Chicka-chicka: Lucky Fried Chicken

MMMMMM ah lurve dem cheeeekinz

Ahh chickens. Natures punchlines. They cluck, they lay eggs, they run around headless, they cross roads or something. And, if they knew how good Ben Denner and his Lucky Fried Chicken team made them taste, they'd leap gleefully into his fryers.

So listen up all ya'll chicken-eaters! As mentioned briefly in my previous post, burger giants Lucky Chip have popped-up for "a few weeks" (from 14th Feb) in The Grafton pub in Kentish Town, North London, under the guise of Lucky Fried Chicken (no beef patties in sight). It's around for a limited time (for now at least - I for one hope they'll open a permanent fry-fry chicky-chick joint) before the location turns into a Lucky Chip venue, so get over there before you chumps miss out on this tasty bird.



We popped to the pop-up last Friday for dinner, it's proper southern soul chow, and it's face-lickin' goooood. Forget KFC (or PFC or CFP or any of the other Crispy Fried Poultry-related acronyms), this is Lucky baby, but this ain't luck (sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit). 

Before we get into the eats, the first thing I noticed (I admit it, I got no class) was the prices. Ok, so it's a bit more than Lucky Chip, but this is top quality bird, cooked with skill and finesse, love and care, plus you get sides and stuff, so what do you want for your money? Pipe down!



At £12.50 the Jumbo Box is more than enough for a regular human, and just about enough for a giant like me (jokes, Penny and I were both absolutely stuffed like roast chickens - I found a lemon in my bum :( omg). You get 5 (BIG) pieces of chicken, a tub of potatoes with gravy, a tub of coleslaw, and 2 incredibly light dinner rolls (great for dipping). We ordered 2 of those bad boys, a couple beers, and some fries for good measure.

This is without a doubt the best fried chicken I've eaten, and so ok I'm not a connoisseur, but I have eaten KFC (regrettably), I've eaten chicken and waffles at Sylvia's in Harlem (and at other New York native chicken fryers I've since forgotten), and I've fried my own (you better believe that'll crop up in a future post), so I'm not an amateur either, my fried chicken credentials are about as good as the average person who isn't American.

The batter is exceptional - crispy, thin, light and perfectly seasoned, it gives you a bit of resistance to crunch on, but then just melts in your mouth beautifully. The chicken is incredibly succulent, it's obviously soaked in brine before being fried because it's juicy as hell with an intense but not overpowering flavour.

The chicken pieces are huge. What you notice after the first piece is just how much meat is on each one, and how little bone there is leftover. This is a long way from the stringy, dry meat and mostly-bone chicken of KFC. Here you get big chunks of delicious chicken flesh to sink your teeth into, no gristle no fat no bone, just unbridled carnivore carnage. It's spectacular cooking.

The sides maketh the bird here though. The mash is excellent, very creamy and smooth, and the gravy that accompanies it you won't believe, it's ridiculous. One taste and the world makes sense, well maybe not the world, but definitely this meal. It's rich, thick and chickeny, it really is the glue that binds this all together.

The coleslaw is also delicious, it's crispy and light, not drenched in gloopy mayo, which brings a nice freshness to cut through all the fried lumps of meat and carb. Penny's detective instincts told her that there was celery seed and chopped pickles in the slaw, whatever it is it's working. Overtime. We got fries too, which in hindsight was probably overkill, but in the interests of stuffing our faces we simply had to get them. They were good, personally I favour Lucky Chips skin-on numbers, but I can see that something plainer is probably needed here, and that said, they were just as good as any other fries out there, so y'know, whatever.



All in all, it's a 10. The service is friendly and fast, in fact our server was the man himself Ben Denner, creator of Lucky Chip (omgomgomgomg), and it's in a pub so you can totally get pissed up and stuff. The food arrived piping hot and very fresh, in fact it only reached a manageable temperature near the end of the meal, we were just too impatient to wait for it to cool down so we burnt ourselves instead.

So yeah, it's awesome, and you should all go there as soon as humanly possible. Lucky chip make fried chicken that's actually better than their burgers, and that's saying something. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some pictures of chicken to stare at, later mothercluckers.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHH

Buuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrp