Bird

A newish addition to the southern end of Holloway Road. This site used to be a pub which recently closed, not the kind I ever wanted to visit and now a spanking new incarnation as Bird. Inside it’s really bright and clean and modern and I like the utilitarian functionality of it. Small, high tables which are great for a quick turnaround and quick eating. The menu is upmarket fried chicken indicated with extras with words like slaw, kimchi, hickory and gochujang.
Service was great, Super quick and responsive. Our food came quickly. I got the GeeGee chicken thigh burger with gochujang and kimchee slaw dressing. We had some cheesy Korean fries and deep fried pickles with blue cheese sauce. Maybe not the best combination in hindsight. The chicken itself was good but I found the gochujang plus slaw a bit overbearing. The fries were sub par being pale, not crispy and from a freezer bag and the sauces were a bit too cheesy and heavy. I expected something better. The deep fried pickles were OK but the batter was quite greasy and dipping it into the blue cheese sauce was one step too far in the calorie and heaviness department.
I hesitate between 4 and 3 stars but 3 overall because you can get downmarket fried chicken and upmarket hipster chicken like this. Both taste good but for the higher price it could be better. The fries for example at £4.50 for a small side with sauces squirted over could be much better for the price. The venue and overall concept however are great but £40 for two chicken burgers, 2 sides and 2 beers was fairly high in my opinion for what we had.

Being a native of Georgia in The States, I have high expectations when it comes to fried chicken. I have to say I was greatly impressed with the food. I ordered the classic chicken sandwich and wish I’d ordered two. That along with the Korean fries and an ice cold Classic Coke made me feel like I was back in Atlanta enjoying a meal at a similar local free-​range chicken joint. I’ll definitely frequent this place as much as possible.

We’ve been curious about this new local chicken restaurant, and since we are usually quite busy on Saturday’s, but we didn’t have plans for lunch today, we decided to pop in. We saw online that they open everyday at 11:00am, and we arrived at about 12:15pm. I’m pretty sure they just opened, as we were clearly their first patrons of the day.
We sat down, and took a look at the menu and the waitress brought us a large bottle of water and two glasses without having to ask for it. I really like when they do that. We decided that we wanted to try the fried pickles, but with ranch instead of bleu cheese, and fries. I ordered two pieces of fried white meat chicken. As I was ordering the sides we planned to share, she told me the pickles wouldn’t be ready for ordering for an hour. I found that a bit of a shame, and also sort of strange. It wasn’t the end of the day, and they hadn’t run out. It was the beginning of the day, and they’d only just gotten started. We decided to get two fries instead.
We waited quite a while, and were told that the fries were taking a bit because the oil needed to heat up. Again, I find that very strange, and off-​putting that they weren’t ready for people to actually order food. At a restaurant. Where people typically do order food.
We received our food, and Mr. F really enjoyed the chicken burger he’d ordered. My chicken was good. There were no bones, which was very unexpected, but fine by me. The fries were good, though a bit over oily, probably due to the oil not being hot enough when they were started. As a lover of ranch, and as I knew they had my favourite condiment in house, I had ordered it on the side for my chicken. I dipped a fry into it, and just about spit it out. It was absolutely disgusting, and held no resemblance in taste to the delicious sauce I love. It smelled terrible, too. It looked like it, but I certainly won’t get it there again.
It was a decent experience. I’ve had better fried chicken, but not here in London, and I’d be willing to give everything another try… I’ll know better next time and bring my own ranch, but I’m sure we will go back.