London’s Best Chicken Nuggets, Ranked By How Little You’ll Care There’s No Toy
Before we all graduated to burgers, wings, and (now you’re really old) wraps, there were nuggets. The gateway fast food item, safe and beige. There were turkey dinosaur pretenders and tenders that have since gone through a renaissance, but the nugget will always be our first breaded chicken love.
Unrated: Restaurants we want to re-visit before assigning a rating. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal. We won’t rate a coffee shop, bar that only serves peanuts, or dessert shop.
THE NUGGETS
Some people remember where they were when Barack Obama was elected President. We remember our first Dumbo nugget. We came for the Shoreditch -famous smashburger, we stayed to dredge tempura-breaded chicken through sticky, sweet and sour sauce. For the nug nerds out there, Dumbo’s are fried in two cooking baths. We rest our case that two baths a day is optimum.
Short Road (at William The Fourth in Walthamstow) serves chicken bites that would be horrified by a basic McDonald’s nugget. We imagine them shivering, pulling their crispy little coats tighter, and ushering their baby nugs away from the riffraff. They’re called ‘The Don Bites’ for a reason—think golden crumb, moist meat (thigh, marinated with paprika), and a habanero mayo that should come in a yoghurt-sized tub. Yes, we do award extra points for a side of cornichons.
Expect to annoy the people around you by muttering things like, “mmm, real chicken” while throwing back these two-biters. Junk is one of Soho’s many smashburger spots, but we make hungover pilgrimages here for the crispy panko-coated nuggets and fridge-cold Coke. The meat—chunky, the right colour (important)—makes most other versions look like sad astronaut paste.
London’s list of iconic red things comes in three—buses, postboxes, and Morley’s. The chicken shop is a shiny beacon on high streets across London, that lure in schoolkids and those who would like to see £5 go further with the siren call of spicy wings and orange Fanta. Get 12 nuggets minimum; the six-piece is a surefire way to be disappointed.
When is a nugget no longer a nugget? Is it when it’s £16 and served in a Mount Street restaurant with the energy of a scandal-prone drinking den? We’ll let you debate that one among yourselves. Yes, Automat’s nuggets are expensive, but they’re also dusted in paprika and served with a pungent garlic aioli which makes us kind of forget that.
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