International Fried Chicken Day is July 6: Here’s where to get your fix around Adelaide
From buttermilk fried chicken waffles to hot Nashville-style wings and super crunchy Korean fried chicken, these are Adelaide’s top 11 fried chicken spots.
Food & Wine
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Crispy, crunchy, juicy, salty, spicy, sweet … there is little more satisfying than fried chicken, no matter how you like it.
In celebration of International Fried Chicken Day on July 6, we’ve rounded up 11 of the very best fried chicken dishes across Adelaide.
From an up-market brunch buttermilk chicken dish, served with waffles and maple butter, to Nashville-style hot wings and the super crunchy Korean fried chicken, there’s something to suit all tastes.
Magill Estate Kitchen
78 Penfold Rd, Magill
It’s fried chicken, but fancy.
The relaxed sister venue of fine dining institution Magill Estate Restaurant has just added spicy buttermilk chicken to its new brunch menu, served on a bed of housemade waffles and with a side maple butter and hot sauce. Wash it down with fresh juice or, if you’re feeling festive, why not go for a mimosa or bloody mary? Head chef and director Scott Huggins also has vegetarians catered for, with a southern fried mushroom burger with pear, celeriac remoulade and d’affinois. It’s the ideal way to experience the picturesque vineyard views of Penfolds Estate this winter.
Cheekies Hot Chicken
86 Pirie St, Adelaide
The team behind city bar BRKLYN has brought Nashville southern fried chicken to the city’s popular Pirie St lunch strip. Cheekies Hot Chicken chicken is fried, dunked in spicy oil then coated with the diner’s choice of spice, from “No Heat” to “Damn Hot”.
The 30-seat diner, near popular restaurant Osteria Oggi and takeaway joint Chicken & Pig, serves up $15 lunch meals including tacos, wraps and mini sandos. But it’s open for dinner, too, offering booth seating and a rotating wine list.
Shobosho
17 Leigh St, Adelaide
This award-winning Japanese firehouse (along with its adjacent takeaway offshoot, Shomen Ramen, and Hyde Park sister restaurant, ShoSho) loves to put a playful spin on retro favourites – think potato gem and curry egg sandos, and toasties made with Laughing Cow cheese. For the purpose of this assignment we’d like to highlight their version of “KFC” on the current menu – pieces of chicken thigh are battered and fried, and thoughtfully plated with perfect rounds of sliced pear, and topped with tobiko (Japanese fish roe). It’s fried chicken, restaurant style. The share-style entree is $16.
Buk Buk Southern Hot
1/254 Grange Rd, Flinders Park
Staking a claim as Adelaide’s first Nashville hot chicken venue in 2019, Buk Buk satisfies cravings for those who like it hot. Their most popular sandwich is the Notorious B. U. K, a brioche filled with fried chicken leg fillet, house shredded slaw, pickled and a punchy southern comeback sauce. They’ve also got platters – the Best of Cluck features a selection of Nashville wings, tenders and boneless chicken, and sides including mac ‘n’ cheese, slaw and waffle fries. Open for dine-in, as well as takeaway, they’ve got a great range of local and interstate craft beers in cans and on top, plus a selection of handcrafted gelato to keep the family happy.
Ban Ban
145 Franklin St, Adelaide
Ban Ban is a handy phrase to know if you’re in Korea. It means half and half – and it’s what you ask for if you want Korean fried chicken served two ways. Now, it’s also the name of Adelaide’s must-visit “chimaek” diner. Chimaek is a portmanteau of chicken and maekju (Korean for beer) and owners Ernest Koong and Darren Song have pulled out all the stops to be Adelaide’s no. 1 place for Korean fried chook and a coldie. Their bestseller is the Wings Rice Box, with five wingettes, rice and coleslaw, for $12.50. Their BB chicken brioche sandwich is also popular, drizzled with their special sauce.
Motherlode Nuggeteria
142 Hindley Street, Adelaide
Some things are just meant to be.
This pop-up festival favourite, which launched a bricks-and-mortar venue in Hindley St in October, has a “bottomless fried chicken” offer on Wednesdays … and guess which day of the week is International Fried Chicken Day?
Situated just metres away from the entertainment strip’s popular KFC store, there’s something unique about Motherlode, which puts the focus on fast-food staple: chicken nuggets.
Their range of fried chicken nuggets include classic buttermilk, pink parmesan, laksa, kahuna and jalapeño honey butter. Fried chicken aficionados can also tuck into Nashville-style hot chicken tenders with waffles, maple syrup and whipped cream.
NOLA Adelaide
28 Vardon Ave, city
The southern fried chicken at this New Orleans-inspired bar and eatery has a cult following. It’s juicy, tender chicken thigh, crispy fried with a hint of spice served with NOLA’s garlic aioli. There’s also another version rolled in spicy butter – yum. Located in the East End, NOLA’s menu showcases Creole and Cajun soul food through a wide range of classics including po’boys, cornbread, tater tots and smoked bacon mac and cheese. Wash it down with a beer on tap.
Gunbae Chicken & Beer
11-29 Union Street, Adelaide
This East End hotspot focuses on one of life’s great matches – Korean fried chicken and beer.
It’s a simple menu which many will appreciate: choose between boneless and chicken off the bone, either in seven-piece (half bird) or 14-piece (whole bird) servings. The boneless dishes come in 300g or 600g serves. Beyond that, you can opt for your chook prepared in a traditional fried chicken style, “delicately battered, ultra crispy and supremely tender”, or with soy and garlic, sweet and spicy, and sticky soy glaze alternatives. Light and crunchy, the meat is brined for more than 12 hours to achieve its ideal texture.
Gang Gang
69 Unley Road Parkside
Opening its doors in 2019, Gang Gang’s bricks-and-mortar venue came two years after the team first operated a pop-up food venue and a year after the introduction of Trailer Swift – Gang Gang’s bright yellow kitchen on wheels, which gained a reputation for unbeatable burgers. It’s fried chicken is a house favourite. The Hot Kim features pangko fried chicken, in-house kimchi, pickles, lettuce, kewpie mayo and chilli dust.
Bread and Bone
15 Peel St, Adelaide
Beloved for its burgers, this lunch and late-night CBD eatery recently expanded its menu to include more snacks, starters and salads. But their acclaimed fried chicken remains, either as tenders with their famed sweet and sour sauce, or in the popular buttermilk fried chicken burger, with slaw, hot sauce, pickles and ranch. Then there’s their buffalo hot wings, with housemade hot sauce, ranch and pickled celery. It’ll have you sweating but no one’s complaining.
Fudd’s
3/40 Sandpiper Cres, Aberfoyle Park
It’s a suburban hot spot cheeseburger aficionados know well – but Fudd’s also turns out some of the very best buttermilk fried chicken. BUT, it’s only on the menu as an occasional special – the key is keeping an eye on their Instagram page to see when it’s available. Their classic buttermilk fried chicken, in all its nubbly crispy (and not oily) glory, is piled with fresh salad and aoili and sandwiched in a delicious sesame seed bun. Feeling extra? Their deluxe version includes bacon and cheddar cheese.
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