The best fried chicken in London

Taiwanese fried chicken was popularised by night market stall owners in the late 1970s, as they tried to recreate western-style chicken nuggets, but ended up making a deep fried, boneless bite-size version or what we now call popcorn chicken. While there’s always an intimidatingly long line trailing out of Good Friend’s bright yellow storefront, luckily it moves quickly, with staff operating at breakneck speed. For the most classic Taiwanese options, the popcorn chicken or karaage are go-to orders, but there’s also crispy squid, chicken skin, crispy tofu and sweet potato options if you feel like branching out.

No longer a bastion of just south London, Morley's has now spread its wings all over the city, with branches everywhere from Edmonton to Finsbury Park and Brick Lane. The premise is simple; cheap, cheerful fried chicken done to perfection. Everyone's got their tried-and-tested order, but the spicy wings are the ones we keep on coming back for again and again (and again).

Head to Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden – or Mikkeller Brewpub on Exmouth Market – for a mouth-mangling blast of Nashville-style hot chicken by Lucky's. Get strips, wings or sando-based scorchers which are twice-fried to achieve peak crispy batter. If you can't handle the heat then go 'country' style or sweet Cajun, but for those who like things spicy, then plonk for some serious heat with some XXX seasoning. Mindblowing. 

They may be the unofficial ‘chicken burger’ champions of London, but Butchies’ delectable buttermilk-fried ‘sandwiches’ are regularly outdone by their moreish tenders. Although these come with the house BBQ sauce as standard, we strongly suggest ordering some extra dips (don’t be put off by the weirdly watery blue cheese version). A great shout for fast fried chicken in Shoreditch.

Yes, it’s a deep-fried breaded dish with the initials KFC, but the Keralan Fried Chicken served at this teeny Soho located Indian restaurant is no laughing matter – especially as the meat is marinated in tandoori spices, then rolled in a mix of masala, flour and buttermilk. Served with pickled mooli and a dinky pot of curry-leaf mayo, it’s just about perfect: crunchy and grease-free on the outside, mouth-wateringly soft and juicy in the middle.

Somewhat disturbingly titled a beak-to-feet restaurant, this off-shoot of the cult-ish sustainable spot Fallow, Fowl in St James's is all about the chicken. Chicken burgers are the main draw, but if you want to double down on your dinner, then the chicken salt strips are way more than moreish. Birds here are also soy-free, pasture raised for twice as long as standard and raised on farms that pride themselves on regenerative agriculture.

Fried chicken heaven for hardcore fans, Chick ’n’ Sours in Dalston serves its chooks in various forms (including tenders), but nothing beats the K-pop sandwich. Looking a bit like a Jackson Pollock sandwiched into a brioche bun, it comes with squirts of fiery gochujang mayo, Asian slaw splurging out and crisply bubbled batter coating the buttermilk-bathed thigh meat. This is mercilessly messy stuff, so don’t go dressed in your date-night finery.

Dude-food burger slingers MeatLiquor have established themselves as brand leaders with a cult following to match, and they’re also up there with the best when it comes to fried chicken. We could point you towards their ‘monkey fingers’, but nothing beats the Tower Block burger – a mighty pile-up of fried chicken fillet, cheese, hash brown, jalapeños, slaw and Russian dressing, all crammed into one of their firm, bouncy buns.

A family-owned Korean fried chicken joint, which is the local stuff of legends. Here chicken is double-fried for that all-important extra crispy skin and the batter straddles the sweet spot between rugged and impeccably glossy.

‘Fried chicken and wings, but not as you know it’ – that’s the pitch from main man (and ex-racer) Matt Harris at Thunderbird. His gambit has paid off, because Thunderbird now has branches in Charing Cross, Clapham, Canary Wharf, Wimbledon, The O2, and Westfield Stratford. The wings are done three ways, while the fried chicken comes in boxes, buckets and buns – we like the Meltdown, which comes drenched in miso-jalapeno cheese sauce and red pepper aioli. 

Korean fried chicken doesn't come better than at Walworth's CheeMc. Drenched with serious seasoning in the shape of honey butter powder, their best-selling dish is deeply addictive, and goes very nicely indeed with a bowl of kimchi.