third Wave prepares all sorts of ribs. The Pork Ribs are done in Southern-style using dry spices, and the Beef Ribs are smoked with a dry rub over hickory wood. All of the meats pull off the bone easily with a tug of the fork, and the sliced beef cheek is similarly tender. The BBQ sauces which accompany many of their dishes are housemade, and available for purchase.

Less meaty dishes include warm, toasty and cheesy quesadilla, but you may also opt for some sides to balance things out. There’s a zesty and refreshing Coleslaw of apples, carrots, and cabbage, as well as chunky, buttered cubes of grilled Cornbread. Smoked Mac and Cheese, also smoked with hickory, is topped with bacon and is appropriately stringy, though could have done with a bit more seasoning.

Classic American dessert pies make an appearance when we finally get to the sweets menu: Key Lime, Pecan, and the (less traditional) Nutella and Peanut Butter Pie. All are indulgent and delicious. For me the pecan takes the…cake, simply because of my love for nuts.

There are plenty of melt-in-your mouth moments at Third Wave Cafe when it comes to the BBQ’d meats. We came expecting a great display of BBQ prowess, and we weren’t disappointed.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Third Wave Cafe as a guest, however, opinions expressed here are purely my own, and are based on my experience at the time

Third Wave Cafe
189 Rouse Street
Port Melbourne, VIC, 3207
(03) 9676 2399
thirdwavecafe.com.au