Ramadan Mubarak everyone! How’s your fast going? Alhamdullilah mine’s been going quite well. Are you more of a stay-at-home for iftar or do you like venturing out? I’m the former but that doesn’t mean I don’t get excited to try some of the iftar menus on offer at various London restaurants. This year, I went to check out BIRD Restaurant with some fellow halal foodies, organised by Halal Gems.

BIRD Restaurant specializes in fried chicken, with branches in Shoreditch, Camden, Islington and Stratford. Not just fried chicken, but they also pride themselves in being one of the first to bring American Fried Chicken and Waffles to London. They have launched an iftar menu and are available at their Shoreditch, Camden and Islington branches. Here we visited the Shoreditch branch.

*Disclaimer: I was invited to BIRD Restaurant through Halal Gems and this was a complimentary meal.

Fried Chicken Wings

To start with the meal, you get to have a plate of six wings of your own pick of sauce or glaze. The list of sauces available is:

  • Buffalo (glazed over chicken)
  • Korean (glazed over chicken)
  • Sticky Soy
  • Nashville Hot
  • House BBQ
  • Buttermilk Ranch
  • Wasabi Lime Mayo
  • Blue Cheese
  • Honey Ginger
Korean Glaze Fried Chicken Wings at BIRD Restaurant

Korean Glaze (glazed over chicken)

My eyes were immediately set on this when I first read the menu. With the rising popularity of Korean Fried Wings, I was curious to see BIRD’s take on this Asian twist. I liked the fried chicken itself but it’s not saucy enough in my opinion. The glaze wasn’t tossed evenly over all the wings. Instead, it’s more like some sauce drizzled over a plate of chicken with sesame sprinkled on top. The fried chicken was decent, offering a crispy coating and fairly succulent meat. It’s in overall good but the Korean flavours didn’t really pop out as much as I anticipated. They’re enjoyable but lacked that wowing factor and the saucy finger-licking effect that Korean wings normally does.

Honey Ginger

For this one, the honey ginger is served separately to the fried chicken. Again it’s a plate of decent fried chicken on its own. The sauce had a nice kick of ginger and also a limey tang. It somewhat reminded me of some home Cantonese flavours. More specifically, it reminded me of the honey & lemon drink we have in traditional Cantonese restaurants. Whether it matches with the fried chicken, I’m not a hundred per cent convinced about it. The reason being I don’t think it’s a sauce that you can just throw onto any fried chicken. In my head, the way this could work is handling the poultry in a more Asian-style way and have the Honey Ginger glazed over it. At the end, I just felt there was a bit of a gap in blending the classic American fried chicken with this Far East flavour.

Buffalo

As for the Buffalo Wings, these ones are more evenly glazed. It was definitely saucier than the Korean glazed wings as well. I find the flavours somewhat lying in between Buffalo and Louisiana. Regardless, these wings were lovely. The flavours worked out well with the fried chicken.

Chicken & Waffles Plate

Fried Chicken and Waffles at BIRD Restaurant

I’ve always absolutely loved Chicken & Waffles. There is something that works insanely well about this sweet and savoury dish. The BIRD’s version of Chicken & Waffles consists of drumstick & boneless thigh, freshly griddled waffle, house honey butter & Canadian maple syrup.

First of all, how gorgeously fluffy these waffles look?! It looked extra pretty as well with the icing sugar dusted on top. The waffles for certain tasted as great as it looks. It carried this buttery aroma and eggy flavour with a beautiful subtle hint of sweetness. Add a slab of the honey butter and a drizzle of maple syrup, these waffles were absolutely heavenly. Altogether with the fried chicken, it’s most absolutely one flawless comfort food.

Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Burger

Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Burger at BIRD Restaurant

This burger was made of fried chicken thigh, Nashville hot sauce, American cheese, buttermilk ranch, lettuce & pickles. The piece of fried chicken was good and, most importantly, not dry or tough to eat. All the sauces add a nice tease of flavours as well. Not the most stunning fried chicken burger we’ve had but definitely a satisfying one.

Glazed Doughnut & Doughnut Holes

And for desserts, we were served with doughnuts. The iftar menu stated it to be their glazed doughnuts but they were running out of them so some of us were served with the doughnut holes instead – which I actually preferred.

These mini doughnuts were still hot when served on the table. They were dusted with cinnamon sugar and served with a chocolate dipping sauce. These freshly baked doughnuts were so warm and fluffy. The chocolate sauce was sweet but not particularly rich. If it was a little more chocolate-y, it would have been perfect then.

For the glazed doughnut, we were served with a chocolate glazed one and a caramel one (which was at somewhere on the other end of the table). I was way too full to try them out at that point.

In summary…

It’s definitely been lovely to break fast and enjoy iftar with like-minded foodies at BIRD Restaurant. The food was generally decent. My favourite ought to be the Fried Chicken & Waffles, which really hit the spot for me. It’s all in all a nice spot to indulge with a little fried chicken treat!

RATING:
  • Food
  • Value
  • Atmosphere
  • Service
3.6

Halal Status

All chicken is halal at BIRD Restaurant. 

Alcohol is present at the restaurant.

Bird Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tel: 020 7613 5168
Website: http://birdrestaurants.com/
Instagram: @bird_restaurant

Closest Station: Hoxton / Shoreditch High Street


Pin it!

BIRD Restaurant review

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended Articles