Chicken Shop is the best......well yeah chicken shop in London you guessed. They sell pretty much only chicken and a few sides besides a short selection of desserts but everything is delicious. The chicken is juicy and the fries always crispy. Service is always very good, price tend to be a bit higher but the quality is also better than the average chicken shop
Delicious fresh chicken in a friendly, open environment. I recommend the avocado and chicken salad which is delicious. The layout of the seating is more informal and you can sit on the side and people watch or watch your chicken being made. Fresh, healthy, tasty and local! We love the chicken shop!
A recent Evening Standard article boasted that ‘tooting is officially rooting’, and, as here at the SLB we were particularly pleased with, that “South is not the new East, it’s better”. The Standard aren’t alone in these views and as house/rental prices have slowly pushed the young professionals further from zone 1 new social hubs inevitably start to spring up. Tooting has long been flagged as an up and coming area due in part to its proximity to popular Clapham and Balham, in addition to it being served by the Northern line. For those familiar with the area you will also know that Tooting is home to a good selection of BYO asian restaurants, and the free entry late night venue ‘Tram and Social’, owned by the experts of vintage pub fit outs, the successful Antic Chain (Balham Bowls, Effra Social).
I've just been to the tooting branch of chicken shop after a slightly disappointing experience last time ; and it was so much better! The service was attentive and charming, especially the manageress and the food was just delicious. Chicken was the best I've had - moorish, moist and smokey and the sides of butter salad and coleslaw nicely refreshing too. The corn on the cob wasn't great but that's a small thing. Can't wait to return
We’re currently looking to buy a house in Tooting, which is proving to be a very stressful and time consuming process. We were close to buying one, until we found it had a killer plant called Japanese Knotweed. And so it was sadly back to the drawing board. Last week we looked at a couple of properties after work and we were starving – it’s over an hour from Tooting to where we currently live, so we thought we’d try out somewhere there. Tooting really seems to be growing in popularity at the moment, with lots of cool restaurants opening in the area. One of these is Chicken Shop, owned by the Soho House Group, which currently has branches in Tooting, Kentish Town, Whitechapel, Holborn, and rather randomly, Chicago.
If you're only going to serve one thing, you'd better make sure it's bloody good.
Tooting's Chicken Shop - there are a few in London - serves rotisserie chicken and nothing else (apart from sides).
And it is beautiful.
You walk in to a hot blast of the fire cooking the birds. I had a half chicken and their crinkle-cut chips. They bring out aioli, lovely in its own right, and together with their house hot or smokey sauces, it is a dream.
The chicken is incredibly moist and flavourful; its pre-cook rub merging with the fire's smokiness to create a dreamy taste. I was in heaven. Something so simple, done so so well.
Go. Trust me, just go.
Let’s get this straight right from the start. This is not Chicken Cottage, KFC or Nandos. These are really quite enormous free range chickens, marinated for 24 hours, gently cooked in a steam oven, covered in a spice rub, roasted on a rotating spit over applewood and charcoal and then seasoned generously. It’s phenomenal chicken – crisp on the outside, moist on the inside and wonderfully spiced.
Yes, its all rather painfully hipsterish from the chipped blue rimmed white enamel plates to the carefully distressed furniture you snag your tights on, to being served wine in the glass tumblers that you used to get water in for school lunches. So why did I like it so much? The chicken is fundamentally just really good.
So, helped along by efficient service, some crinkle-cut chips and a couple of jugs of house red, a good time was had by all. There’s nothing to swoon over at Chicken Shop - it’s a solid, friendly place doing one thing and doing it well enough - but even so, in a city where plenty of people manage to get chicken so horribly wrong, even this modest achievement is to be admired. And for a bill of £15 a head, there’s really not much you can moan about. So I won’t.
Absolutely my favourite place anywhere in London to go and have a good roasted chicken. It's cooked to perfection never had a better roasted chicken anywhere.
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Our party of four arrived just before 7pm on a Thursday and managed to get a table easily, but I suspect things would get busier from then on. It didn’t take long for us to decide our order; your options are a quarter, half, or whole chicken, and sides of fries, corn, coleslaw, or lettuce salad. Drinks are just as simple; a couple of non-alcoholic options, a couple of beers, and red or white wine in varying degrees of quality- house, decent, or good. With hungry stomachs and the appealing smells wafting around the room, we wasted no time.
The food arrived reasonably quickly, all conversation ceased, the focus was on the much hyped chicken. The verdict- it’s a decent effort. The crispy skin dotted with charred bits was probably the highlight. The meat was tender in most parts, but dry in others, and much to my disappointment, a little bland. Which I suppose is where the sauces come in. I’m a huge fan of condiments, particularly spicy ones so I was fairly liberal in slathering it on. Both hit the spot- nothing to rival my love for Rocket Fuel sauce or Sriracha, but it did do the chicken a favour.
For a place with such a limited menu, I expected the sides to be better. Nothing wrong with the options, I just wish they were a bit more memorable. Biting into the corn cob gave me a mouthful of shrivelled kernels, and I’m told the coleslaw wasn’t great, probably due to the lack of carrot- criminal! At least the fries were crunchy, and the salad on the neighbouring table looked good too, but they didn’t exactly do much to the lettuce and avocado.
After all this, I was pretty full but after spying the apple pie on the neighbouring table, M and I just could not resist. I’m glad we found some room because it was the best thing we ate that night. Served up table-side, straight out of the huge pie dish, trust me, it tastes a lot better than it looks. The filling had the ideal combo of tart apples covered in a sticky, sweet sauce which was then covered with a crisp, buttery pastry. This is why you should always save room for dessert! Definitely a good way to end the meal.
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Located on an unassuming corner in Tooting, the chicken shop does comfort food very well & on a very wet miserable bank holiday it really hit the spot. The menu is short but perfectly formed, free range spit roast dinner can be order whole, quarter or by the half. The chickens are cooked on a wood burning spit which greets you as you walk in. Then there are four sides: crinkle cut chips, avocado salad, coleslaw & corn on the cob. The chicken is so succulent & full of flavour & goes particular well with their homemade smoky sauce, the corn is served with garlic butter & cooked to perfection. The service is friendly & unassuming & they are happy to bag up any left overs for you. Also if you have room the apple pie is quite the delight. Clucking good stuff!
Simple is King. When a restaurant doesn't offer much choice, but does very well with what it does, it's a win. Chicken shop does just that. Half a chicken with fries and coleslaw, topped off with a cold brew does the trick every-time. Good food. Good portions. Good price. Good choice.
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I can’t believe I dined at Chicken Shop in Tooting back in February and am only getting the chance to blog about it today. Yes, things are busy these days and time really does fly!
We discovered Chicken Shop while driving through Tooting one evening. If you are familiar with the south London neighbourhood , you will know that the main high street is full of Asian shops as well as South Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants. Tooting also has a growing number of trendy bars and restaurants with Chicken Shop being relatively new to the vibrant scene.
Chicken Shop is part of the famous Soho House group that own popular restaurants, bars and cinemas in London. Tooting is the second site for Chicken Shop – the first one being Kentish Town in north London.
The restaurant is tiny and from the outside, it looks more like a rotisserie bar with a lack of proper seating. Chicken Shop don’t take reservations so we went for an early dinner (restless child in tow) mentally prepared for a difficult wait. To my pleasant surprise, we were seated straight away thanks to a hidden, family friendly, dining area at the back. Phew.
The menu is simple and focused entirely on, you guessed it, chicken. You choose the size of chicken (whole/half/quarter), your sauce (hot/smokey), and your side (chips/salad/coleslaw/corn.) Vegetarians will definitely go hungry!
It’s all about the chicken and calling it tender is an understatement. The free-range rotisserie chicken, marinated overnight, is melt-in-your-mouth-fabulous. The sauces add a spicy kick to the flavour but the chicken is just as enjoyable on its own with a side of perfectly crinkled chips.
Highly recommend Chicken Shop if you find yourself in Tooting and in the mood for delicious rotisserie chicken. Go early and expect to queue – Chicken Shop is extremely popular.
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After a drink at Tooting Tram & Social, I wandered over to the new Chicken Shop, Soho House's second site for tasty rotisserie chicken and sides following great success in Kentish Town. It didn't start well as an anxious front of house said that there was only room for 3 not 5 for at least 30 mins despite the constant quick turnaround and visible spaces - perhaps there were some health and safety issues, but a tired L & N decided to head home anyway, leaving B, A and I to spread our legs in one corner.
There is a lot of unnecessary space in the attractive open kitchen area that chefs never seemed to venture near, but perhaps this was to keep us a safe distance from the roaring rotisserie fires that could power a small country.
We took off as many layers as the law allows and ordered pretty much everything on the menu - 1 whole chicken for £15 (half = £8.50, quarter = £4.50), corn on the cob, coleslaw, crinkle cut fries and butter lettuce & avocado salad. Sides are all £4. Sauces of the smokey and hot variety are provided on the table.
It all impressively arrived within minutes (I've waited longer in McDonalds) and disappeared just as quickly, washed down with bottles of Camden Pale Ale and pints of Birra Moretti. A couple more interesting bottled beers wouldn't go amiss but you are in and out so quickly it's not essential. Anita stuck to wine and agonised over the choice of House / Decent / Good. The delicious chicken went especially well with the Smokey Sauce, and the corn & salad sides stood out. I appreciate the simple menu, but I do feel there is room for them to offer a little more, as Poulet Rouge in Balham does. £5 desserts are available in the form of Deep Filled Apple Pie, Lemon Cheesecake and Warm Chocolate Brownie but we gave them a miss this time.
If you can't face the heat in the kitchen, then you can order takeaway. The chicken is skilfully, speedily and brutally chopped and bagged by the chefs and sent on its way.
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Already home to London’s most enviable collection of South Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants (you can’t go far wrong with any of them but Apollo Banana Leaf and Jaffna House are my pick of the bunch), the arrival of Chicken Shop on the High Street is yet another reason to travel to Tooting for dinner. The first branch, up in Kentish Town, has had them queuing down the street at times, although given the competition in that area perhaps that’s not surprising. More unclear is how the concept will go down in a part of London not exactly crying out for more dining options.
Anyway, here it is, and very decent it is too. This isn’t going to be a huge post - there’s only so much you can write about a restaurant with one menu item - but then Chicken Shop isn’t a place that really needs all that much publicity anyway; nearly every table was taken on an opening weekday evening at 6:30pm. Five of us sat at the bar - the only space left - and ordered “two chickens and all the sides twice”. There was also a nice enough coleslaw and an actually very nice indeed lettuce and avocado salad which was dressed and seasoned faultlessly.
The main event is, of course, the chicken and for just £14.50 for an entire bird I can forgive them it tasting slightly low-rent, and even for overcooking it in parts. It was, in the end, a very acceptable bit of bird, with some good charring from the rotisserie, and we all enjoyed it, even more when coated in one of the two house hot sauces. They were so good in fact that I would have happily paid for a jar to take home if they were for sale.
So, helped along by efficient service, some crinkle-cut chips and a couple of jugs of house red, a good time was had by all. There’s nothing to swoon over at Chicken Shop - it’s a solid, friendly place doing one thing and doing it well enough - but even so, in a city where plenty of people manage to get chicken so horribly wrong, even this modest achievement is to be admired. And for a bill of £15 a head, there’s really not much you can moan about. So I won’t.
7/10
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After a little break over the festive period, this week is going to be full of some of the great places I sampled before I headed home to Gloucestershire for Christmas. First up is one of Soho House's newest venues and it is only recently that I have realised just how many strings the Soho House Group has to it's bow. After the opening of their second Dirty Burger location in Vauxhall last year, the latest to join the long list of their establishments is the Chicken Shop, which opened in Tooting in the final few weeks of 2013! I'd never been to their first location in Kentish Town but apparently Giles Coren is a huge fan; so I was intrigued to see just how they'd managed to receive such high praise.
I headed down one night after work to find a pretty cool and shabby chic looking place on the corner of Tooting High Street. It's reputation had obviously made it South though as the place was rammed already at 6pm!
The interior matches the outside, with a reclaimed wood effect creating what feels like an old shack and dimly lit lighting that adds to the chilled laid back atmosphere. As you enter the door you are confronted head on with the open kitchen where they serve up one thing and one thing only, Rotisserie Chicken fresh from the spit! So for those of you that struggle with fears of food envy this is the perfect place for you, as you leave indecision at the door. You aren't completely bereft of choice though as there are great options for beverages, sides and of course dessert!
I took my seat with an ice cold ginger beer and set to ordering a mountain of food! A Whole Rotisserie Chicken, Hand-Blanched Crinkle Cut Chips, Homemade Coleslaw & Corn On The Cob. For those of you wanting something extra healthy to accompany your chicken, there is a Butter Lettuce & Avocado Salad but green just isn't my colour, if you know what I mean. I think at this point it would probably be best to inform you that I wasn't dining alone, my friend had joined me to help in polishing it all off, I'm not that greedy honestly!
I took a few big chunks of succulent chicken breast from the giant mound in front of us and slathered it in Chicken Shop's Smokey BBQ Sauce. It's a simple formula for success with no real flavouring but seasoning added to the chicken during cooking. Diners are then left to decide whether they want either Hot Sauce or Smokey Sauce or to just eat it as it comes. One thing's for sure though, the chicken tastes delicious, cooked to perfection so the meat is moist with a great bit of flavouring from the charring.
The Corn On The Cob went down well too but the Hand-Blanched Crinkle Cut Chips were the real stand out dish of all the sides. I'm a big fan of the old crinkle cuts but it was the crisp texture that made the difference, made even better when dunked in that smokey BBQ sauce. There was so much chicken that we couldn't finish it all in one sitting so our waitress kindly bagged it all up for us to take home.
We couldn't leave without trying their famous Apple Pie though so we decided to order a little slither of this too before we made for home. The unique selling point for their Apple Pie though, is that you get to dictate the size of your slice! If we hadn't been so stuffed, we definitely would have taken full advantage of this generous offering as our waitress turned up with the most amazing looking pie. The best way to describe it would be to think about the pie that Jim obliterates in the original American Pie film and that is what was brought to the table. It was massive! We then chose our slices and added either Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream. It couldn't be more simple and the perfect end to an awesome feed!
If you live in close proximity to Tooting then you should be rejoicing at the news of this new opening. If you do and haven't heard or checked it out by now, you had better get a move on and get down there quick! Expect queues if you are going at peak times as there are sadly no reservations allowed!
Enjoy!
We The Food Snobs x
TOOTING
GROUND FLOOR
141 TOOTING HIGH STREET
LONDON, SW17 OSY
0208 767 5200
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Glad to see Tooting is now the place to be for new trendy restaurants as this recently opened, counterpart to Kentish Town's Chicken Shop demonstrates.
Yes, it is still a glorified Nandos, but a decent one at that. The interior is rustic and mood lit, with a front room right in front of the grill and chefs, and a quieter, hidden dining room in the back.
Chicken is obviously the order of the day and it doesn't disappoint, with a whole chicken coming in at £8, with all the juiciness and rich barbecue flavour you'd expect. The sides at £4 a pop are also great. The coleslaw is to die for as is the beautifully charcoal-grilled corn on the cob with butter sauce. We didn't try the avocado salad, but by all accounts it's very tasty too.
With a bar serving decent draught lager to boot, this is great for a night out with mates or even somewhere to impress a date. The dishes do add up, but for £20 you won't be left unsatisfied and with the Tram and Social or Antelope a short walk away, there are some decent pubs to continue the night in.
Eric Rodriguez Machado
+5
One of my favourite chicken places in London.You will love this place if you like tender chicken that comes easily off the bone. The chicken is packed with flavour after being roasted over a log fire. The sides are also delicious and all at a great price.
Amazing food and great service with everything delivered quickly and to a fantastic standard. Go for the apple pie to finish and be prepared for a doggy bag!
The main and the dessert was on point. Lovely customer service. I would definitely recommend it to everyone.
Amazing food from Chicken shop and Dirty Burger. Went on a Saturday night, the staff were on top of their game. Really friendly, communicative. Great inside!
We live in Spain and are back in the UK for a week to see our daughter and the our new granddaughter. We wanted something fun and cozy and we tried the Chicken Shop in Tooting.
This is a really good burger joint and rotisserie. Service was very good, and the food was great. We tried a little of everything. The coleslaw was outstanding, the roasted chicken was very good, and the apple pie was one of the best I have ever had.
The onion fries were thick, which some people like and others don't. I liked them, but the portions were generous, so it is easy to order too much. The fries were good, just fries, crunchy.
I wish we had time for a second visit. Highly recommend!
Excellent customer service and delicious freshly made chicken. Love their thick bacon.
After hearing about the place from friends, I went there with the family for lunch on Bank Holiday Monday last weekend. Great decor, friendly staff and inviting sights and smells.
Concept is really good and chicken portions are generous.
The apple pie was amazing.
Will definitely go back again.
Only minor criticism I have is the chips at £4 a bowl are a tad on the expensive side.
Friendly staff very tasty burger.
Just wait till you try this place, forget what you may think you know. First of all the staff are excellent, the chicken is cooked on a rotisserie, but over a wood burning pit. There is attention to detail at every step. You can sit inside as there is plenty of space within, and of course you can enjoy your food with a beer, and enjoy the company of the staff as well as whomever you may wish to dine with.Top notch place! I know people will love it here, I did!
Succulent tasty chicken, with crunchy skin, chips awesome!! Not a big menu which is a huge plus! Simple awesome tasty comfort food! Apple Pie amazing! Service fantastic, the staff were friendly, looked like they enjoyed being there and on to it! To watch the spit in action was great and the ambiance of the place is super cool! Loved it!
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