I am currently on a trip to Austin, Texas which is where my boss lives. Austin is the capital city of the Free State of Texas and being in the hill country has a much more pleasant climate than Dallas or Houston. The downtown area is to the North of the Town Lake. In the downtown area the most well known area to go out is 6th Street where there are a lot of pubs with live music and restaurants. A few hundred metres away between San Jacinto and the conference centre there are a number of more upmarket eating joints.

This week I am staying on the South of Town Lake. Parallel to the lake runs Barton Springs Road where there are a number of cheaper restaurants with basic decor and very often the possibility of eating outside. The other day - jetlagged and weary - when I arrived I met two American colleagues to talk things through before meeting our boss. One was very keen to try Texas barbeque so we went to the Green Mesquite.

 

The Green Mesquite has an unpretentious decor and had friendly service.

I felt hungry and my Austin colleague recommended the 3-meat BBQ plate. For the meats I chose spare ribs, brisket and smoked sausage accompanied by cajun rice and fried okra. My Austin colleague was even more hungry than me and went for the 4-meat BBQ plate!

The plate when it arrived had a fair old weight of meat. The spare ribs were OK, but definitely not the best I have had. I have had better ones in Munich or Tampere; somehow they were not as tender as I have had in other places though the BBQ sauce was good. The brisket was very tender. Although I read about brisket in British cookery books I have very rarely seen it advertised in recent years. The smoked sausage was tasty but on a previous trip I preferred the ones at the Salt Lick. The cajun rice was pleasant enough and the okra just deep fried; but fried well.

The taste did not blow me away but at $9.00 (£4.50) for the main course was fair value for money. Definitely a place for carnivores - but would be hard going for a vegetarian.