London’s fried chicken shops are amazing in the numbers they are present as well as the taste. They are all over London and there are supposed to be 8,000 such shops. I never thought I will write a post about friend chicken shops anywhere let alone London. And here we are.
It’s no wonder London is called World capital of fried chicken shops. But you won’t know it looking at tourists guides. Nobody writes about it and the locals seem to think that it is nothing unusual.
When I first moved to London for work, I assumed that like large cities, it had a wide variety of shops and food outlets. And much of the food would be local in origin as well as those introduced by immigrants.
Londoners are lucky with the spread that they have and the type of places they can enjoy meals.
As someone who enjoys food and sampling new dishes in destination countries, the focus is dining in restaurants and cafes. Sometimes takeaways as well. Not expensive establishments, just middle of the road places that are popular. It could range from fish and chips in pubs, to full English breakfast to steaks.
London, a food haven
Popular cuisines other than western fare include Asians food such as Thai , Indian and Chinese and West Indian such as goat curry and jerk chicken. Going out with colleagues helped me try out places that I would not have tried on my own. These are not top of mind and away from my usual routes. non-native cuisines especially Chinese and Indian are all over the country.
Nando’s peri peri chicken also made the list as I first tried it in Joberg and it was great. South American food like Mexican Tacos, Enchiladas and Guacamole with corn chips are growing in popularity. I actually tasted my first burrito at London’s Canary Wharf.
Another favourite London locations for food are the various weekend and Sunday markets like Camden Lock market and Portobello Road market. And there are many with variety of food, mostly ethnic. Spanish paella at Borough Market is another favourite. Not dine-in but you could always find an outdoor picnic table or bench to sit on. Food served on paper plates or boxes with plastic cutlery.
One exception was West Indian or cuisine of the Caribbean. I first tasted it not in a restaurant or at a Sunday market. It was at the famous Notting Hill Carnival held annually during the August bank holiday weekend. I just munched away sampling the fare while waiting for the parade to come thru.
In time I had come to regard London as a food capital because of the variety of international good food. I was blessed because of the work opportunity far away from home in Adelaide.
Southern Fried Chicken
So what has American well known Southern Fried Chicken got to do with this post or London? First what is Southern Fried Chicken?
The best known is Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s the classic Southern Fried Chicken cut into 8 pieces – 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 split breasts and 2 wings. I mentioned the cuts because it is linked to this post about fried chicken shops in London.
KFC raw pieces are not marinated but coated with breaded mix of flour, powdered eggs, dry milk and salt with the secret mix of 11 herbs and spices. It is then lowered in hot oil fryer that is pressurised.
The type of chicken served in London shops
After 3 years in London, it was late evening and I was not prepared to go far and decided to walk to a row of shops behind Canada Water. I saw a chicken shop and walked in. What I saw was Southern fried chicken pieces similar to pieces and look of KFC chicken. The people running the store were of Middle Eastern heritage and shop had a halal sign. The shop had other things such as chips, burgers, shawarma, doner kebabs etc.
I headed home after selecting fired chicken chicken pieces as takeaway. They looked good in the shop. When I had my first bite, I was genuinely surprised how good it. It did not taste like KFC but it was just as good. The meat was moist and not dry. It was also cheaper. I was intrigued.
Within a short while I realised that the majority of the chicken shops sold Southern fried style chicken similar to KFC. Most were decent and some were poor in taste, usually salty.
The vast majority was halal and operated by owners of Middle Eastern and Pakistani background. Some were chains such as Morelys, Chicken Cottage and Sam’s Chicken but the majority were independent operators with their families helping them. It was also not the heritage food of the Middle East but all American.
Some odd things about London chicken shops
I came across a number of Chicken shops that had a random first alphabet followed by _ FC as in AFC, BFC etc. Clearly attempting to indicate they sell the same variety as KFC Southern Fried Chicken. Through there were other types of fried chicken such as Peri Peri, nearly every small suburb in high street in London had at least one or two Southern fired chicken shop.
One other oddity about these chicken shop besides selling the American version of chicken, was largely confined to the capital London but not outside London. I understand they are more numerous in the South and East of London. Mile End in the Suburb of Tower Hamlet takes the top spot with the highest concentration of shops. Mile End is now tagged as the “chicken shop mile”, having 14 chicken shops.
In retrospect, I never did notice that chicken shops was such a phenomenon in London and many were good or better than the main brand chain stores such as KFC. It took 3 years for the penny to drop.
Second it behoves me to understand why they sell a version of Chicken that is native to the American South and despite others selling other varieties of friend chicken, the Southern Fried Chicken remains the most popular.
As mentioned before the independent stores are operated mainly by former migrant families from the Middle East and predominantly Muslim. My guess is that early migrants needed to cater to the locals to earn a living and chose a western fare.
Do give it a go
I have seen reviews online about various shops and the ratings that they receive. These London chicken shops are certainly an institution and they earned that right to be called it.
I have spoken to a number of people who have visited London over the years and none had actually tried the chicken from these shops. The assumption was the quality would not be on par with the branded chains and they wanted to try fish and chips, pies and Sunday roast. Southern Fried chicken would understandably not be in the frame for a visitor to London.
If are in London, google for reviews of close by chicken shops and give it go. As competition is stiff, you will at a minimum get a decently sized, moist, tender and tasty bite. And you will be surprised.