Freshly landed in Derwentside, the Man vs Food chain has expanded with a new site in Consett. Taking over a prime spot next to Tesco + Starbucks, we visited Mans vs Food Consett on their first Saturday to see what was what.
Adding a 3rd restaurant along side the existing Heaton + South Shields venues, the team behind the brand have picked a pretty decent location as the catchment area for Consett is pretty damn wide. The site has had a chequered past with businesses not managing to flourish but hopefully Man vs Food Consett will. Judging by how full the car park was at 3pm on a Saturday, we don’t think there’ll be a problem.
Arriving in that awkward lull between lunch + dinner on their first Saturday opening, it was surprisingly busy. We had to wait to be seated which gave us a chance to peruse the menu.
If you are unfamiliar with Man vs Food Consett, the food is generously portioned with plenty of choice in an American BBQ style. With 8 burgers, steaks, chicken and BBQ platters on the menu to choose from, that’s not an exhaustive list. There’s pretty much something for everyone.
We started with Pepperoni Loaded Fries (£5.95) which was more than enough to share between 2 or even 4 people. Skinny shoestring fries were topped with a sweet and smokey tomato sauce and massive amounts of melted cheese. The melty mass was decked with pepperoni to finish. We tried not to think about the calorific intake and just dug in. It was a canny alternative to nachos and who doesn’t love cheesy chips eh?
The BBQ Smoke Tray (£16.95) comes piles high with enough meat to satisfy any meat lover. Brisket, Pulled chicken, Beef short rib, 1/4 chicken, lamb grill sausage and chicken wings are all stacked up. Pit beans, chips and a side of your choice complete this massive platter. Billed for 1 person, with this amount of meat you could split it for sure. The husband thought there was a bit much chicken and would have preferred a bit more of something else. The beef short rib got a very meaty double thumbs up for being excellent. All the meat is liberally doused with a sauce of your choice. The Devils BBQ has a healthy kick to it!
I convinced myself I had kept it healthy by choosing the Chicken Sizzler. A sizzling hot platter was presented with spicy chicken, sauteed onions, rice and shoestring fries. Your sauce is on the side. I struggled to finish this which was a surprise. The chicken was moist but the onions needed longer on the platter to get that brown smoky char you associate with platter dishes. It was a good choice because I had genuinely thought Man vs Food Consett would only have burgers and BBQ meat.
had enjoyed our first visit to Man vs Food Consett. Yes there were a few niggles but for only being open 2 days, it wasn’t a problem for us. We did enjoy the few choice swear words coming from the open kitchen though, it certainly tickled us!
On hindsight, we most definitely didn’t need a starter. We went home and had to veg on the sofa in a food coma!
This looks incredible, really reasonably priced too considering how much meat you get.
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I think it will do well in Consett as there’s nothing even remotely similar within a long distance!
My other half is dying to visit the one in Heaton but I thought it would be all burgers and things, good to know they do slightly healthier dishes too. The portions look huge, those chip starters are massive xx