About Time: You Ate London’s Best Fried DishesBy Alicia Grimshaw
To celebrate our special Indulgence Week on About Time, we tasted our way through some of London’s best fried dishes to find our absolute favourites. Because, let’s be honest, things taste better deep-fried. Here’s our top picks:
1. For a Fried Chicken Burger: Spit and Roast
Order: Buttermilk fried sandwich
The Run-Down: Spit and Roast’s buttermilk fried chicken sandwich is iconic, and a street food edible masterpiece. Forget your fads and your food trends – this sandwich hasn’t changed in years, and rightly so. Free range Suffolk chicken is marinated in buttermilk, then deep-fried in their secret Louisiana style coating before being topped with a punchy Korean sauce and crunchy slaw. Get it round your chops, pronto.
Where: Brockley Market, Lewisham Way, Brockley, London SE4 1UT
2. For Fried Chicken: Other Side Fried
Order: Fried chicken with smoked honey butter, bacon, lettuce and pickles
The Run-Down: We don’t throw around these claims lightly, but Other Side Fried knock up some of the best fried chicken bites in London. These guys are like the white poultry messiahs. The fried chicken is ludicrously delicious; light, crispy coating plus succulent chicken is like a hand grenade to the tastebuds. And the smoked honey butter which is not spread, but lathered onto the chicken is so rich that we want an IV drip of it running straight into our stomach.
Where: Pop Brixton, 49 Brixton Station Rd, London SW9 8PQ
3. For a Full Chicken: Chick ‘n’ Sours
Order: Whole fried chicken for two people plus two sides (£3o)
The Run-Down: Whole. Fried. Chicken. What a time to be alive. It’s so absurdly over the top that we can’t help but love this deep-fried creation from the Chick ‘n’ Sours team. The chicken is so flipping good, like really bloody good – the kind of chicken that will have you immediately putting Chick ‘n’ Sours onto your saved Deliveroo list. Order the chicken K-Pop Style: a healthy dose of Asian spices blended with a tangy sauce. We love.
4. For Fried Pasta: MEATmission
What: Deep fried mac ‘n cheese
The Run-Down: MEATmission AKA deep-fried paradise is where you’ll find some of the best mac n’ cheese nibbles in the capital. Once you’ve ordered your burger, make room for some molten, dairy goodness. The mac n’ cheese is a warm cheesy cuddle in deep-fried form. And when you dip this double carb creation into the marinara sauce – your mouth is flooded with a taste explosion. Up for more deep-fried fun? The fried pickles with blue cheese sauce are traffic haltingly good.
Where: 15 Hoxton Market, London N1 6HG
5. For Fried Cheese: Oli Baba’s
Order: Halloumi fries
The Run-Down: These halloumi fries are so famous they deserve their own Instagram page. Since hitting the street food scene back in 2015, Oli Baba’s have earned themselves a legion of fans who flocks to get their mits on the insanely yummy halloumi fries. Hot, juicy morsels of gooey cheese with a glorious golden brown coating are topped with mint leaves, a smattering of pomegranate seeds and a few home-made tasty sauces. Stop your licking your computer screen and get in the queue.
Where: Unit 12, KERB Camden Market, West Yard, Camden Lock Place, London NW1 8AF
6. For Chicken Wings: Wingmans Chicken
Order: Buffalo chicken wings
The Run-Down: There’s chicken wings, and then there’s Wingmans’ chicken wings. Ditch the cutlery, and grab a handful of napkins and delve mouth first into their buffalo chicken wings. They’re the stuff of deep-fried dreams; crispy, crunchy skin and the most succulent, happiness-inducing chicken. And if you still don’t believe us on how great these wings are, they have a mantlepiece full of awards (note: 2016/17 winners of the best wings in London).
Where: Locations here
7. For Portugese Eats: Bar Douro
Order: Croquetes de Alheira
The Lowdown: Bringing a slice of Portugal to the arches of London Bridge, Bar Douro rustle up a mighty fine selection of modern Portuguese dishes. Among them is their most popular dish, the moreish Croquetes De Alheira – small balls of smoked Portuguese sausage. These little balls of greatness are coated in egg yolk and panko bread before being deep-fried to golden perfection, and served with a lemon mayonnaise. So cute, so small, but above all – achingly delicious.
Where: Arch 35B, Flat Iron Square,, 66 Union Street,, London SE1 1TD
8. For Doughnuts: You Doughnut
Order: Salted caramel sundae with doughnuts and peanut popcorn
The Lowdown: Man, we have a lot of time for You Doughnut. They serve doughnuts how they should be: straight from the fryer. The doughnuts here remind us of the seaside doughnuts you used to buy as a wee nipper; hot, fresh and loaded with a sugar coating. These bite-sized balls are served with a range of different toppings like peanut brittle, salted caramel sauce, and peanut popcorn. Drool.
Where: Locations here
Order: Deep-fried Oreo doughnuts
The Run-Down: Whoever thought that sticking an Oreo into a doughnut was a good idea deserves a medal or a Blue Petter badge. Soft, squishy dough encase a lava-like Oreo, and they’re hella tasty. Fluffy, and not overly greasy this is the best fiver you’ll ever spend. Get dunking the hot dough into the cold vanilla ice cream for a taste of pure joy.
Where: 46-48 Commercial St, London E1 6LT
Order: The Cronut pastry
The Run-Down: People queue out the door for the famous Cronut at Dominique Ansel Bakery, and we say that’s time well spent. The croissant/doughnut hybrid is agonisingly gorgeous – proofed, fried in grapeseed oil, rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with glaze – this is not a sweet treat, this is a quasi-religious experience.
Where: 17-21 Elizabeth St, Belgravia, London SW1W 9RP
