Author: vinko

Over the past 10 years, I have fallen in love with Texas-style barbecue. In particular the smoked meat. I had researched the various Texas, Carolina, Kansas City, and Memphis styles. I tried a few restaurants while I was in Los Angeles; most of them were a bit disappointing.

Thanks to chef Hélder Amaral (@heljoamaral) of the famous SW Steakhouse in MGM Cotai, who creates an amazing pastrami, I am able to get my fix of Texas-style barbecue in Macao. I will never forget his succulent beef ribs cubes in his secret menu.

To my surprise, I discovered Slice of Life (@Slice_of_life_bbq) in the Omotesando area of Tokyo several years ago, which serves Texas-style BBQ. Having stayed connected with Masayuki Hagiwara (Hagi-san) for a year over Instagram, I finally got a chance to visit this little food truck in Omotesando; also one of my favorite neighbourhoods in Tokyo, and have been visiting it on every trip I make to Tokyo. Of course also recommended this place to everyone, including many chefs.

This year (2026) I plan to visit Hagi-san Smokemanship (@Smokemanship, @Smokemanship_niseko) in Karuizawa during my trip to Tokyo. Will follow up with photos from there. Stay tuned…