Move over Nando’s – how chicken restaurants became cool

From FOWL’s beak-to-feet pie to Morley’s fried drumsticks dunked in caviar, suddenly the humble bird has been given a luxe-makeover. As a wave of cool new restaurant openings ruffle culinary feathers, Mike Daw asks chefs why they’ve gone clucking mad for haute cuisine chicken

Pierre Koffmann’s Le Grand Coq pie at Fowl caused a stir (FOWL)

A few years ago, the phrase “chicken restaurant” would likely bring about the idea of Nando’s, usually anchored by the prefixes “a” and “cheeky”.

A cheeky Nando’s was a portmanteau for comfort, affordability, accessibility and simplicity, but, more recently, the resurgence of a new clutch of chicken restaurants, or restaurants serving serious chicken specials, has given this humble bird the ultimate rebrand.

The capital, in particular, is the feathered epicentre of this new wave. A glut of restaurant openings have gravitated around chicken as a straightforward, easy-to-understand USP. From FOWL, the new chicken shop from Will Murray and Jack Croft of Fallow acclaim, to Casa do Frango, the slowly burgeoning chicken empire looking to beat Nando’s at their own game (but, frankly, in far more chic – or should that be chick – surrounds), everyone’s at it.