WORLDWIDE CHICKEN BURGER APPRECIATION SOCIETY
Posts in Category: Chicken Burger
Mother Clucker Food Truck
Purveyor: Mother Clucker Food Truck, London UK
Menu Item: Cluckwich
Price: £9 (£10 w cheese)
Pull over and get some help.
Squawk: This is a fantastic looking food truck painted to look like a military vehicle, but is actually what appears to be an old ambulance. We randomly stumbled across this unit in the back streets of Shoreditch, and given the unique branding and etymological attitude, they felt like kindred spirits. Even though we were actually looking for a place to enjoy a late breakfast, we jumped at the chance to try their chicken burger. While we waited in line we overheard several conversations about this rig, and the consensus amongst them all was that this was one of the best chicken sandwiches in all of Londontown. In fact, according to our eavesdropping, they won “food truck of the year” recently. This is unverified as of this point in time, all we can tell you about is the chicken burger and experience we had.
First unusual thing we noticed was this one comes served on Texas Toast, which is really just white bread slices with some spices sprinkled carefully on top. Inside there is pickled peppers, iceberg lettuce, and a subtle lime mayo. We opted for cheese, obviously, which added an essential element although it wasn’t melted and seemed tossed on as more of an afterthought. Meat-wise they are very generous with the chicken thighs made with a nice crunch yielding to soft tender white meat. Their hot sauce had a nice heat and the pickled peppers gave it a nice bit of zing as well. Overall this one has the right balance of crispiness, moisture, and flavor for a really nice mouth feel and structural integrity.
This was funny until it matched the attitude emanating from inside.
Buaawk: Service, as expected in London was terrible, but these guys took it to another level. The attitude from the two overworked staff was almost as palpable as the food. With only 5 people in line in front of us it still took over 40 minutes to get our food. So, was it worth the wait and blatant disdain for customers? Sort of. One thing is for sure, they could’ve scored higher if it weren’t for that long, long wait and uncalled for surly attitude. As someone once said, it’s not enough to just be good at what you do, you have to be nice.
Cook & Archies
Purveyor: Cook & Archies, Surry Hills, NSW Australia
Menu Item: Southern Fried Chicken Burger
Price: $19 AUD
Believe it or not, the pineapple actually works.
Squawk: There’s a lot to love about this burger and Chef gets bonus points for being ballsy enough to put a pineapple slice on it and have it work. To most of us here at Holy-Cluck pineapple seems like the sort of thing you should just pull out before your first bite (and it was hard for us not to), but when combined with the crunchy chicken and tartness of the fermented cabbage and green apple slaw, it all comes together in a truly original – and delicious – way. The combos including the smoky mayo and jalapeños are perfectly balanced, high quality and unexpected, providing a good mix of textures and flavours without any off-putting mouth feel. Good sweet potato chips too, although the portion was small.
Buaawk: Somebody’s never been to “The South” coz this ain’t even close to how they do fried chicken down there. While we enjoyed the thin, crunchy pieces, any connoisseur would agree the sandwich doesn’t deliver what the menu promises. All of us felt the burger was too small in both diameter and height for $19 and some of us felt that despite all the interesting and well paired ingredients, it was a bit dry and the bread roll too thick in relation to what was inside it.
Burger Project
Purveyor: Burger Project, MLC Centre, Sydney CBD, Australia
Menu Item: Spicy Fried Chicken Katsu Burger
Price: $10.90 AUD
Squawk: This place has been popping up on our radar for some time – people telling us we gotta try it and all that. Of course “people” don’t always know what’s up. That’s why you need experts like us. To tell you where to get lunch. And judging by the long lines, this place makes a pretty decent, if not very popular burger. And at $10.90 it represents decent value which may be a large part of why people queue up. Most everyone we spoke with got beef burgers, but that’s a whole other blog, we’re all about the squaaaaawkers, and sadly the best thing we can say about this particular burger is the chipotle chips are really great, even if they are $5.50 extra. Great chips.
Buaawk: There’s a lot of disappointment here. Overall its just a tiny burger to start with. The bun was too sugary and plastic food shiny. Chicken is thin, although evenly breaded and fried, it’s not “Katsu” at all, more of a small schnitzel is all. For heat there was some salted chopped chillies, not a sauce. Pickles were OK, lettuce was fine, and the “Katsu” sauce was non-existent. We had higher hopes. The good news is this place is a “project” which means there’s a chance for them to do better next time. Right?
The Grounds
Purveyor: The Grounds, Alexandria NSW Australia
Menu Item: Chicken Schnitzel Burger
Price: $21 AUD
Coffee roasting equipment looks and smells great.
Squawk: If you’ve ever driven through Alexandria and seen a random line of people and wondered what they were all waiting for, it was probably to get into The Grounds. They’re kinda the only game in town. A part of town historically full of factories, that is now in the process of going “full hipster.” And regardless, it is a truly impressive and awesome venue and worth a look, although we’re not sure about the wait. We managed to sneak in a slower time for a late lunch and snag a seat at a communal table amongst the roasting machines. Cool. But, as always, you want to know about the grub, so here goes: First thing we noticed was the chips come in a paper bag. A nice and unusual gimmick – and they’re good chips too, although our neighbours polenta chips seem like the more interesting call. Burger-wise the tabouli influenced salad is unexpected and nice. And that’s about all the squawkin’ we can do for this one. The staff run like a well oiled (coffee?) machine and the free wifi is a nice touch.
Buaawk: A place this cool really should have a winning chicken burger, but they have a ways to go before their Schnitzel Burger matches up with the vibe and decor. The bread was stale which may explain the mayo overload – you know, to soften things back up. The chicken was unremarkable, although we did think it was nice that they use smaller pieces stacked to fit the bun rather than one giant schnitty with wings that stick out squ-awkwardly RSL style. That said, this translates to a solid stack height that makes for hard, messy, eatin’ and our communal table was out of napkins the entire time – the one part where the overly efficient, walkie-talkie wearing, staff dropped the ball. Sauce-wise they had Tabasco only, which is just a rookie move that we can longer abide. Speaking of sauce, there wasn’t any sauce for chips which just seems like an insult. And speaking of chips, the bigger insult was in the rolled up chip bag. Turns out they scrunch up a bunch of the bag at the bottom to make it take up space so that your big bag of chips is actually only about two thirds as full as it looks when it lands on your table. This is sort of scam reflects poorly on everything else. Yes, there were, in fact, plenty of chips, but it still feels deceptive. Why not just use a smaller bag? And lastly, if there was any cheese on the thing, we couldn’t taste it.
Orto Trading Co.
Purveyor: Orto Trading Co, Surry Hills, NSW Australia
Menu Item: Southern Fried Chicken Benni
Price: $18 AUD
Squawk: The brioche (They call it an English Muffin, but it’s not even close) is one of the best around and the sweetness is just right with the butter and Hollandaise. Egg is just right – oozing the needed yolky moisture to make the semi-dry chicken go down smoothly. We love the venue and the friendly staff. We heard it was sold recently so went back to see what the new Owner was up to. Turns out, they kept all the things we loved about the place – and added a few new delicious non-chicken items to menu as well, The “Orto Brekky” is a fave. We highly recommend the place overall, but if you’re heading out for a high-ranking chicken burger, keep walking, the exception to this being, if you’re supremely hungover. In that case, one of these and one of their perfect coffees, just might get you through the morning.
Buaawk: This should be knock your socks off delicious. Sadly all socks stay on. (Maybe that’s a good thing.) Point is this could be something special with a little more love, attention to detail and creativity. Our biggest issue is with the chicken itself, too much oily crust, and the three times we’ve tried, it always seems like it sat in the fryer for just a bit too long. And a side of something potato-ey would go a long way.