Blue Smoke BBQ - get your buffolo wings on over!

A different kind of barbeque to what most Aussies would be used to - this is BBQing from southern America, and it's worth a visit in my books if you like your meat with a bit of heat.

Address: Shop 9/85 Merthyr Road New Farm
Phone: 3358 1922
Hours: Tue-Thu 1130-2100; Fri-Sun 1130-2230
Parking: some on street, or in the shopping complex's carpark (street level / undercover)


I have been salivating about this place since coming across its name in the Entertainment Book sometime last year, and googling to find a few reviews (see URLs at the end of this post). It took a while before an opportunity came up with some friends to try out the place. The food was good but did not quite meet my expectations. However, my expectations were high as my imagination had plenty of time to brew and simmer away in between first finding out about the place and actually visiting. So perhaps it was an unfair expectation. My dining companions were all satisfied with the food - I was too, just not blown away. Nevertheless, I won't hesitate to give the place another try next time I'm looking for a meat fix in the area.

Inside view of restaurant.

The place was smaller than I expected. There are essentially two rows of tables inside, with some more tables outside. Nice and cosy feel to the place. Wait staff were friendly.

Buffalo chicken wings (crispy chicken wings tossed in classic buffalo wing sauce, served with blue cheese dressing and celery twigs), $10; corn bread, complimentary

Our shared entrees. You can choose your sauce from original, blue hot, or 3rd degree. They were out of 3rd degree sauce the night we visited - I've heard that this is not a choice for the faint hearted. Normal price is $10 for a plate of 10 wings, but they're 50c per wing on Wednesdays.

Kansas City "baby back" pork ribs - rubbed with special seasoning, wet hickory smoked and finished on the char grill where they're mopped with Kansas City style (sweet & smoky) BBQ sauce

Texas beef short ribs - hickory smoked 8 hours, then grilled & mopped with Texas BBQ sauce

Memphis country style pork belly - rubbed with special seasoning, slow hickory smoked and finished on the char grill & served dry (without sauce), with Memphis sauce (dark & spicy) on the side

We decided to order two serves each of the three mains pictured above, and shared them around. All BBQ meals are served with chips and coleslaw on the side. The pictured meals are all half rack versions, and will set you back around $20 each. The full rack versions will cost closer to $30. We went with 6 half racks in order to maximise usage of entertainment book vouchers. They were all pretty good - the meats were tender and the sauces had plenty of taste. The only real disappointment was the side of house spinach which we ordered based on recommendations I'd read. It was very small for $5.

Other meal options available include steaks, burger/sandwiches, and combo meals. I think that for a first time visit you can't go past the wings and the BBQ meals, and venture into the other options if you liked your first visit enough to come back. Well, that's what I plan to do!

URLs:
(review) http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21231333-5012434,00.html
(forum) http://brissy.com.au/forum/blue-smoke-bbq-new-farm-t35823.html?s=bc581cd7929d2ef687977a4e2e229d86&s=b23b1ccb7670dd59f6cfa33dcd43df09&
(menu - requires account/login?) http://brissy.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=100&d=1170586749

Time of visit: Dinner, Friday night.
With: island, shtes, nenes
Trivia: Blue Smoke BBQ claims to be the only restaurant in Queensland to smoke all their BBQ in house - all BBQ meats are slow smoked using Weber wood chips