Boneheads: Piri-piri Chicken
The best, unforgettable peri-peri chicken I’ve ever had was during a vacation in the Middle East two years ago — I tasted it in different places in two different countries and they tasted very similar to each other. Piri piri (or peri peri) is a small spicy pepper grown in South Africa and its neighboring countries which is also known as the African bird’s eye chile. Peri-peri chicken (or shrimp) is grilled chicken (or shrimp) marinated in peri-peri sauce made with peri peri, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, olive oil, and salt. The taste is distinct and totally different from Jamaican jerk chicken.
Boneheads, a quasi fast-food place which is part of Raving Brands (think Mama Fu’s, Moes, doc green’s, Shaun’s) specializes in piri piri chicken. Their piri piri chicken comes in three sizes: whole, half, or breast, and in different flavors: lemon & herb, medium, hot, or very hot. I love spicy food and am known to squeeze raw bird’s eye chili peppers (both African and Asian varieties) into my food. So I tried the hot flavored half chicken which came with seasoned rice, a choice of side (Asian cole slaw), and a topping (I chose cucumber lime and yogurt).
terrible. I couldn’t taste any peri peri sauce at all and while it passed on the spiciness department (the heat was up there and stayed in my tongue and lingered all over my lips), it was totally devoid of any flavor whatsoever. The rice was very dry and wasn’t good either. The cucumber-lime and yogurt topping tasted more like cucumber-dill and yogurt but the Asian cole slaw was really good with crunchy cabbage, carrots, slivers of celery, and cilantro and just the right amount of mayo. It was the only thing decent enough to eat on my very disappointing meal. Worlds apart from the peri-peri chicken I had in Doha and Dubai — they were spicy yet so flavorful that you can actually taste the peri peri sauce.
Though I won’t be eating their piri piri chicken ever again, I haven’t really ruled out Boneheads yet as I still have to try their grilled fish. Who knows, maybe that’ll give me something to write more about.
Insider tip:
Substitute the rice for seasoned fries instead.
The scoop:
Boneheads
http://www.eatboneheads.com/index.aspx
5 metro-Atlanta locations
Technorati Tags: Boneheads, piri piri, peri peri, chicken, peri peri sauce, grilled chicken, grilled fish, Atlanta
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1 response so far ↓
1 Foodie // Jul 20, 2007 at 1:41 pm
totally disagree. boneheads chicken is flavorful, delicious, and healthy. For the price of a McDonald’s value meal, you are getting nutritious, delicious, and totally addictive REAL food.
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