My first blog of the year and I’m going to start by writing about one on my main passions and one I’ve never written about before…eating out. I absolutely love it to the point in my late teens/early 20’s my mum used to questions how I could afford to eat out (at good restaurants) at least 3 times a week. Admittedly I have slowed down now to about once a week or once every two weeks.
With the opening of so many American style diners and restaurants across London, Clutch has became one of them opening in mid 2014 off Hackney Road in East London and it has begun to rule the roost. It’s described by them as ‘The home of guilt free fried chicken’.
Looking at the menu which consists of brunch, dinner, sides and sauces it wasn’t too difficult to digest and they say it is a healthy way of frying the chicken with groundnut oil for you health conscious eaters.
The concept is basically having three ways to prepare the chicken; a bucket with coatings of either sweet soy garlic or peppery buttermilk, love me tenders with either curry leaf & sesame or parmesan & lemon and wings with sour & spicy chilli or honey & sesame. We went for two half buckets with both flavors; sweet soy garlic and peppery buttermilk. We were debating over the love me tenders (goujons) with parmesan & lemon, as my friend so rightly put it “what could go wrong with chicken fried in cheese?”
The sides we went simply for one portion of twice fried fries and one of coleslaw. The sauces which were £1 each we chose roasted garlic & crème fraiche and chicken gravy. The sauces we chose went perfectly with the coatings we chose as the food arrived and we realised the peppery buttermilk which was a dry coating definitely needed the gravy and the chips tasted excellent with it too. The sweet soy garlic chicken was suited perfectly with the garlic crème fraiche.
I definitely favoured the peppery buttermilk chicken as I loved the crispiness of the batter with the tenderness of the chicken, whereas my friend favoured the soy garlic which was more of a sticky coating.
Drinks
The drinks menu was more painful to look at as it had so many good options of cocktails to choose from. We went for a simple elderflower and prosecco which was light and bubbly and went down a treat with the chicken.
Take note also there is a bar hidden away in a room behind the restaurant where you can also order food.
Worth a try?
We couldn’t even finish our chicken only eating 2 bits each from each bucket and taking 2 bits each home! The bill came to £30 each which is quite pricey but then we did have two drinks each too so it’s quite reasonable when you add that. The chicken is definitely worth the price and I will be going back to test out the brunch menu too!
Where to find
4 Ravenscroft Street, London E2 7QG 020 7098 0808 http://clutchchicken.com
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