Someone wise once said, there are three things that cannot be long hidden – the sun, the moon and places to have great food.
After a receiving a tip off from a trustworthy food connoisseur, and in the mood to dig into chicken wings – my dinner date and I made our way to Original Wings and Rings or better known as OWR. This American eatery is tucked away in the Liberty House building in DIFC, located directly above the Al Maya Supermarket – I reckon ‘hidden gem’ comes to mind. Hehe
Lo’ behold at the entrance stood a massive chap with a huge smile. Don’t let Gary’s humongous stature fool you, he is quite the funny guy and self-proclaimed entertainer of the joint – spontaneously busting into one dance move or another. This guy seriously loves his job, and his jolly infectious vibe rubs on everyone around him.
We had a reservation, and beautiful Cristina escorted us to our table in the non-smoking wing of the restaurant. We opted for the late night Friday brunch option – unlimited food and drinks from a special menu. I was in the mood to get my hands dirty with succulent wings. Cristina carefully explained the 10 sauce varities and the 5 heat levels on offer (ranging from mild to 1 million – the latter requires one to sign a waiver, and I almost did it to the utter astonishment of my dinner date).
I settled for two types of traditional buffalo wings, medium hot – one with the much loved ‘crazy’ sauce and the other ‘garlic parmesan’. My partner opted for the boneless variety – brave enough to try the atomic heat level, with sweet chilli and lemon pepper. The wings were cooked just right, tender, extremely juicy and lip smacking good! My partner agreed whole heartedly, though his face was oscillating between various shades of red – so much for ordering atomic level heat eh? Hehe
Thankfully Cristina was always around bringing in drinks – the sunrise tequilas for me, whilst the partner was chugging down one bottle of beer after another.
The hand breaded onion rings were divine – oh so crispy from the outside, and soft from the inside – and they were a generous quantity! Absolutely loved them. Seeing that we were having a ball of a time, Cristina suggested that we try the Nacho Supreme (a deluxe serving of tortilla chips covered in tex-mex chili, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, olives, cheese, etc) – and we weren’t disappointed, though we had a really hard time trying to finish it between the two of us.
Coming back to Gary, the table adjacent to us had a birthday celebrant – and in marched Gary with the entire OWR staff dancing hip-hop to a Birthday rendition. It was quite a sight I must admit. We took some time to walk about, the place is peppered with giant TV screens all around, playing different sporting events – so there will be something for the sports lover within you to watch. Or if you are inclined towards live music, there is a band and performers who strut their stuff on weekends and evenings.
To end the meal, we opted to share a plate of caramel and chocolate brownie – and dare I say this, but it was one of the best chocolate brownies I’ve had for quite some time.
All in all, OWR is one of those joints that you would love to bring your entire troupe and have a merry time – great wings and rings, very good attentive service and a sporting crowd.
