Yak Ales Barbecue Festival - April 8th & 9th

Little Chef and I headed to the carnivores’ paradise that is the Yak Ales Barbecue Festival at Burswood Parklands. The inaugural Perth barbecue event features the very best of barbequing from America and WA.

There’s meaty morsels to devour, a barbecuing competition for the die-hards which is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS), the world’s largest organisation of barbecue enthusiasts, barbie cooking demos, a mini expo with barbeque retailers, rides and games for the kids, live music and more.

Taste your way through mouth-watering barbequed meats from local and international pit masters. The Memphis Barbecue Co and Sugarfire Smoke House have come all the way from the US of A. You can’t get more authentic southern barbecue than that.

There’s also a host of local barbecue vendors too:

o Lucky Chan’s

o Southside Smokers

o Porkies Bar-B-Que

o Mondo Butchers

o The Merrywell

o Settlers Tavern

o El Asador

o Gryphon Smokehouse

o Smokies Southern BBQ

Make sure you arrive with a hungry tummy! Here’s some of our picks;

I made a bee-line for The Memphis Barbecue Co. Their meaty ribs, $15, had a wonderful smoky depth of flavour. Though the meat was falling off the bone, it was a touch dry, but tasty nonetheless. The side of slaw was good too.

The meat platter, $25, from Southside Smokers looked really generous.

Texas beef brisket, charcoal chicken and bourbon n cola pork bao from Lucky Chans, $20. I hear their desert bao are a must try too!

Little Chef tucked into a gourmet hot dog from Southside Smokers, $10.

If we had room we would have eaten these bacon doughnuts from Mary Street Bakery.

Freshly squeezed lemonade, $5, was really refreshing and cut through all that sticky BBQ sauce.

There’s a few rides for little and big kids, including a bucking bull.

There’s kids cooking classes and a kid’s cook off held a few times each afternoon. Games are found in a shady spot, under trees by the river. There’s a few activities like giant jenga, giant connect four and some throwing games too.

There’s plenty of tables and seating around, mostly in the shade.

Take cash, as most of the vendors are cash only. There are a couple of ATMs onsite too. Parking is relatively easy. We parked in the free multi-storey car park at Crown and walked over to the foreshore which only took a few minutes.

The festival is found at the Burswood Parklands at Resort Drive, Burswood. The entrance is right behind the outdoor cinema screen. Open 10am till 7pm.