A new London food legend-in-the-making has arrived

Tom Goddard is the founder and chef behind one of Canteen Food Hall & Bar’s latest street food openings, Southern Soul. Spurred on by his experiences at some of London’s most delicious food outposts (Hawksmoor at Borough Market, Shoreditch’s cult barbecue restaurant Smokestak and artisan bakers The Dusty Knuckle), Tom has joined forces with COO Martin Kay to bring the smoky flavours of the Southern States of America to Greenwich Peninsula.          

Southern Soul serves up perfect combinations of smoked meats, homemade buns, pickles and sauces inspired by the cuisine of Carolina, Texas, New Orleans and Alabama (where Tom bought his first custom-built smoker). As Tom wants everyone to know: “We put real love and care into the food we’re serving.”

What should everyone try from the Southern Soul menu?

The pork belly rib: it’s fun to watch customers try it and love it. For the pulled pork, we brine Gloucester Old Spot pork belly for 12 hours in toasted peppercorns and fennel seeds, then smoke it for four hours. We portion the belly into ribs, which are glazed with our house Carolina gold sauce (mustard, black treacle, honey and cider vinegar) before adding it to a milk bun with our house pickled fennel and a drizzle of chicken jus. It’s got that perfect mix of sweetness, stickiness, acidity and vinegar.

What else should people try?

The beef. We smoke a whole chuck roll for eight to ten hours on top of diced vegetables. We then pull the beef and season it with the beef stock that’s produced from the smoke. This gives the pulled beef a beautifully rich, smoky flavour. We make our own house beef jus, which is packed with earthy ancho chillies, garlic, onion and butter, and we braise the beef in that jus before service. We then serve it up in our house milk bun with our bread and butter pickles, American mustard and the option of smoked applewood cheddar.

What do you think makes Southern Soul stand out from the crowd?

Everything we do, we do in-house, whether it’s baking our own buns or making our own pickles and sauces; everything is made with love. For the smoking, we draw inspiration from the US ‘barbecue belt’ and apply it to cuts that are available in the UK. Our smoking process is incredible – we use chips from old whisky barrels that are thrown out from distilleries across Britain – and it means you can control the temperature, humidity and delicious flavours of the meat. Plus, it’s much better for the environment than a traditional smoker.

Where do you love to eat?

JKS restaurants, which are run by an Indian family, such as Berenjak in Soho. It does Persian cuisine and is the place to go for meat skewered in a tandoor and fresh flatbread (which is my personal favourite – I could eat it forever). Also, Berber & Q’s Shawarma Bar in Exmouth Market is a brilliant example of counter service.      

London is such a multicultural place, and the last 15–20 years have seen such a buzz around food and chefs becoming part of the experience rather than buried in the basement. Marco Pierre White once said that “service is more important than food”, and I think it’s vital to create a platform for your staff to thrive and express their personality; it makes the customer feel welcome and included and brings joy to the experience. It’s something The Dusty Knuckle has accomplished, and it’s what, I believe, sets them apart from other brands.

Where should everyone go at least once?

There’s a Turkish place in Dalston (opposite Mangal II) called Mersin Tantuni. We used to go there after a shift, and I’d eat six lamb tantuni. They’d say to me: “We do serve other things, you know?”

What do you love about Greenwich Peninsula?

It’s such a brilliant place to be. Canteen Food Hall & Bar is located right in the heart of Design District, and what’s been really great is having all the young creatives at Ravensbourne University London based just opposite our kiosk. We got in touch with them to offer staff and student discounts and cater for meetings; a lot of the students do real-world projects (working with brands such as Apple and Kopparberg). We’ve got an amazing student called Ilie helping with our social media. He spent 10 hours shooting us as we brined, cured and smoked the meats to show off what we do online.

Southern Soul is at Canteen Food Hall & Bar (open daily 10am-11pm/food vendors open 11.30am-9pm); southernsoullondon.com

Images by Nic Crilly-Hargrave