BBQ to Southerners is not simply food but a way of life. It’s the food you grew up on, the food you share with friends over a beer and a warm night and the food your family heatedly debate over who does it best. Just ask Melissa’s mom to give you her opinion on the necessary elements of coleslaw. In moving to Australia, we were thrilled to find Melburnians, and in turn, Peninsula folk, feel just as passionately about their food. The marrying of these two homes was the concept for Red Gum. Using all of the traditional methods of cooking Southern BBQ at low heat over many hours, Pitmaster Martin uses the woods native to our area to delicately flavour the meat.
It is Martin’s passion for the food, for creating an authentic and high quality product that has translated into amazing BBQ. His relentless work ethic and desire for perfection mean he is constantly learning, improving and expanding the recipes and processed in a never-ending search for an even more impressive experience for our Red Gum diners. Many hours of working with farmers and butchers source the best cuts, finding and trailing woods for which provide the best flavour, endless hours and trials of new sauces in order to come up with the final beloved 3, developing mayonaises for rolls and slaws, the perfect buffalo wing sauce, the list of love and time going into his craft, is never-ending. Smoke has become a constant in our lives. And nobody is more tired and more fulfilled than Pitmaster Martin. He is living his dream and looking eagerly into a bright and smokey future
Driving the business is a desire to be kind and good. The vision of being ethically minded, generous and quality focused is at the heart of all we do. Red Gum BBQ has a commitment to exclusively using free range and bred free range meats and using recyclable materials throughout the business. We want our customers to not only love our food but the experience of dining with us. We know how high our expectations are of great service and this is what we want to be. And ultimately, great food doesn’t cut corners. It takes time and devotion and attention to detail to make great anything. And BBQ is no different. If you don’t taste the care that has gone into every aspect of your meal – we want to know about it!