Texas Smokehouse brings Texas-style barbecue to 736 Great South Road in the heart of Manukau City Centre — a warm, relaxed space where flavour comes first. The kitchen is built around smoke and charcoal: beef brisket and beef short rib smoked low and slow for 12 hours, pork ribs and pork belly given 8 hours over oak, fiery buffalo wings, and a charcoal grill turning out eye fillet, scotch fillet, rump eye, T-bone and an imposing tomahawk. The team sums it up simply: bold BBQ, juicy burgers and hearty platters, cooked to satisfy.
The menu runs well beyond the pit. Gourmet burgers — including a ¾ lb Angus beef stacked with streaky bacon, fried egg and onion rings — all come with fries, while the seafood side of the menu brings beer-battered market fish, seared salmon, garlic king prawns, Clevedon oysters and garlic butter lobster. Creamy pastas, classic salads, butter chicken and a mutton karahi round things out, and the menu notes that a selection of meat products are Halal certified from the supplier, with precautions taken in cooking methods.
Open every day from 4pm until 10:30pm, it suits everything from a family feast to a late-night fix or something to share with friends. Tables can be reserved online for parties of up to 20, and the team also hosts occasions at the venue — birthdays, baby showers, graduations and weddings.
Texas Smokehouse sits at 736 Great South Road in the heart of Manukau City Centre, bringing proper Texas-style barbecue to South Auckland. The pitch is simple — slow-smoked meats, juicy burgers and hearty platters, all served in a warm, relaxed space where flavour comes first — and the menu backs it up with brisket, ribs, short rib and pork belly that spend serious hours in the smoker before they ever reach the table.
Doors open at 4pm every day and the kitchen runs through to 10:30pm, which makes it a genuine option for a late dinner, a family feast or a long catch-up with friends over something to share.
The smoked section is the heart of the menu. The beef brisket is smoked low and slow for 12 hours, arriving juicy and tender with a robust flavour, served with fries. Pork ribs and pork belly get 8 hours over oak — the ribs glazed in a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, the belly rubbed with a secret blend of herbs and spices. The beef short rib, flagged as a Texas special, also takes 12 hours of smoke, served with a fried egg, creamy mash and salad.
If choosing is hard, the Texas Smoked Platter solves the problem: pick from brisket, chicken Maryland, pork belly, buffalo wings or pork ribs, then round it out with two or four sides — brisket beans, mac n cheese, Texas fries, garden salad or creamy coleslaw. Buffalo wings coated in fiery buffalo sauce are the move for heat-seekers.
Start the way most Texas tables do, with sharers: the trio of breads and dips with homemade focaccia, crispy cheesy garlic bread, calamari, or mac n cheese with bacon — even the small plates lean generous.
Steak lovers are well looked after. The Texas Eye Fillet is the house special, served with homemade mash, coleslaw and salad, while the Scotch fillet comes with a fried egg and your choice of mushroom sauce, peppercorn sauce or red wine jus. Further up the scale sit the T-bone and the tomahawk — a bone-in statement plate with mash, salad, onion rings and a fried egg. Lamb rump in a peppercorn and pistachio crust, braised lamb shank and Moroccan-crusted lamb cutlets cover the other red-meat bases, and charcoal-grilled pork and beef skewers suit the barbecue purists.
The kitchen travels beyond the pit, too: butter chicken from the charcoal oven, mutton karahi with aromatic Indian spices, creamy pastas like the chicken and bacon carbonara, and seafood holding its own — Clevedon oysters natural or battered, beer-battered market fish, seared salmon, garlic king prawns and garlic butter lobster tails.
The burger list is where things get indulgent. The Angus Beef Burger is ¾ lb of prime beef loaded with streaky bacon, a fried egg, cheese, onion rings, lettuce, tomato, gherkins, BBQ sauce and aioli. The Brisket Beef Burger stacks oak-smoked brisket with bacon and cheese sauce, the Texas Chicken Burger brings mango chutney and caramelized onions, and the pork belly burger pairs slow-roasted belly with seeded mustard and apricot. Every burger comes with fries, with a curly-fries upgrade available.
Reservations can be made online for anywhere from a table for one to a party of 20, and the team also takes on events — birthdays, baby showers, graduations and even weddings at the Manukau venue. A note on the menu confirms that a selection of meat products are Halal certified from the supplier, with precautions taken in cooking methods, and a 10% surcharge applies on public holidays.
Whether you come for the 12-hour brisket, a towering Angus burger or a platter built for the whole table, the formula is the same: bold smoke, generous plates and no reason to hurry.