brand logo

The Whistling Hog

20 Jul 2021

  • BBQ that leaves you with a merry tune
Sandesh Rodrigo had always wanted to start his own restaurant since he was 20 years old. He had drawn up a business plan, but never had the finances to execute it. After many years of hard work, he finally made his dreams come true and opened The Whistling Hog – a restaurant that specialises in smoked meat.  The initial idea was very different to The Whistling Hog; eventually, he graduated from university and entered corporate life, but that feeling of wanting to start his own business always nagged him. In 2019, Rodrigo gave up his corporate job and started his business in marketing consultancy and event management.  Sharing his story, he said: “When the first wave of Covid hit and we went into the first lockdown in March 2020, I lost my income overnight. I was just at home researching alternative income sources, particularly in the food services industry, but nothing really clicked. Then one day I was watching a movie about a father and son duo who ran a barbecue restaurant and that’s when I knew that this was going to be it.”  From there, he immediately got to work, did tons of research for more than a month, researched and developed recipes, researched and engineered their own smoker, which they built at home, and started the business from his garage.  Initially, they operated only as a delivery operation where customers needed to pre-order their food the day before. The Whistling Hog started with just him, his wife who helped out with the preparation of the sides in the evening after her day job, and another casual employee who would come in when we had orders. They also had his brother and his wife as well as their closest friends volunteering during busy weekends to help them out.  The Whistling Hog did an “Election Platter” for the 2019 Presidential Elections and their entire house was turned into a commercial kitchen and assembly line. “We assembled close to 140 pulled chicken sliders in an hour thanks to our amazing team of volunteers. Our business soon grew faster than we expected and we would sell out almost every night of the week. That’s when I knew that we needed to get out and be present in a physical location with both dine-in and delivery options.” His aunt came forward and generously offered to invest in the business and helped them get started.  Talking about some challenges they faced, he said: “A lot of people advised me against expanding given both the economic situation and also the looming threat of Covid. However, I am a devout Christian and believe that God has a plan for everything. So I took a giant leap of faith and we started operations at The Grove on 3 September 2020 which is incidentally my birthday.”  The name “The Whistling Hog” came from Rodrigo wanting a name that was outside the box, something that went with their product offering of being authentic American and something that was fun and catchy; something that really stood out from the competition. “In the back of my mind, I always saw us growing into a pub-style dining restaurant someday, so, for me, the name had to go with that idea too. Since we are a smoked barbecue restaurant, I wanted something to go with that and that’s where the ‘Whistling’ part came in. We also wanted to emphasise the fact that we do good pork, hence the ‘Hog’ part.”   The restaurant specialises in low and slow woodfire smoked barbecue. Unlike almost all barbecue restaurants, they don’t grill their food but instead, smoke it using 100% woodfire which gives the food that smokey taste of authentic barbecue. The meat cooks for a minimum of five hours at a controlled temperature rather than 20 minutes on high heat which helps it become juicy and tender.  Having tried a few of their dishes, we can confirm that this smokey flavour is evident and is vastly different from if it were to be grilled. Rodrigo added that at The Whistling Hog, they cook for their customers as if they were friends and family, and this has helped them to now build a very loyal following, whom he called “friends” over the past year that they have been in operation.   We tried “The Full House” off their menu which comes with two pork chops, half a chicken, four sausages of your choice between chicken kochchi, chicken garlic, and pork, as well as two side dishes from a choice of garlic bread, mashed potato, country slaw, and disco fries. We were lucky enough to have been sent all four side dishes. We also sampled the “Porky Pig Burnt Ends”, which were smoked BBQ belly pork cubes.   Rodrigo informed us that their meat first sits in a homemade brine of spices and herbs which helps the flavour soak into the meat. Then they apply a herb-based rub base and coat the meat with their very own homemade secret rub mixes and it goes into the smoker. Throughout the cooking process of more than five hours, the meat gets “spritzed” with a fruity liquid and basted with their homemade signature barbecue sauce. After having tasted the pork chops, we were absolutely blown away by the intense amounts of flavours that came with it; it was even more shocking that even though there were a lot of elements on the chops, none of them contrasted – instead, they had a perfect balance of sweet and tangy.  The chops were also cooked to well done and were ever so slightly pink on the inside, which was to our preference. Talking about the presentation, one look at these chops will have you drooling; you can even see the perfect sear on its surface.  All the meat came with a side of their homemade sauce, which is made in-house using only natural and fresh ingredients. We liked that they don’t use any artificial ingredients, sweeteners, or preservatives. Even for the side dishes such as the mashed potato and disco fries, they use real potatoes and not store-bought instant powder or French fries.   Going into the side dishes, we must highly commend the mashed potato. It wasn’t overly mashed and still had some texture to it and you could taste the generous amount of butter that was put into it – the creamy consistency was just divine, and we could not get enough of it. Combined with the chicken leg, it was the perfect meal.  The fries were not presented as standard French fries; instead, they were presented as crinkle-cut fries drizzled with their secret topping, which was spicy and had a blend of herbs as well. They buy a lot of their produce fresh from small businesses daily and try to support small businesses in our community as much as they can – this explains why everything tasted so fresh.  To be very honest, the only thing we can fault from the entire feast we had was that the fries were slightly soggy when they got to us; but somehow magically, still made a satisfying crunch sound when bitten into. It’s safe to say that The Whistling Hog knows how to do their potatoes justice.   We must also rave about the smoked BBQ belly pork cubes; normally, I’m not a fan of pork fat but the fat pieces in this were so soft and melted in my mouth. That flavour of pork which we all love was evident and we cannot stress how good this dish was.   Another notable feature of the spread was the peri-peri sauce; this ought to come with a warning level for how spicy it is! It is bound to make your face go numb but is balanced off by the coolness that comes from any of the side dishes. If you’re a fan of spice, you will adore this sauce.   Now, we come to the best part of The Whistling Hog – the prices. They are beyond reasonable for the portion sizes that you get with every meal. We can promise that it is worth every cent you pay for the meal; you almost get double the food for your money.  They are looking to introduce more meat varieties to their menu as well as including a few vegetarian options too.  They are also planning to launch their sauces and a collection of rub mixes to the retail market soon. So, head on over to The Grove and dive into this magnificent feast of meat. You won’t regret it! 

Kapruka

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!


More News..