Lord of the Wings

I'm trying to post my massive archive of 2015 posts, so bare with me as I get them out of the way now that we've hit 2016 and part of my New Years Resolution is to get back on track with my blog! 

VGirl, JGirl and I decided to go out for dinner one day, so long ago I forgot why we went! Anyway, we wanted to eat some type of American food and we also needed to do some quick shopping so off we went to Lord of the Wings in Westfield Carindale Shopping centre.

Uhh, parking is easy of course. Park in the shopping centre, the GoHealth Club/new food court end and then walk in. Here is a link to where their menu can be downloaded.

The decor is very similar to a bar set up with high tables and stools, there are also lots of little booths if you prefer a more restauranty feel.

We sat in a booth, VGirl prefers this

JGirl and I decided to split everything, because we're generous girls and JGirl is student poor. The first thing we got was a serve of eight bone in wings, cause bones are where flavour lives, in classic BBQ. Tiny little wings just about as big as that dipping sauce of blue cheese sauce, they were cooked perfectly tender. The sauce was nothing spectacular. I've heard a lot about these "life changing" wings and I don't get the hype to be honest. I wish that places with lots of sauce choices let you try sauces before you settled on an order, or is that just me? How can I commit to one out of sixteen choices when I haven't tried most of them? Ice cream places let me try their stuff before I buy ):

Oh how the mighty have fallen?

VGirl got the garden salad, it's pretty sad because that's one of the few things she can eat beside every single appetiser. She says she enjoys salad but I don't see the point of going out to eat salad? This was a simple garden salad of lettuce, tomato, grated carrot, purple onion, raw button mushroom, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of ranch dressing. She wolfed or should I say cowed hahaha it down in about a minute. The girl eats fast.

Inhaled.

JGirl and I split this pulled pork and coleslaw burger as our meaty main, figuring that with everything else we needed to squash it down a little bit more. Don't ever split a pulled pork burger by the way, not if you want to leave the place with your clothing intact. You think eating a pulled pork burger is messy? Try ripping a brioche bun, a notoriously soft bread, then the lusciously wet pork and the fiddly bits of coleslaw spilling everywhere. Solid pulled pork burger, I must say.

On another note, I think it's funny that the pulled pork and slaw burger on the menu has a picture of fries in the background. Then there is a disclaimer in each photo that the burgers don't come with sides. Like, "please excuse our food porn, we were doing it for the 'grams." I get it man, you do you.

I could be a hand model

We got sticks and rings to share between the three of us, deep fried mozzarella sticks, onion rings and a side of both Thousand Island dipping sauce and the same classic barbecue sauce that's on our wings. The onion rings were pretty greasy but still better than the atrocity I had at 8 Bit Burger earlier this year. The mozzarella sticks were disappointing, I pulled apart the sticks, gleefully awaiting the spectacle of endlessly stretchhhhhhhhing cheese and got nothing. Even fresh, mouth burning out of the fryer hot and they still didn't do their thing.

I recognise that BBQ sauce!

I got the traditional poutine, because VGirl loves potato chips more than she loves me and I love poutine, it's in my top 10 foods. Don't ask me to rank the loves of my life though, its just a loose list that changes whenever I'm eating a food that's on the list. Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of this poutine, mostly cause they had clearly shoved the whole thing in a skillet and shoved it in the oven to heat up the cheese so the chips lost their crunch. FOR SHAME.

POUTINE?

Lord of the Wings
Atmosphere: 5, vaguely bar like enterprise. I dunno why there are so many groups here.
Service: 5, permabusy teens, enough said.
Food: 5, passable but I wouldn't go back here again. There's cheaper, larger portioned American food joints in Brisbane, don't bother with here.

RJIE: Boundary Street Markets

I got invited to try wings from the Wing Stand a long time ago hahaha! I had been aware of them for quite a while but never got to go because they are only open at the Boundary Street Friday night markets and I always seem to work that shift. So as a result I was pretty excited when they contacted me because I do love chicken wings. It took a few weeks to organise it but I eventually was able to see them before my night shifts and try a few places.

 

So basically you choose how many wings you want, six or ten in a pack, choose your sauce and then choose your dressing! They have a buffalo, BBQ, lemon pepper and a rotating special flavour, the day I went it was peach bourbon! I picked the six wing pack and got to try a few different flavours, I got to try almost all the flavours that day despite only getting a six pack of wings!

Nice!

I can't remember which is which but I got the buffalo, BBQ and peach bourbon which was the special when I went. My favourite was the BBQ which had a not overly sweet and smoky flavour, I didn't mind the buffalo wings even though I normally find them annoying sour and mildly spicy, these had a good heat to them. The peach bourbon was quite sweet but it worked well with the spiciness of the sauce. I found the wings to be quite crispy from the frying which I liked and coated in a generous amount of sauce. The blue cheese sauce was strong and creamy.

Mmm wings

I love the Hierba Santa iced teas you can get here as well. They come in a 1L bucket for $7 and the flavours are gorgeous, they are quite sweet but you can always try before you buy! This was the Aztec Rose flavour, a sweet rose flavoured tea.

Chug chug chug!

I got some calamari since I was still feeling peckish from these guys!

Woo!

I got quite a large cone of freshly caught and fried calamari with a lemon slice and a handy stick for poking. They were large rings with a golden brown crunchy breadcrumb layer and super tender flesh underneath. I was very impressed! They also have a selection of different sauces to apply if wanted, I remembered there's an aioli, mayonnaise, sweet chili, tartare, herbed mayonnaise among other things.

So good +_+

I've been a regular at the markets since then, frequently dropping by whenever I'm in the area since they run Fridays, Saturday day and Sunday day. I keep having Saturday off, so I tend to go for a massage at Skeletal Harmonics before wandering down here for a feed afterwards. This is Tom and John's Wings!

New wings?

I got the hot garlic wings supposedly but I have a suspicion these are their buffalo wings instead. I didn't mind, they were super crunchy and had a thick hot sauce coating, hot enough that you were sweating bullets but not enough that you stopped eating!

Man I love wings

I also got a drink at this little place here. Its a pretty trendy/hipster organic food truck called Planted, think lots of kale, handmade nut milks, organic stuff everywhere, superfood everything, that kinda stuff!

Their menu

Very well connected~!

I got a peanut butter milkshake made with soy milk and coconut milk icecream. So rich and creamy, with a strong peanut butter flavour, I barely noticed that it had a soy flavour at all. I would highly recommend this drink and have had it several times since, but only when Hierba Santa isn't around hahaha.

Surprisingly good!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hierba-Santa-Organic/1411472389097416



https://www.facebook.com/plantedwholefoodsco

Navala Churrascaria

All you can eat meat is a statement that rings sweetly to my ears, I love barbeque, I love nearly all cuts of meat and I love a challenge. I went with Mr A., the only male A., around to Navala Churrascaria, we were tossing up between this one and Mundo Churrasco in Bardon, but decided on here because W., and Gill. had enjoyed their dinner here the previous week. We also liked the fact that Navala had no time limit on their food and no seating times.

Mr A., and I are both bad at directions so we spent a lot of time driving around and around Eagle Street Pier looking for the Charlotte Street securing parking complex. It's in a much different spot than expected! Especially with all the one way signs! We got a bit lost trying to find it as we aimed ourselves towards where Jade Buddha/Bavarian Bier and Sake are located.

We were so relieved when we saw it that I didn't notice the water feature there. Its not the first time I've been there. Mr A., gave me a brief warning by saying that's wet, I thought it was just a shiny black tile, instead it was a 30cm plunge into a running fountain that I somehow failed to notice. I immediately dropped one leg down into knee high water and then stupidly put my other foot in to follow it. I honestly thought Mr A., was calmly understating things in that British way he does. He couldn't stop laughing when I replied, "yes, its wet." 

Anyway, we followed the smell of smoky meat to the sign. We admired the fire pits at the front of the restaurant immensely and wondered what the fire pit specials were for the night. Here is their menu. You can try nearly everything on the menu except for the fire pit, you only get to try 3-4 of whatever they decide to do that night. The night we went it was whole suckling pig, short ribs and pork belly.

Piggy!

We got seated pretty quickly and our waitress explained that this little wheel would indicate to our waiters whether or not we still wanted food! Flip it to sim por favor for more food or nao obrigado for no thank you! The waiters will zone in on your table and offer you a slice of whatever they're serving!

Bring it on baby!

Ugh meat sweats, the mind is willing but the body is weak

We choose quite a few of the sides to go with our meat. We had a pact that we couldn't have carbs or drinks because that would take up necessary space and Mr A., wanted to be at Navala Churrascaria so long that we got kicked out. He said that at an earlier stage in his life, he actually had been kicked out of several all you can eat buffets, which I was very impressed by.

The place is huge by the way! There's a lot of room for large groups, there's also a bar section and an outdoors seating.

HUGE!

Anyone, free condiments and sides at Navala! We picked, from upper left going clockwise, their malagueta sauce, a spicy, smokey and sweet chilli/tomato based sauce, a house made chipotle barbeque that was quite good, an excellent, excellent chunky habanero and seeded mustard sauce as well as some fruity/spicy and very small Brazilian chillis. We got multiple refills of the mustard and barbeque sauce overnight.

Mustard ftw

The first piece of meat we received was this tasty pork belly, succulent, fatty and well seasoned. The only disappointment was that my piece of crackling was quite chewy and not crunchy at all. Mr A.,'s was. It did take a long time for it to get to us however. We were seated for about fifteen minutes before we received any food due to being between two large 10+ person groups that seemed to get the prime pick of any and all rotating meats. Mr A., wasn't exactly shy about trying to get attention either.

Mmm pork belly!

We did get a piece of pao de quiejo each really early on, which broke our no carb rule because we were so hungry. I don't think its on the menu but we definitely got it the night that we went there. Pao de quiejo is basically a cheese and cassava flour puff ball, its a very starchy, cheesey ball of air. It was very moreish but we had to hold ourselves back for more meat!

Delicious cheesy carbs!

The next cut of meat that appeared at our table was the lamb rump cut to size and covered in malagueta sauce! We tried to snag more than a few pieces but the waiters have this habit of giving you a bit of a look that quells any request for thirds or fourths . . .

Seriously so much sauce though

This is a picture of some medium well beef flank steak? which was a touch salty but delicious. The banana leaf parcel is the coconut fish, a bland and melting piece of white fish that I wasn't a fan of.

Ehhhh it was okay

This is the beef hump, yes, you heard correctly, beef hump. Its apparently the cut of fat and muscle at the top of the shoulder. Its pretty gross, really hard, super salty and with lots of unrendered fat so its like chewing hard meat gum. Please avoid at any and all costs. Even for curiosity purposes.

Avoid!

The garlic prawns are especially good value, super garlicky, buttery and cooked to juicy perfection. I only had these two since I don't mess around with shells when I'm super hungry but I lost count of how many Mr A., had!

Oooh garlic prawns!

We had some well done lamb with chimichurri sauce! We got a dish of the sauce afterwards because it was so refreshing against the heaviness of all the meat.

Mmm lamb~

I had one and a half Brazilian style pork sausages which is about a whole sausage too much. They are quite juicy but they don't have the same bursty texture that German sausages do from being boiled then grilled. They aren't as flavour packed and I'd pass on them given the same opportunity to try them,

Pass!

We decided to grab a chicken heart each but they weren't great, slightly overcooked so they became rubbery little bullets.

Bleh

Ooh beautiful medium rare beef rump cap, you were basically the highlight of my night. This is also about the time the 7am dancing show started and I got the meat sweats something fierce. I took some photos then I realised I was there to eat not pretend to be interested in girls dressed in feathers!

Be still my beating heart, its beautiful!

These feather fans were somewhat interesting to watch though.

Peacock!

I was entranced by the cinnamon sugar grilled pineapple and especially the aroma but was disappointed with the pineapple itself. The pineapple was quite tart and not sweet in the least despite being lightly coated in brown sugar and cinnamon, as well as being grilled. I was expecting a thick, brown, burnt sugar and cinnamon caramel to be dripping off but I just got this sad pineapple instead! I was very disappointed to say the least.

Disappointing

I honestly can't remember what this might be, my heart sings pork however, so that's what I'm going with.

Pork?

At this stage, I had basically given up and started getting carbs. I ordered a bowl of chips and I've never felt so nauseatingly full as I did at that instance. Apparently Mr A., saw me touch a chip and turn green at the very THOUGHT of having something to eat.

Good chips though

I managed to eat the entire bowl, oh and thi really bad garlic bread too. Just wasn't seasoned enough aka salty enough to be worthwhile.

The colour was nice though

They also serve haloumi cheese which I thought was odd, but I never pass up haloumi so of course I got some. Too bad that they didn't also offer lemon wedges, haloumi and lemon is a match made in heaven.

Slightly spongy haloumi

I was still sporadically eating and heavy breathing at this stage. When the pork ribs rocked up I definitely couldn't say no as a pork and food lover, binge eater, food blogger, human being or whatever I class my gluttonous self as. They were delicious and I wish I had had more! Definitely try them if you seem them being offered.

RIBS

Navala Churrascaria
Atmosphere: 7, brightly lit, bustling restaurant with some really cheesy decorations haha. The show is fun and kids seem to love it! I think its a good place for large functions.
Service: 6, not too bad and its hard to have so much food circulating with lots of people around. It was really noticeable that we were sometimes ignored for larger groups and that we got food last though being on the opposite side of the kitchen.
Food: 7, I would definitely go back, the meat was high quality and mostly well cooked. There were a few exceptions were the meat was overcooked or heavily salted.

 

The Smoke BBQ

One day, Dr S., and JGirl felt like some ribs so they called me. Then because I gave them so many recommendations and strongly hinted that I would like to come along, I got invited. VGirl was at my house at the time, studying for her exam and she was annoyed that she didn't get asked, so she called JGirl to complain. So before I knew it, we all went to eat ribs!

We got a free basket of jalapeno cornbread with a side of honey butter. The cornbread was a touch dry, but with a lovely golden brown crust and cool to touch, so it didn't soak as much butter as you usually get. It was free, so I guess I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Here is their menu!

Ehh

You're wondering how VGirl got to eat ribs right? Since she's a dirty vegetarian and all. She didn't she was coming along for the company since she had already eaten and wanted to "study". She ordered herself a long island iced tea since I was driving and was ecstatic as she has been the designated driver and the only manual car driver out of her group of friends since she got her P plates. For a snack, she ordered side of potato chips which came with a massive dish of ranch dressing that I kept trying to steal.

Studying? With a drink in hand.

I ordered a side of buffalo wings. They weren't crispy as detailed in the description, instead they were tender and smoky with a thin coating of spicy and vinegary sauce. They came with a side of blue cheese dressing that was quite mild. We ordered way too much food and barely finished this.

This stuff!

 JGirl, Dr S., and myself decided to split the signature rib combo, texas beef ribs, bourbon lamb ribs and thick cut pork ribs with fries and a side of coleslaw. We split the ribs into thirds and were heartily stuffed by the end of it. Luckily for us, we all had a distinct favourite, mine was the pork, JGirl's was the lamb and Dr S., was the beef.

Not the prettiest side

My personal favourite as I said was the thick cut pork ribs, I found them sweetly smoky, with a great flavour from whatever spice rub they used and not as dry thanks to the huge amounts of rich, thick, BBQ sauce they slathered on over the ribs. The pork ribs had the largest amount of meat on them as well and were very fatty and super meaty ribs.

Better

The beef ribs were my second favourite, they were less meaty but really tender but not to the stage where it was easy for us to separate the bone. It did require a bit of knife action to remove them. The sauce on the ribs was a lot less heavy, quite mild and creamy.

Best?

The lamb ribs were the ones with the thinnest amount of meat but also the crunchiest as well as more intensely flavour. The fat had rendered off quite nicely but there was a crispy/crackly texture to the meat especially on the more exposed meat towards the end of the bone which I didn't like. Everyone enjoyed the fries and we were clashing over who got to eat the coleslaw since we had to cut through the super meatiness of everything we were eating.

The Smoke BBQ
Atmosphere: 5, we sat outside in the cold on the pavement. Not my favourite of experiences that's for sure. The interior was deserted but since we were on the first seating, we were sat outside. 
Service: 5, despite getting a booking we sat outside under the fluorescent lights. I don't remember anything else other than wishing we had been sitting inside for the meal.
Food: 6, the food is okay. I couldn't imagine finishing that much food by myself, so it was actually quite a good price for us girls to share. I would probably go back here unless I found a better ribs place in Brisbane.