JoyBird – an idea that deserves to fly

A new take on the charcoal chicken shop combines an ethical promise with smart branding, writes Simon Wilkinson

Joybird’s birds are sold by quarter, half or whole in three styles – Joybird, Firebird (shown) or Balinese Yellow Curry

Breast or leg. Dark meat or white. Roasted, fried or barbecue. Free range or caged.

No matter which side of the road you come from, chances are that chicken is a major part of your weekly diet. Where it was once a treat, chicken is Australia’s biggest selling meat, taking over from beef a decade or so ago as their prices headed in opposite directions.

Supermarkets now sell barbecued chooks for less than the raw bird, using them to lure customers in for their daily shop. And the old-fashioned chicken, chips and slaw remains one of the more affordable and relatively guilt-free last-minute family dinners.

Balinese Yellow Curry Chicken at JoyBird

It’s surprising then that, while endless burger bars offer their take on up-market patties and buns, our chook shops haven’t really evolved. Until now.

At first impression, Joybird looks like the clever idea you wish that you’d thought of first, the template for a successful business, starting with the design of its cute chook logos and splashes of egg-yolk yellow linking different elements of the brand.

So the progress of the first Joybird restaurant in Hyde Park will be instructive. It certainly has encountered a few early headwinds, with the upgrade of King William Rd making access difficult – not that this would be a surprise to owners including chef Adam Liston and impresario Simon Kardachi, whose empire started with The Pot and Melt a few doors away.

Inside, the open kitchen is dominated by a fire pit and custom-built rotisserie in which the butterflied chickens spin above the coals in cages as if on a Royal Show ride.

 

Joybird’s Firebird

 

Many diners, no doubt, will view this as fast food, ordering a chicken roll or burger and maybe a beverage, for dinner on the run or to take away. But, there is scope for a larger meal with minimal risk of chook-overload and some of the best stuff, I reckon, is found among the snacks and sides.

Spring rolls are made with Vietnamese-style rice-paper wraps and a chicken/cabbage filling that is given a huge lift by dunking in a tangy lime-based sauce. Skewers of pork belly are brushed in a marinade based on gochujang, Korea’s addictive fermented chilli sauce, and grilled over charcoal until the coating becomes a little sticky and charred. Slide a few pieces into a lettuce leaf with a squeeze of lemon and the world becomes a better place.

 

Joybird

 

A chicken liver parfait is piped on to a “doughnut” base and with shards of chicken skin (tick). But chunks of candied citrus are like a pebble in your shoe: the quicker they are removed the better.

The things stuck into bread or buns are much safer ground, whether the kid-friendly pleasure of panko-crumbed chicken tenderloin with lettuce and honey mustard mayo in a puffy bao, or a pork katsu “meatball” neatly layered with pickle and tonkatsu sauce between two crustless white slices.

A wedge of roasted cabbage changes character through each layer, from the outside leaves that are black and crumbly to its tender, sweet core. The cut surface is coated in a pesto of the herb perilla and rocket, before a final scattering of salted peanuts. It pretty much steals the show.

But what about the chicken? The birds are sold by quarter, half or whole in three styles – Joybird, Firebird and Balinese Yellow Curry. The latter has me daydreaming about crisp, golden skin and the intoxicating waft of smoke and spice that is part of travelling in Asia. The reality is a little different, with thigh, drummy and wing pieces smothered in a coconut curry sauce that, while a beautiful, complex thing in its own right, nullifies the hero ingredient. The Firebird has similar issues with a wicked Korean hot sauce that is partly tempered by sour cream. Putting most of the sauce in a little jug to the side might be a quick fix.

 

joybird’s wedge of watermelon with coconut sorbet and mint oil is pure and light

A pair of desserts are like the little angel and devil whispering different advice: a wedge of watermelon with coconut sorbet and mint oil is pure and light, while chocolate mousse, puffed black rice and salted caramel will take you to the dark side.

As consumers show more interest in their food and where it comes from, selling ethically raised, fire-grilled chicken and sides seems a sound concept. The question, of course, is how much extra they are prepared to pay. Not all chicken should go cheap. If Joybird can help change that perception, it deserves to succeed.

 

 

 

 

JOYBIRD

1/164 King William Rd, Hyde Park , 8349 0891; joybird.com.au

OWNERS Simon Kardachi, Adam Liston, Dexter Kim and Lin Chi Nguyen

CHEF Dexter Kim

FOOD Chicken dinners

SMALL $5-$16 MAIN $14-$45 (share)

DESSERT $10-$12

DRINKS Plenty of interest in a tight list, though hard to go past the house blend from Delinquente

OPEN LUNCH and DINNER Daily

 

SCORE 13/20

 

JOYBIRD KITCHEN TAKEOVER

On Dec 8, the JoyBird kitchen will be turned over to chef Matt Germanchis of Great Ocean Road surf club-turned-destination diner Captain Moonlite.

The lauded Victorian, formerly of Pei Modern, MoVida and Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, is taking over the JoyBird kitchen for one special Sunday lunch.

$45, from 12pm, Dec 8, book at joybird.com.au or 8349 0891