Craft & Cleaver is an independent smokehouse, restaurant and bar offering “authentic American barbecue, cocktails, craft beer, shuffleboard and good vibes” at two locations in Hertfordshire – an original site in St Albans and other in Hitchin.
Invited by the restaurant to have a taste of Craft & Cleaver’s take on American style smoked meat, I headed up to Hitchin with fellow foodie buddy (and podcasting co-host), Neil Davy, for a satisfying and filling Saturday lunch – and what might have been the tenderest ant tastiest brisket I’ve had in the UK.
Craft & Cleaver is a big, comfy space tucked into the middle of Hitchin with a laidback atmosphere (at least during the Saturday lunch hours). The vibe is kind of local pub meets American roadhouse but accommodating enough to accommodate any variety of diners. You could take the kids there for lunch or early dinner. You would take your mates there for drinks later that night. I might describe the menu in similar ways, though, of course the focus is on meat – mostly smoked and served in ample proportion.
Neil and I commenced lunch with a couple of starters: pork belly burnt ends (£11) and Louisiana shrimp (£13). The pork belly was great but the “chipotle and pecan salsa mocha and dill pickle sour cream” served alongside were a gratuitous distractions. The shrimp (four Rosso prawns with a cajun-seasoning butter and Parmesan on Texas toast) proved especially moreish.
But is was our shared main – the Pitmaster Tray – that really packed a wallop. At £72, the tray for two was stacked with mounds of burnt ends, brisket, pulled pork, and glazed pork belly, chicken thighs, a chilli and cheese sausage, fries, slaw, “maple-whiskey pit beans” and pickles. All good. Especially good – in fact, utterly delicious – was the brisket. I was impressed by how it yielded to even a slight touch of an utensil. Looking for melt in your mouth meat in Hertfordshire? Get the brisket at Craft & Cleaver.
I really like the pork belly too and found the chicken thigh a lot more flavoursome than expected. We also sampled a side a Jacob’s ladder rib (eight-hour smoked beef rib served with IPA onion rings, fries, and wedge salad with blue cheese ranch, £32) as well. That would have been a substantial meal on it’s own.
The drinks menu was a quencher. I enjoyed a chargrilled lemonade with my meal. Neil had a Rothaus Radlerzäpfle.
Done in by the meal, with plenty of leftovers for both of us to take doggie bags home for at least one extra meal each, we somehow found the room for some house-made gelato. It was yummy too. A simple scoop of vanilla ice cream provided an ideal end to an excellent lunch.
Service was attentive, swift and friendly.
We didn’t try the shuffleboard, but we did manage to record an episode of our All Consumed podcast:
allconsumedpod.com/2026/05/10/craft-cleaver-hitchin
Craft & Cleaver – Hitchin is located at 17 Bancroft Hitchin, SG5 1JQ. Find out more at craftcleaver.co.uk.
