I’ve heard about the delicious sandwiches from Smokehouse’s Richmond location so I was interested in trying out their sandwiches at their new downtown location. I’ve never been to the Richmond location so I can’t compare but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

The downtown location is hidden away inside Cathedral Place on Howe and Georgia and they have a sign outside on Howe Street directing you there. Outside Smokehouse, there is a grassy courtyard where you can sit and eat your lunch. It’s hidden away and nice and quiet.

Felt adventurous and ordered the charcoal bun.

Plenty of indoor seating! I like how everything looks so neat and clean here.

I went for the Billie which comes with salt cured pork belly, aioli, salsa and lettuce. For a sandwich with pork belly, this was surprisingly light and refreshing. The pork belly was super soft and not very salty. In fact, I sort of wished it had more flavour and some crunch to it. If you’re curious about the charcoal bun, it’s really just like a regular soft toasted bun and doesn’t taste any different to me. 

The salsa isn’t really salsa but just chunks of marinated tomato. I did enjoy them a lot! Maybe even more than the pork belly. This was definitely not heavy like a sandwich from Meat and Bread but I wish it had more impact. In hindsight, it was a little too light! Although I didn’t feel like I was in a food coma afterwards. I don’t eat too many sandwiches and I’ve been to Meat and Bread the most so I have to use that as my benchmark. My other recent sandwich experience was at Chachi’s in Metrotown and I thought they were awesome too!

So after reading a lot about Smokehouse’s sandwiches, it didn’t live up to the hype for me. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Also for the prices, I’d rather go to Meat and Bread.