London's first vegan chicken shop is now open – but there's a pretty long queue to get in

Last month we brought you news that a new chicken shop foregoing fowl and offering diners a vegan alternative was coming to Hackney. The new venue on Morning Lane finally opened its doors on Saturday, with vegans flocking to the shop in their droves, forming lines long enough to rival a tube-strike bus queue.

Temple of Hackney (originally called Temple of Seitan) replaces poultry with a meat substitute called seitan – a meat-free substance made from wheat gluten. They have been selling their 'vegan fried chicken' at food events since the spring, making seitan from scratch and seasoning it to closely resemble actual fried chicken. 

It turns out Londoners were pretty excited about the fowl-free offerings as these queues prove:

And did Temple of Hackney live up to the hype? Well, here's the verdict from the Twittersphere: 

But one question remains – what would the Chicken Connoisseur make of it?

Hungry for more vegan fare? Here's all the new veggie and vegan stuff you can eat at Pret.

And have you seen that all the adverts at Clapham Common tube station have been replaced with pro-vegan posters?