I like fried chicken. No, I love fried chicken. And I’d been meaning to try Ma’Plucker after passing it one evening on Beak Street (ha!) and stopping in for just desserts – I knew I’d be back for their main menu and we got that chance one evening in late December. One or two of the tables were occupied that evening – perhaps its the bench seating in the front that encourages people not to linger too much after their meal. We grabbed a relatively quiet table in the back and contemplated their quirky menu. There’s a formula for their chicken meals: choose your chicken style, your carbohydrate or salad, and your sauce. There are other set chicken dishes available and sides too.
They had two or three flavoured iced teas available that evening and both those we tried (lemon and cranberry) were refreshing and tasted very natural. Thumbs up from us!
We had to have some fried chicken of course and it was to be in the form of Crispy Coated Buttermilk Dipped Wings and a Waffle (£6). MP chicken skin gravy for this one. The fried chicken wasn’t exactly the buttermilk friedness that I was expecting (the coating bit threw me a bit) but y’know, it was pretty good fried chicken. Fried chicken. Yeah. The waffle already had some maple syrup embedded in it and with the savoury gravy, well, that went down a treat.
We also tried their Hickory Smoked Pulled Chicken in a House Bun (£7.50 for 250g pulled chicken) with Kansas BBQ sauce. Surprisingly, this may have been the winner that evening. 250g of pulled chicken turned out to be quite a bit (a 150g portion is also available for the less greedy) but it was tender and delicious and the barbecue sauce included was very good.
We had Seasonal Greens and Fries (£4 and £3.50, respectively) on the side. Both were fine – the seasonal greens were lovely tossed in a slightly spicy butter but I wish they had been a more generous with the portion size.
No desserts that evening but their cherry pie was lovely the first time we tried it while their apples and dumplings were alright in the past. It’s a good spot to pop into in the area, well, if you’re craving chicken of course!
Ma’Plucker
75 Beak Street
London W1F 9SS
Tamarind and Thyme 
Sun, 10 Jan, 2016 at 12:06
I think I would have been a bit shocked by the appearance of that Buttermilk batter too! The tableware looks pretty “informal”. I’ve never had chips in a mug.
Sun, 10 Jan, 2016 at 15:57
I had the waffles with the pulled chicken which I found really nice.
Mon, 11 Jan, 2016 at 14:41
Happy New Year, Fried Chicken,Yes Please! Gordons recipe for Nonya Chicken, is up there with the best. I need to try some more at Streetfeast. BBQ Lab by the way do amazing wings. Always on the hunt for good fried chicken.
Have you hit Hoppers Soho, its as good as the hype! Now to read some more of your blog, its been a while.
Thu, 3 Mar, 2016 at 03:58
A restaurant in town just starting serving chicken and waffles on their menu. I swear it’s easily the most poplar. That’s too funny. What a delicious menu item!! haha!
Great article!
Ashley