https://surfers.hurricanesgrill.com.au/
I'd been to Hurricanes at Darling Harbour in Sydney once before in my life but that was a hazy affair because high volumes of alcohol had been consumed earlier that night. All I could remember was that the ribs were really, really, really good. Imagine my excitement over Hurricane's bring their delicious creations to Queensland with a store at Surfers Paradise.
Marc and I had been wanting to go for a while but areas like Surfers where parking is always a challenge can be a heavy deterrent. A couple of weekends ago, I got to experience the convenience of the new light rail service. We were staying opposite Jupiter's in Broadbeach and from there it was a quick 5 minute walk and short tram ride from Cavill Mall. After that, however, we managed to misread Google Maps and walk in the complete opposite direction to where we were supposed to be going.
Hurricanes on Surfers Paradise is located under the Soul Building, so if you're nearby and can't find the way, walk towards the highest highrise. This restaurant is huge! I walked in gawking and actually exclaimed out loud "wow this restaurant is so big" and a waitress giggled at me. We met up with our friends, Swedish and Gembob, at the bar before being lead to our table.
The food menu at Hurricanes is comprised of a variety of ribs, burgers, sandwiches and more. This place is famous for ribs so there was no way I was getting anything else. They had pork, lamb or beef ribs on offer and from my experience, pork ribs are the sweetest and juiciest so I went for a full rack of those.
Hurricane - Bacardi 8yo, amaretto, Bacardi 151, shaken with lime and passionfruit, garnished with hibiscus flower
I had a couple different drinks throughout the meal but the most memorable was the Hurricane with Bacardi (2 ways), amaretto, lime and passionfruit. It looked quite dashing with the hibiscus flower perched on top. In terms of taste, it was potent but very drinkable and had a good sweet and sour balance. I definitely felt 'happy' after I finished this cocktail.
Full rack of pork ribs with chips
The ribs looked enormous when they were brought to our table. If it's true that you eat with your eyes, I would have been full before I even started. They came with a side of chips that were also extremely plentiful. We were given bibs to protect our clothes and for that I was grateful because ribs are impossible to eat without making a mess.
After fumbling around with knife and fork, Swedish broke the ice of eating ribs with fingers and the rest of the table let out a collective sigh. This was more like it! I had high expectations for these ribs and they didn't let me down at all. The meat was tender and pulled away easily from the bone but the exterior was charred and smokey. I liked that the marinade tasted more complex than a standard store bought bbq sauce and the flavour was well infused into the flesh. It was so, so tasty. The chips were crunchy but sauce cost extra and we were stingy and didn't get any. I can just about eat fries without sauce but thick cut chips need that something so I ended up stealing Marc's peri peri sauce.
Prego steak roll - 200g free range sirloin on a damper bun with fried onions, and a squirt of spicy peri peri sauce
Marc ordered the prego steak sandwich with the intention of sharing with me but my serve of ribs was so huge that I felt full after eating half. Marc said his sandwich was top quality but even so, grossly overshadowed by the incredible ribs. As mentioned above, I ate a lot of his sauce and can report it was quite tasty with a fair amount of heat. The same sauce was used in the sandwich itself and gave eat bite a hit of hot and spicy.
Chicken burger - grilled chicken breast fillet, avocado, sprouts and salad
Gembob ordered the chicken burger to share with Swedish. We all looked at the plate quizzically when it was brought out because it did not look like a burger at all. Our waitress had to clarify that yup, there was another bun under the giant slab of chicken breast. Gembob literally had to cut and eat around the perimeter of the chicken until it fit inside the bun. I wouldn't say an overly large piece of chicken can be classed as a flaw with the meal unless you're dead set on eating your burger as a burger. If anything, it makes the meal better value.
I was glad that the dishes from Hurricane were so sizable because the prices are dearer than other restaurants of similar style and feel. In the end, you get what you pay for and the servings were big and the food was yummy. I would probably stick to the ribs though because they are the standout item and other things like burgers you could probably get similar for cheaper elsewhere. We had the one waitress through the night, which kept service personable and consistent. She was really lovely and the food reasonably fast considering how busy the place was.
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