Chigwell, Chicken Restaurant Guide

“Excellent fried chicken with a Korean twist” and “good cocktails” earn a “hallelujah” for this upbeat duo, whose original Haggerston branch celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2025; the Covent Garden branch came later. Although their punchy cocktails are a big part of the attraction, it’s also “great for kids, with a special offer every half term”, and the “beef dripping chips” go down well.

2024 Review: “Chicken with amazing sides” is the winning formula at Romain Bourrillon’s rotisserie chain, which imports its chooks from France. “Nice brunch”, too.

“Amazing, super-shareable roast chicken” (from a rotisserie installed before they became fashionable again) makes this converted tennis clubhouse in a Bermondsey park with a kids’ playground “a lovely place for grown-ups to hang out in”. A somewhat eccentric sibling to nearby Casse-Croute, it serves Gallic dishes from a chalkboard menu of starters and sharing dishes (so generous that, according to one report, “one fillet steak en croute fed four comfortably, and the couple on the next table needed a doggy bag!”)

2023 Review: “The tastes of Singapore” are still applauded at ex-Pidgin chef, Elizabeth Haigh’s hawker-style stand (winner of Harden’s Top Street Food in our September 2021 London Restaurant Awards), which sits amidst the clatter of the Market Kitchen area of Borough Market. But feedback was much more muted and a little more uneven this year, and it’s hard not to conclude that the furore surrounding the cancelled launch of her recipe book hasn’t taken some of the gloss off impressions here.

“Excellent fried chicken with a Korean twist” and “good cocktails” earn a “hallelujah” for this upbeat duo, whose original Haggerston branch celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2025; the Covent Garden branch came later. Although their punchy cocktails are a big part of the attraction, it’s also “great for kids, with a special offer every half term”, and the “beef dripping chips” go down well.

“So welcoming it feels like home…”; “always look forward to eating here with a glass of house fizz…” – this “noisy, crowded but very fun” Champagne & Seafood bar in Soho is cossetting yet “down to earth” all at the same time and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Set in a converted Edwardian butchers’ shop which once supplied The Ritz and The Savoy, a perch on its high stools is “good for people-watching too” while tucking into some “excellent seafood” provided by its “snappy service”. Unusually for a venue that generates a high volume of feedback, not a word of it is negative – the worst being a gentle “not cheap, but good value”.

“The eponymous buns grab the headlines, obviously, but the noodles are great too” at these “consistently tasty” Taiwanese street-food spots where it’s easy to enjoy “a pleasing feast – ordering far more than you could eat as the delicious portions are generous and service is charming and efficient”. Founded as a single market stall 14 years ago by Shing Tat Chung, his wife Erchen Chang and sister Wai Ting Chung, it has developed into a highly rated seven-strong chain, with new Singaporean backers replacing the JKS group last summer.

2024 Review: The “divine chicken” at these funky East-meets-West outlets – founded by three mates who missed the Korean fried chicken they ate in Melbourne’s Chinatown – is “worth the pain of the uncomfortable seating and queue”. The business has graduated from home cooking and pub pop-ups to five permanent sites with a Soho flagship and a thriving delivery arm.

2024 Review: “Chicken with amazing sides” is the winning formula at Romain Bourrillon’s rotisserie chain, which imports its chooks from France. “Nice brunch”, too.

2022 Review: Fried chicken junkies beat a path to this first permanent site – in Brixton’s Atlantic Road arches – of a team who also have street food stalls in Leicester Square, Pop Brixton and elsewhere around town.

2024 Review: “Chicken with amazing sides” is the winning formula at Romain Bourrillon’s rotisserie chain, which imports its chooks from France. “Nice brunch”, too.

2023 Review: “You get the best fried chicken, but practically nothing else” at this new Westfield Stratford outlet serving Louisiana-style fried chicken sandwiches: the first location of a big US fast-food chain that breezed into town in November 2021 and is aiming for 350 branches in no time flat. “There were huge queues even months after it was opened” and “the ambience is that of a food court”, but fans (unexpectedly including The Times’s Giles Coren) say “the chicken is worth it”.

“Excellent fried chicken with a Korean twist” and “good cocktails” earn a “hallelujah” for this upbeat duo, whose original Haggerston branch celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2025; the Covent Garden branch came later. Although their punchy cocktails are a big part of the attraction, it’s also “great for kids, with a special offer every half term”, and the “beef dripping chips” go down well.

“Really solid brasserie-style food that’s nothing fancy, just well done” helps win praise for this chic, two-floor Parisian-style space in Covent Garden, overlooking Neal’s Yard: rotisserie chicken is a mainstay of the “fairly short menu” which regularly features terrines, grills, charcuterie and small plates. But while it’s universally acknowledged as “a great little place”, it’s maybe “pricey overall”; and it also doesn’t yet inspire the volume of feedback one might expect for somewhere associated with one of London’s better known chefs.

This “fun and glitzy” offshoot from Art Deco-style Bob Bob Ricard nearby focuses on chicken dishes – served from the rotisserie, or as a schnitzel or burger – plus caviar and Champagne. Fans say, “it’s a bit of a one-trick pony… but it’s a good trick”. Sceptics, though, were more in evidence this year – “the chicken needs to be exceptional in a restaurant that only does chicken, to justify a return visit!”

2024 Review: “Chicken with amazing sides” is the winning formula at Romain Bourrillon’s rotisserie chain, which imports its chooks from France. “Nice brunch”, too.