Flaming Wings

How cute, the Buffalo has Wings. I see what you did there.

Due to popular demand, as decreed by the vox populi, Flaming Wings is the next up on the Extra Rice Taft Tour. Located in the heart of the Archer’s Nook, directly behind Army Navy, Flaming Wings is the go-to destination for Chicken Wings, Tenders, and their Wicked Oreos. Is it deserving of its recognition, though? Let’s find out.

Poetry in Chicken

This post was made possible through the requests of our readers. We would like to thank Jejedudez and AkoSiBudoy for their suggestion, as well as all the others who would prefer to remain anonymous.

Dishes Ordered

• Hunger Buster – Wings – P125
• Hunger Buster – Tenders – P125
• Pulled Pork BBQ Plate – P155
• 3 Wings – P147
• Wicked Oreos – P75

The Restaurant

Uncomfortable seats? Read these to forget that!

The Archer’s nook is a tightly kept array of restaurants and salon services that don’t allow for much wiggle room in between establishments. In trying to keep with that trend, Flaming Wings

Flaming Wings keeps roughly 12-15 tables and (surprise, surprise) seats between 40-50. The tables are slightly shaky and the seats are lacking in backing, forcing you to lean on the shaky table to get your balance and risk losing your food to the floor. To make matters worse, all their tables are a little too close for comfort, a fault that was made even more obvious by the lack of ambient sounds in the restaurant, which allowed (nay, forced) me to eavesdrop on almost any conversation in the vicinity of our table. That may be a positive thing if you’re a spy, but as a regular eater, it’s a far cry from being a comfortable experience.

My attempt at getting a food photography job.

What Flaming Wings lacks in its comfort levels, however, it makes up for well in its atmosphere and its image of possessing a loyal fanbase. Countless drawings, messages, and dedications can be found gracing an upper wall in the restaurant, sending out heartfelt testimonials that inspire a prospective customer to “try the wicked oreos for a wicked treat” or to “eat the tenders and you’ll be tenderly loving Flaming Wings”. These are actual messages that can be found on their wall (enlarge the image to try to find them!). This mosaic of positive reinforcement is a clever move on the part of the restaurant, as it allows you to forget the uncomfortably tight atmosphere and see the real purpose of Flaming Wings: the food.

The Food

They have a kick of spice. Maybe they can call them "Kickin' Wings". Ha.

Flaming Wings is known for having great pastas and rice meals in their repertoire, boasting a wide selection of both types of dish. However, after seeing an entire menu page dedicated to their namesake, and so many different options on the menu for it as well, we decided to max out on the chicken. Our chicken orders consisted of two Hunger Busters, the popular set meal that comes in the form of chicken tenders and wings, and the traditional wings order for good measure. To complement our chicken was a pulled pork barbecue plate, which would then be washed down by their famous wicked Oreos.

"Tenders" Loving Care. Ha.

As “Wings” is half of the restaurant’s name, we’ll start with that. And as “Flaming” is the other half of their name, we decided to go with the flow and go spicy. While Flaming Wings offers a variety of sauces for your wings at varying heat degrees, we went with their WILD Sauce, which, apparently, was so hot that it needed a menu disclaimer. While the sauce was the perfect ratio of hot sauce to butter that makes the Buffalo Wings sauce, it failed to impress in the heat department. However, the special sauces we ordered, which were the wasabi mayo and the aioli, perfectly complemented the heat. The wasabi mayo addd its own sharpness that gave an even more fiery experience, while the aioli mellowed the flavors with a smooth garlic taste.

Tastes like traditional barbecue with a Filipino twist.

The next two dishes were the Chicken Tenders and the Pulled Pork Barbecue Plate, both of which were home run dishes. The tenders, which were thin strips of chicken encrusted with a crunchy exterior, gave a pleasant change in texture when biting through. The pulled pork barbecue, on the other hand, was a intensely flavored, extremely tender pork platter that had flavors of grilled adobo and asado, which came with a delicious coleslaw that provided a perfect richness to the pork. Both of these dishes are definitely forces to be reckoned with in the Flaming Wings menu.

They look "wicked" tasty. Are these jokes working?

The last dish that came was the dessert, which was what everybody who suggested Flaming Wings said was a “must-try”. I’d have to agree with them. Three cookies are served in an order of Wicked Oreos (which I heard used to be four), and are laid out around the plate with a center scoop of vanilla ice cream. The entire plate is dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg, both of which invade your olfactories as you stare at the golden brown treats, giving you a complete sensory overload. The batter is slightly crispy, but gives way to chewiness inside, and soaks up the ice cream perfectly. It is easily one of the best desserts that I’ve had in DLSU for that price, even with one cookie less than before. The recommendations were true: it’s a Flaming Wings “must-try”.

Overall, you get a very satisfactory amount of food at a fair price, with spicy wings and an affordable dessert to wash down the heat. It may not be somewhere I will return to very often, but if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s definitely worth a shot.

The Staff

Oreos en Macro

As has been the trend with most of the reviews of the past, Flaming Wings boasts a small staff in charge of a small location. There were three servers in total, which included one cashier and two runners. None of them are what you can call sociable: they lack the smile that you expect when you get your service, the kind that pushes your experience to the next level. What they lack in “smile with a service”, however, they make up for with speed. Our meal came to us in under 10 minutes, and even as fast as 6.

It may not be a “happy meal” that the staff gives you, but they give it fast enough that you don’t have time to consider it, which, I guess, ultimately evens out.

The Verdict

The Cross-section of the Oreo

Restaurant: It seems that the deeper you get into the Archer’s nook, the shoddier the restaurants start to look. Flaming Wings has an artistic fan base and gives off an atmosphere that their customers are truly dedicated to the restaurant, which is a nice confidence boost for a new eater. However, they provide little real estate value for their customers, and do not make it a very memorable experience inside. However, if you are by yourself and would like to think that you’re part of a conversation, then the tight space may be just right for you. Rating for the restaurant: 7/10.

Food: If it’s wings you crave and nothing else, then you may order the wings. If you want value that outshines getting chicken alone, then get the Hunger Buster. Wicked Oreos are a must. After the chicken, the pastas and rice meals also seem like a good try. In general, Flaming Wings does well with their food, and gives you a price you’d expect if you’d like to feel full. Rating for the food: 8/10.

Staff: As it has been with almost all of our past reviews, the staff can move fast because of the small area. They aren’t a pleasant bunch to be around, but they are efficient, and leave you alone unless they think you need something. Given that, and their below-10 minute service, I cannot complain at all. Rating for the staff: 7/10.

Overall: 8/10.

Mathematically, their score should be 7.5, or around that. However, I think that Flaming Wings does a good enough job with their food to make up for the shortcomings of the staff and the restaurant. If you ever find yourself on the other side of the tracks and looking for a satisfying eat, then Flaming Wings should definitely be on your list.

You can find out more about Flaming Wings on their website. When you get there, tell them Extra Rice sent you.

You can also connect with Extra Rice through Facebook and Twitter!

Stay Hungry! This should help 🙂

I love reaching the end of the post and seeing these huge "artsy" foodporns.

Slice N’ Dice: License to Grill

That's all the motivation I need to actually do this.

Still feeling the meat munchies from Freska the day before, I paid a visit to Slice N’ Dice, a Rice-All-You-Can establishment specializing in steaks, chops, and sisig. In short, another carnivore house. Slice N’ Dice is located on the second floor of the Archer’s Nook along the CSB side of Taft Avenue, next to Zark’s Burgers and above Yellow Cab Pizza.

Dishes Ordered

• T-Bone Steak – P135
• Junior T-Bone – P99
• Salisbury Steak – P85
• Classic Pork Sisig – P139
• Root Beer Float – P39

The Restaurant

Brace yourselves. Noms are coming.

Slice N’ Dice keeps about 15 to 20 tables in their space, seating around 40 to 50 comfortably. And I say comfortably because of their soft soft seats, which are a nice change of pace after attending a few classes for the first time since the holidays. In fact, if you could imagine what a butt massage feels like, that would be about it. However, as nice as your personal space is, the restaurant limits movement around the area, as the tables are a tad too near each other and the passageways a tad too tight. To make matters worse, a large portion of the restaurant is occupied by a set of drinks machines that don’t look like they’re even in service any longer.

The restaurant boasts few frills: no Wi-Fi, satisfactory cleanliness (our floor was littered with old napkins), and enough space to eat, but it made up for that with its pleasant view. Slice N’ Dice overlooks a large part of Taft Avenue, giving you a spying location to look for your friends holding hands on the sidewalk. It looks even more pleasant at night, as you can see the “light show” of the Taft rush hour. I’m just getting this from hearsay, but I can’t afford to eat dinner at school 🙂

The Food

Rule: The more bubbles in your picture, the more artistic it is.

To get a thorough look at Slice N’ Dice’s specialty steaks, we ordered a junior and a regular size. As it turns out, the junior size is the one advertised as under P100, as the regular meal cost about P135. Still, cow is cow. To complement our meaty order, we decided to wash it down with Pork Sisig and a Salisbury Steak.

Zoom level: Insane.

The first thing that arrived was the beverage, which, in my case, was a rootbeer float. To say the least, it was a great beginning to the meal. It may not be rocket science, putting a scoop of ice cream in a glass of root beer, and Slice N’ Dice didn’t fail to deliver. The ice cream tasted rich, and had a hint of coconut milk in it, and the drink was fairly priced overall at P39.

Before we got to our piece d’resistance, we started with the sides. Each meal was promoted to have sides of mushroom soup and, in some cases, a serving of corn and carrots. Unfortunately, I found both of these sides to be problematic. The soup was served in a thimble-sized bowl, tasted obviously canned, and felt like it hadn’t been heated all the way through. To be honest, I thought it was the gravy at first. The next side, which may as well have been a corn and carrot, was a baby rabbit-sized helping of buttered vegetables. What made it even worse was that they didn’t even serve it with the regular T-Bone steak, even if it was advertised 😦 The sides were nothing impressive, but you could keep your diet with how much they gave you. I was hoping the steak wouldn’t disappoint as much.

Artistic Steak. Artisteak. Haha I kill me.

It didn’t.

Well, the sauce was nothing to write home about. The gravy looked like it had come from a ready mix, and kept a bit of the grill’s burnt flavor when served on the steak. My recommendation would be to have the gravy on the side, as we tried an extra gravy and found it to be much cleaner tasting, albeit still artificial.

If you squint hard enough, you can see the corn and carrots

Although the steak came with the packaged gravy, it was still sizeable and tender, as well as tasty. It had a nice smokey flavor from the grill, and retained its beefy flavor well. It seemed to be a bit on the thin side, but that helped make it more manageable in the mouth, and also easier to cut. The same could be said for the junior T-Bone Steak, but maybe in a smaller font (I am hilarious today, indeed).

The salisbury steak is usually just a slightly thicker burger patty served with rice, but the one at Slice N’ Dice was done much better than your run-of-the-mill ground round. It had a flavor more reminiscent of steak, and was firm, but still tender. It was slightly sweet, possibly from the marinade, but that added to the flavor, rather than interrupting it.

Sssssssssssss. If you eat meat, you'll get this.

Last of all was the pork sisig, which was slightly confusing for me, as it was very good in as many ways as it was not. I enjoyed the almost potato chip-esque crunch that it had, but was disappointed to find out that most of it was from the onions in disguise. I also enjoyed the rich flavor, but was soon silenced when I saw the oil pool after the dish was downed. Still, it’s sisig, and I guess that’s to be expected. I would recommend it if you weren’t on a diet, but probably not over the steak.

They say you can see the Mona Lisa in this plate... Just kidding, that's oil bro.

Overall, each dish, save for the sisig, was worth what we paid for. I was a little disappointed about the side dishes, small and nonexistent, but I came to Slice N’ Dice to eat meat, and that’s exactly what I was able to do. In three ways. Quite tastily. For a steak of this quality at those prices, I’d definitely come back next time my carnivore awakens.

The Staff

Similar to my previous post about Freska, Slice N’ Dice operates under a small area. This means that a small staff is able to work quickly and serve efficiently. My experience with the counter was as enjoyable as you can get handing a strange lady your money; she was thorough and clear in ensuring you had exactly what you wanted. However, I do believe that as fair as the price for your meal is, that’s about all you’re paying for: the staff is no frills, just business. They won’t come to your aid when their Waity Senses are tingling, but they will help you out when you make your desperate cry for more rice.

The Verdict

Restaurant: Although it can be a little cramped at its busiest, Slice N’ Dice provides a comfortable hangout for you and your friends with a decent view of Taft Avenue. I’d recommend visiting at night, were you get more of a “light show” from the bustling Taft traffic . Rating for the restaurant: 7/10.

Food: When you’re craving a big piece of meat at a reasonable price, Slice N’ Dice is a good way to go. You may not get the corn and carrot they promised you, but seeing their portion sizes on sides, I’d say you’re not missing much. Get the root beer float, though. It’s not difficult to get right, and Slice N’ Dice does just that, and for a reasonable price. On top of that, it’s relatively fast service, as we got our food in about 5-8 minutes. Rating for the food: 7/10.

Staff: The waitstaff worked very thoroughly, ensuring that orders were correct and complete, and that any request would be fulfilled. However, they failed to transcend the duties of a server in a restaurant. The service they gave was on the mark for their level of establishment, nothing more, nothing less. Rating for the staff: 7/10.

Overall: 7/10.

Straight seven’s for this rating. That’s usually a lucky number in some cultures, so give Slice N’ Dice a try and see if you get lucky too. It may not be my first pick when my meat munchies kick in, but if you’re craving a fairly priced steak in the Taft area, Slice N’ Dice is the place to go.

Meatgasm.