You know that friend who is a serial dater, has every dating app and after every date has always met “the one”, and encourages you to give dating a try.
Eventually you are worn down, your love life isn’t exactly booming, you don’t fancy being seen on Take Me Out or Love Island and what is the worst that can happen eh? If the date is a disaster you can always block the person on social media.
So said friend arranges a double date with the latest “the one” and her supposedly ‘good looking’ friend. You ask to see a picture but your friend responds with “don’t worry, her friend is spicy! (slang for good looking) you will not be disappointed, better than the other women you have in your DMs!”
Fast forward to date night, but exchange the word ‘dating’ to ‘fried chicken’. Said friend has recommended you to go to @chicknsours because the chicken is “spicy, you will not be disappointed, better than the other fried chicken places you have reviewed”@clutchchicken and @cluck_you
Did Chicken Sours turn out to be ‘the one’, the new fried chicken spot for ManDemVFood? Or did Chick ‘n’ Sours get blocked, never to be contacted again!
FOOD:
We sat down at the table and looked around to see what others were eating (as you do) to get a bit of inspiration of what to choose. After a little deliberation we opted for the “bun”, (simple name for an extra large burger) as our main, but what to have for starters?
To start we ordered two portions of wings, #naked (take your mind out of the gutter, it is wings without any coating) and sticky, and we have to say it was an all round thumbs up from the Man Dem. Only one thumbs though, wings were nothing special. The naked wings were flavoursome and crispy, however there was a niggling feeling that the prep of the wings involved soaking in water which obviously gives a distinct after taste. The sticky
wings were just that, coated in a savoury saucy which reminded us of sweet and sour chicken from a Chinese shop. We can’t complain, all the wings were boxed off! (finished – if you’re not sure what boxed means). In closing the wings were ok, but not up to the level of places such as @bird_restaurant and @reddogsaloon but a nice start into the mains which were yet to come.
Right, the mains… Let me tell you when this ting (the burger) came to the table, we couldn’t believe our eyes… it was huge!!! One of the #mandem tried to play hero and eat theirs in one go like it was a McDonald’s Big Mac #fail The smarter of us cut the burger in half to the size of a normal burger. Now it can eat! The excitement of tasting this highly recommended monster reached epic levels…ONLY TO BE CRUSHED like a fizzy drink can once you’ve finished with it. It was terrible! What a disappointment!!
The chicken itself wasn’t bad once you scraped off all of the crunchy slaw and gochujang mayo. They did the burger no justice at all. We guess that’s why they’re called #chicknsours, it had a sour after taste that only the sweet rum punch could wash away. We were instructed by the waitress to order only 2 portions of fries as it would be enough for 4 man. When they arrived we all instantly said to the waitress, “another 2 portions of fries please!” No way were they big enough to share.
What a waste the extra order was. The fries were super salty, and to make it worse they charge you £1.50 for a pot of sauce that is approximately the size of a tea light candle holder! 2-3 dips with your chips and it’s done. Ease up!! A bottle of ketchup cost £2, Has #brexit increased the price of sauce? Joke ting!
Due to one of the mandem changing minds last minute we also ordered a side portion of fried chicken called “House Fry”. You can’t come to a chicken restaurant and not order fried chicken, right? As we do, we engaged in banter with the waitress, to see if she knows her stuff on the menu, also to find out what she would recommend. When we stated we were going to order the fried chicken her face said “I wouldn’t if I were you”, ignoring the signs we did anyway.
When the chicken arrived, (a leg and a thigh) it looked promising. The coating looked crispy and the chicken portion size was right up our alley, but let’s be frank as you know MDVF always are, the coating was bland, the chicken even though of a decent grade was either soaked in salty water as additional seasoning or the chef simply used too much salt. We at Man Dem V Food are not trying to watch our figures as we could compete in the #Olympics but we know when something has way too much salt in it. Disappointed is an understatement!
ATMOSPHERE:
A very bubbly atmosphere, trendy, cosmopolitan vibe, a mix of people, background music at a level that you can have a conversation. We wouldn’t say romantic, but with the good selection of cocktails available on the menu, maybe somewhere you could go on a first date. The waitress was very bubbly and honest which is a good quality, but there is a something didn’t feel right about not getting a VAT receipt, doesn’t that matter? They said the tills broke down. Maybe we need to stop thinking we are Jessica fletcher and stick to food reviews!
OVERALL:
Due to all the hype about the place, and the difficulty we had trying to book a table for months, we were wholly disappointed. In comparison to restaurants such as Bird, Stax Diner, Clutch etc this is definitely below par food wise. Restaurants like Chicken Sours need to understand that as much as we buy processed food from Tesco and Asda, many of us still have very sensitive taste pallets which detect over seasoned products or simply salty food.
We didn’t eat anything to suggest the food was a wow! But a positive would be the tasty cocktails, strong and fruity. Our recommendation would be the house rum punch.
In closing, as mentioned before the price for a dip is extortionate, £1.50 for a squirt of ketchup, or mayo that isn’t even hand made! #leaveit We almost feel like we were robbed!
SCORE:
Chick ‘n’ Sours for us scored 2 out of 6 mandems and it would have been lower if the service provided by the waitress was poor!
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