Drink Ottelia + Eat Fodder chef opens fried chicken shop Cluckers

From fine dining to fried chicken, this renowned chef has dedicated his life to refining the secret herbs and spices in his recipe – and it’s available for a limited time only.

The chef behind a Coonawarra favourite has opened a chicken shop.

Paul Stone has gone from walking through the garden, picking whatever is ready to eat and putting it on the menu at Drink Ottelia + Eat Fodder to frying up chicken.

With the family run restaurant and cellar door closed for a three-month renovation, Mr Stone said he needed to find a way to keep his team employed.

Chef Paul Stone has opened Cluckers, a chicken shop in Penola, to keep his staff employed while Drink Ottelia + Eat Fodder undergoes renovations. Picture: Ockert Le Roux

“We’ve always cared about our staff but now I feel like there’s a massive responsibility as a boss, as an owner of a place, I have a responsibility to keep our staff in a job,” he said.

He was pondering the dilemma when he got a hankering for friend chicken and Cluckers was born.

Mr Stone has spent 20 years working in high end restaurants but has always been fascinated by fried chicken.

“Chefs always have something that they really love and generally it’s not the finer dining,” he said.

“There’s always a guilty little treat … and one of mine is fried chicken. I just love fried chicken.”

Cluckers is serving up Mr Stone’s life’s work – the perfect recipe – not under cooked on the inside and not over cooked on the outside.

“This is a fundamental problem with fried chicken so I have been tinkering for years; how do you get the perfect juicy, cooked through, delicious meat with the crumb being just right on the outside?”

The answer – cook the chicken in a pickle brine made of spices like dill, fennel and mustard seeds, vinegar, some salt and sugar.

“We poach the pieces of chicken on a low temperature to an internal temperature where it’s cooked and it makes it really, really tender and really, really juicy, then we cool it down, crumb it and then fry it,” he said.

“It’s a bit laborious but I think it’s well worth it.”

What’s on the menu? A Clustercluck will feed the family, A Lonely Cluck is perfect for singles, vegetarians should order a Happy Clucker, Lil’ Cluckers will keep the kids happy, and it’s all gluten free.

“There’s one for the morning after you’ve had a few too many the night before, that ones got extra chicken and no salad, chips and extra sauce and that’s called The Regretful Cluck,” Mr Stone said.

Once the renovations are complete the Fodder will have a new kitchen, double the dining space and a dedicated cellar door area.

But what will happen to Cluckers?

“We’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

“We’re excited about Cluckers but the whole reason why Cluckers is a thing now is because we needed to renovate the restaurant so that’s our main priority, but who knows what will happen.”

Located 39 Church Street in Penola, Cluckers is open Thursday to Monday 11.30am to 7.30pm.