Embla, Meatmother, Marion, Henriettas serving some of Melbourne’s best roast chicken

WHETHER on a spit, from the wood oven, or cooked over coals, we can’t get enough of good roast chook; and this is your guide to Melbourne’s finest, writes Dan Stock.

Half of a roast chicken at Embla is “almost criminally good”, says Dan Stock. Picture: Supplied

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WHETHER on a spit, from the wood oven, or cooked over coals, we can’t get enough of good roast chook.

This is your guide to the best finger lickin’ chicken in Melbourne right now.

Embla

It’s a plate of perfection that’s almost criminally good. At Embla, you’ll find Dave Verheul tending to the wood oven and turning out all manner of excellent things to eat, but there is none better than his simple roast chicken. A half a chicken, butterflied and cooked to order comes to the table all golden skin that’s crunchy and salty, all flesh that’s brilliantly juicy. Roasted garlic cloves, a jug of deeply delicious gravy, and you have a plate that’s simple, and simply sublime ($34).

122 Russell St, city

Meatmother

Spit roasted chicken can be paired with peas and peppers or broccoli at Meatmother. Picture: Supplied

It was one of the first that stoked our love affair with American barbecue, but now Meatmother has turned her hand to a more broad Australian love of cooking over coals. Thanks to Adam Liston (ex Northern Light) the menu has had a makeover, and now includes a glorious spit-roasted chicken. Choose from a quarter ($9) or half bird ($18), teamed with a side or two – black eyed peas with roasted peppers, or charred broccoli with almonds – and you have a winner, winner, chicken dinner.

167 Swan St, Richmond

Henriettas

Henrietta's serves up a delicious charcoal chicken, crinkle cut chips, and slaw. Picture: Supplied

Think the charcoal chook of our collective youth, but done with 2016 restaurant smarts, and you go some way to working out the tasty treats Henrietta’s has in store. While it’s all about the excellent chicken – Bannockburn or Milawa free range, your choice – brined and then cooked over coals, the slaw and chips are equally excellent ($18 quarter pack). With a fancy soft serve to finish – eucalyptus with choc sauce - along with Victorian wines to wash it all down, Henrietta’s is the marvellously modern chook shop we can’t live without.

Fulham Place, city

Marion

The amazing roast chicken dish at Marion wine bar. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

While my vote for the must-have dish at Marion, Andrew McConnell’s fab Fitzroy wine bar, goes to the crunchy-fried ribbons of horseradish-topped tongue, many others are going straight for the amazing roast chook ($34). Succulent and fleshy, with skin glowing golden, it’s a plate of comfort that’s perfectly partnered with the ever-changing list of good things by the glass.

53 Gertrude St, Fitzroy