Recently, James and I have been fascinated by an appetite-inducing American food reality television series, Man vs Food. Basically, the star of the show:Adam Richman, travels around America finding food challenges. It was definitely fun watching the series, only due to Richman's sense of humour. Most of the food shown are barbecued meat, sandwiches, burgers, hot wings, hot dogs and other American soul foods, and there's not much else to it other than Richman attempting some ridiculously gigantuan meal, mostly weighing 5 pounds or more.
Anyways, this spurred my desire to find an American restaurant here in Brisbane - which lead me to Mighty Mighty.
"Like urban cowboys we've combined the best bits of American culture: southern smokehouse cuisine and soulful city beats. We're smitten with the American BBQ states.."
This description sounded like what I was looking for, and it was literally a short bus journey from home. Hallelujah!
Instead of dinner, I convinced James to duck down with me for lunch instead as I was too impatient. "Dinner? I want it now!"
Even James too, was impatient, so we took the express option: taking a cab (yes, I know... We're pretty darn impatient when it comes to hunger and finding food).
Love the rustic-looking layout.
We were greeted by a smiling waitress, who seem to embody the restaurant's atmosphere: laid-back. James and I had almost free reign of choosing where we wanted to sit, so I chose the corner table. Albeit being slightly hungover, we couldn't resist the extensive drink menu so, we ordered this:
The food menu was shorter than the drinks, but I had a hard time choosing what to eat! Everything seemed delectable, but was definitely sold on the Jalepeno Poppers. James liked the sound of the Reuben Sandwich, so he went with that. I really wanted to have one of the meat sandwiches, but my eyes dwelled on the Mighty Mighty Hot Wings.
Reuben Sandwich: House made pastrami, white flour roll, slaw, pickle, horseradish mayo, smoked au jus & fries. $17AUD
(Top) Jalapeno Poppers: Jalapenos, Monterey Jack, House Smoked Belly Pork. $14AUD
(Bottom: left to right) Ranch & Blue Cheese dipping sauce for the Hot Wings
Admittedly, I did hesitate with the heat of the wings: politically correct mild or the holy roller, to which James asked why I hesitated - my love of spicy food is well-known- so at that point, I was like screw it, "I'll get the holy roller".
NOW, PLEASE NOTE BELOW.
THE WINGS OF HELL: Holy roller Mighty Mighty Wings, served with Ranch & Blue Cheese sauce.
Contains pickled celery. AUD14
Here's one thing the waitress failed to mention to me. She mentioned that it is hot, which in most Australian restaurants mostly mean that it sometimes manage to tickle my taste-buds or it is bearably medium hot.
What she failed to mention (I learned this after my meal) was that the sauce was made from 3 very, very hot chillies: Habanero, Ghost Peppers, and the Bird's Eye Chilli.
Seriously, WTF!? There should be a mention of this somewhere on the menu at least! I can tackle the Bird's Eye Chilli, but add another two freaking hot chillies?! I love hot/spicy food, but my tolerance isn't that great.
Anyways, I seriously underestimated the heat level. I took two bites before I started to sweat and there was a point I was teary-eyed. I do not know if you have ever reached a level, of what I call a "Chilli High": a stage where your sight ends up a bit blurry, the world seems to spin slightly, with a slight case of light-headness, all whilst your mouth is on fire. On top of that, I start giggling because it is too ridiculously stupid hot for me to handle, but I go back for three more additional wings.
Talk about self-torture.
James laughed at me whilst I had my first wing, and didn't quite believe me, so he took one of the wings. Took a bite on a part which contains a lot of that hot sauce, and he was in agony as well. He finally understood the level of pain I was enduring.
Water helped somewhat, and forget about having beer with spicy food (it amplifies the heat so much more), so my only relief was the Jabenero Poppers, which contained the only dairy-based product we had on the table. Did I mention somewhere that it was super yummy?
James gave me a couple of bites of his sandwich, which I thought would help to ease the pain. However, due to the state I was in - "chilli high" - I could not fully appreciate the sandwich. It was like my taste-buds stopped working.
Whoever thinks that the Holy Roller wings aren't hot, I salute you Sir/Madam.
Anyways, getting back to the review, here's what I think:
- Food/Presentation: 4/5 (Other than the ridiculously hot wings, the flavours were great and would love to go back and try the rest of the food)
- Ambience: 4.5/5 (Enjoyed the rustic, chillax atmosphere)
- Service: 3/5 (Could have been better. Waitstaff are friendly, but a bit more refilling of water when needed without having to ask for it aka observational skills, would have been great)
- Monetary value: 3.5/5 (a little pricey but seems to be the Australian standard)
Want to have a taste of American-style food, or take on the Hot Wings?
Shop 6/7, 100 McLachlan Street | Fortitude Valley
Queensland, 4006, Australia
(P): 07 3666 0184
