Grilletto Portable Barbecue

You probably know the problem .. you want to go out for the day to the beach or to parkland for a picnic barbecue, but portable barbecues aren’t really portable because they take so long to cool down and are potentially messy.

Not only that what do you do with the coals that have residual heat?

Enter the Grilletto to solve that problem. In other territories where this is sold, it is sold as ‘Son of Hibachi’, but as we aren’t used to the Hibachi name? they gave it a different name – the Grilletto – not sure that means any more to be honest.

Here is a video from youtube demonstrating the Grilletto in use.

Our old stainless steel portable barbecue had broken a year or two ago and whilst it was great for taking away on holiday rentals, it really wasn’t suitable for day trips out. I wanted something different … and the Grilletto looked like it was the difference that I needed.

Sure you can take those aluminium foil portable one use barbecues out, but they are not controllable + how do you dispose of it without creating a forest fire?

We ordered the Grilletto from Drinkstuff and it was delivered to us with Next Day delivery (timed slot available on day of delivery) included in the sales price.

Within the box you find everything you need to build the Grilletto which took about 2 minutes as all you really need to attach are the legs. In addition, you receive the ‘snuff’ pouch.

The Grill itself appears to be made of a coated steel, but the grill rack and supports are made of heavy duty cast iron.

To fuel the Grilletto, place charcoal in the grill pans and place the grill rack on top, located in the support. Note: If you only want to cook on one side, then that is absolutely fine – you can use a single side or only half fill each side to leave you with cool areas.

Close up the Grill and secure the two sides together with the vent strip, leaving a couple of inches open to allow air to flow and you are ready to fir up the grill.

Place your fuel in the fuel pan (I used twisted newspaper soaked in lighter fuel and slide under the coals most of the way – then lighting and pushing under all the way.

10 – 15 minutes later and the grill is ready for use.

Now here is where I was REALLY surprised. I thought that I would need oven mitts to handle the grill to open it up for use, but the vent handle is cool touch and the grill stays closed when you undo the vent. Take hold of the legs and use them to open the grill. That worked absolutely fine for me with no sense of danger, but you may just be more comfortable using oven gloves for added security.

Remember that I said the grill racks were made of cast iron – you may want to have a long barbecue fork to hand to use that to hook under and move the racks to the desired cooking position as it may still be a liitle hot in the lowest position.

Now you can cook away.

When finished, close up the grill and re-attach the vent bracket, closing all the way. The instructions say to leave for 30 minutes to allow to cool and then pack away in its snuff pouch. That means that you pack away all your rubbish with you and take it home to dispose of later.

Now whilst the pouch works, 30 minutes does not get the grill really cool as there is still some oxygen fuelling the coals – my tip is to take a little spray bottle filled with water and dampen down before closing over.

The Grilletto however does do everything that it says on the box and I am very happy with my purchase.