Kaikai Chicken
If you ever want to seduce a member of The Weekend Edition, all you have to do is whisper these five little words – ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’. Yep, if there’s one thing we love more than love itself, it’s stuff our face until we split. KaiKai Chicken – one of Brisbane’s best (and biggest) buffet restaurants has been helping helping residents across town get their fill of juicy, crispy and flavoursome fried chicken at its St Lucia restaurant. Now, after increasing levels of demand from southside locals, KaiKai Chicken has expanded, with a brand-new location set to open in the next week or so on Watland Street in Springwood. This new eatery has been scratch-built to the KaiKai team’s exact liking, with a modern interior blending light-industrial aesthetics with a vibrant blue-and-yellow colour scheme. KaiKai Chicken Springwood will boast a slightly smaller footprint and menu than its St Lucia sibling, but rest assured – the buffet is still on the menu. KaiKai’s buffet includes plenty of fried chicken (available in 12 flavours, including Korean-style buffalo with blue cheese, honey butter, soy wasabi, zesty lemon and Cajun) and six kinds of loaded fries (including toppings like nacho cheese and bacon, sweet chilli and sour cream, and okonomi sauce with bonito fish flakes), as well as sides like mash and gravy, steamed rice and decadent, jelly-filled doughnut sandwiches. The venue will be fully licensed, with booze packages available as an add-on to any buffet, though an iced tea bar and a soft drink bar will also be available for those looking to avoid the hard stuff. Keep your eyes glued to these pages for our up-close look at KaiKai Chicken Springwood soon!

Worthy Pie Co.
West End will soon boast a potential contender for a spot in our round-up of best pies when Worthy Pie Co. opens on Boundary Street in the coming weeks. The brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Josh and Amy Duda, Worthy Pie Co. will see the couple build upon their pie-making business, which they first started in Oregon, USA four years ago. Now located in Brisbane, the duo has secured a prominent site (formerly home to Rodney’s Bakery) for their grab-and-go venture. Amy and Josh are looking to seduce locals with its range of big, hearty and ingredient-loaded pies, rolls and pasties, with a menu of savoury treats available early alongside cups of Industry Beans coffee. The menu will start with breakfast pasties and will also include the likes of steak, bacon and cheese pies, vegan-friendly curried-vegetable pie (with vegan pastry), and the couple’s take on a chicken parmigiana pie.

Frog’s Hollow Saloon
In case you missed last week’s news, the John Reid & Nephews building on Charlotte Street will soon be home to a brand-new boozer this week, with Frog’s Hollow Saloon officially opening its doors on Thursday March 24. Three industry veterans, Pete Hollands (ex-general manager of The Gresham), Nick Winter (also of The Gresham and Speakeasy Group’s Mjølner in Melbourne) and Darwin-based bar owner David Robinson (Snapper Rocks, Hanky Panky Lounge, Hot Tamale) are putting their skills together to open the 60-seater venue, which will tap into Brisbane’s early history and blend it with contemporary hospitality. The bar will favour a bar-centric service model, encouraging its clientele to engage with their drinks on a more substantial level. Expect a deep selection of whisky (with a focus on independently bottled labels), a tight wine list favouring Australian producers, a rotating selection of of beers (including XXXX Gold and Guinness on tap) and a selection of fun and fresh cocktails – all made and dispensed by a crack team of shakers and stirrers. We’ll have an in-depth piece on Frog’s Hollow Saloon soon – stay tuned!

Cartel Del Taco
Taco lovers, take note. Anticipated Mexican-inspired street taqueria and bar Cartel Del Taco finally has an official opening date. The tortilla slinger will be opening its Hawthorne Road home on Friday April 1. Once open, guests will be able to scope out the venue’s retro 1980s-inspired interior, which is decked out in furniture and artwork sourced and shipped directly from Mexico. Cartel Del Taco’s menu is sure to satisfy any lover of Mexican street food, with snacks like pork ribs lathered in tamarind sauce and morita chilli, and deep-fried quesadillas filled with red snapper whetting appetites ahead of the kitchen’s procession of tacos. Ten kinds of taco will be available, ranging from al pastor, carne asada and birria tacos to vegetarian and vegan-friendly varieties. Over at the bar, expect to find bottles of tequila and mezcal, which are being funnelled into a variety of cocktails. Sound like your kind of venue? Read all about it in our pre-opening sneak-peek feature!

Paella Celebration Day at Olé Restaurant
Did you know there is a day dedicated solely to paella? If you didn’t, now you do, which is great because that special day – Sunday March 27 – is coming up! To celebrate the national dish of Spain, South Bank’s own Spanish-inspired restaurant Olé will be hosting a special paella-based celebration from 7:00 pm. The night’s feast will give guests a taste of Spain, from an assortment of tapas and sips of Estrella Damm followed by hearty helpings of Olé’s signature mixta paella. When we say this dish is loaded, we mean it – it’s got chicken, king prawns, chorizo, calamari, green peas, cherry tomatoes and saffron rice. We’re full just thinking about it. If you want to head along, click here to purchase a ticket.

If you’ve heard something that’s worth mentioning in The Weekend Edition’s Pavement Whispers, email [email protected].