Chicken Shop Ditches Dirty Burger

Viv Ellis and guest try out the new menu

Opened just a few months ago as “Dirty Burger” / Chicken Shop in the shopping centre, this stylish eaterie (one of ten in London)  has rebranded and reopened as Chicken Shop with a new menu that they say is healthier and more wholesome.  

Owned by Soho House – the trendy media hangout in, well Soho – the restaurant has a bar at the front if you just want to drink but the menu has been redesigned well. It’s varied, with more vegetarian options, salads, burgers and chicken but not such variety that you feel bamboozled about what to choose.

To kick off I picked grilled gem hearts with mint aioli . I’ve seen it done on the telly but never tried it. It was supposed to be for sharing but was so lovely I scoffed the lot and my companion for the evening Ealing PR guru and Tweet up organizer Michael Greer, chose chicken nuggets.

 The chicken (locally sourced natch) is marinated for 24 hours then steam cooked (and I have become a big fan of that over the past few months) then finished off over wood and charcoal.  The restaurant’s got that modern ‘open plan’ kitchen vibe so you can watch the chefs at work.

I went with the chicken with sweet potato fries and lovely broccoli with chilli, shallots and almonds (want the recipe), and my date for the night picked your more trad. burger with fries and crispy kale.

 Normally no pudding passes my lips as my friends will attest. But …. their panne cotta comes with a fruit compote…. and that surely counts as one of your five a day? What’s a girl to do? It was lovely, like velvet as it should be. My companion had 3 flavours of ice cream – ditto.

 It was packed in there (Thursday night) with, a young crowd. They had a blistering sound track playing – if I had any negative comment it did seem a tad loud at times – but we were right by a speaker and I am sure we could have moved if requested.

The staff were friendly and attentive but not irritatingly so. All in all it’s well worth a visit – though you can also order a take away online – and collect it or Deliveroo

Viv Ellis

4th December 2017