The Lowdown: Kricket’s Fried Chicken Challenge

The Colonel must be spitting feathers…​
Unlikely, as one of his representatives was actually on the judging panel. The event, which was in aid of The Childhood Trust and raised over £1,200 for the charity, was very much a celebration of all things fried chicken with the spotlight on some of London’s favourite interpretations of the dish.

Who took part?​
The highly competitive challenge saw seven chefs from London’s top restaurants and chicken shops battling it out in a blind tasting. Competing alongside Black Bear Burger were Mr Ji, Other Side Fried, Around The Cluck by James Cochran, Claridge’s, Richard Corrigan’s Daffodil Mulligan, and Tonkotsu. A panel of judges marked the fried chicken dishes out of 10. They included self-taught chef and rapper Big Zuu; Evening Standard restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa; chef Kerth Gumbs; journalist Flora Gill; chef and restaurateur Judy Joo; and a nameless representative from KFC, dubbed as being the fast-food giant’s ‘chief chicken officer’.

What do we know about the winning dish?​
Black Bear Burger won the judge’s approval with its blue cheese stuffed chicken wing (below), served with fermented chilli hot sauce. Famurewa described it as “an inspired reimagining of everything great about a buffalo wing platter”. “It was as technically impressive as it was enjoyably messy and days later I'm still in awe,” he added. The victory is particularly auspicious for Black Bear Burger seeing as the group recently launched its own fried chicken concept in Market Halls Oxford Street called 20ft Fried Chicken.

Feels like everyone is launching a fried chicken brand at the moment​
It’s not hard to see why. People love fried chicken and chicken shop culture is ingrained within the UK’s - and particularly London’s - QSR space. As the recent success of Popeyes, Slim Chickens and Wingstop in the UK shows there is space for more fried chicken players - but it’s definitely getting a tough market to crack.

How do you mean?​
Well for every success story, there are several failures. Almost a decade ago MEATliquor purchased the fried chicken restaurant Wishbone in London’s Brixton Market, turning it into a ChickenLiquor before converting it into its burger brand. More recently there was Mother Clucker, which was purchased by Byron owner Famously Proper in 2021 and went on to launch a bricks and mortar site in Islington. However, the restaurant subsequently closed earlier this year and now Mother Clucker is only available as a delivery-only brand. And then there’s The Orange Buffalo, which a couple of years back was laying out plans for both national and global expansion, but recently shuttered its two bricks and mortar sites and is about to relaunch with a pub residency in Worthing. Wing Shack Co, meanwhile, recently closed its Soho restaurant mere months after it first opened.

Will the Fried Chicken Challenge be returning next year?​
There’s no word yet, but given the event’s success, we certainly expect it to. In the meantime, those wishing to sample the winning wing can do so by visiting Black Bear’s Brixton restaurant, where it will be available as a special from 13 February.