★★★★ | Other Side Fried, Brixton, London
Fried chicken was all the rage in 2019 – will it be just as popular in 2020? Well Other Side Fried (OSF) is trying to make sure this will be the case.
With five locations in London, including two in Brixton, they are all about fried chicken – just what it says in the name! Buttermilk – dipped chicken is offered in several burger varieties. In my quick visit there one Saturday afternoon to the flagship restaurant in Brixton (not Pop) – the Honey Butter chicken burger stood out on the menu. Loads of pickles and lettuce under the chicken with bacon on top – was – to borrow a well-known phrase – finger-lickin’ good! It wasn’t that large considering the price – £8.45 – but it was delicious thanks to the smoked honey butter sauce. My friend had the Bacon Cheese chicken burger with OSF special sauce – at £7.45. Other burgers include the Classic, Buffalo, Garlic & Mayo and Vegan – all priced between £6.45 and £8.45. What makes OSF chicken burgers taste better than KFC? The quality for one, and secondly the taste – OSF are original, and good.
The order of fries were very good – they were of the small-sized variety. I asked for no salt so that I could taste them as they should be tasted – plain, but they came salted – oh well – but were cheap (£2.45). The Dirty Tots were superb. A bit pricey at £5 – they were topped with bacon bits and delicious ranch/hot sauce but weren’t hot at all. We thoroughly enjoyed these and ate them all up.
We tried the Garlic Butter Mayo and Smoke Honey Mustard (superb) dips to go with our chicken and fries(a must at 50p each). If you want bacon or Parmesan cheese these will set you back £1 each. Beer, wine (pending liquor license approval in the main branch) and soft drinks are available as well.
If you find yourself in either Camden (Camden Lock Market), Leicester Square or Peckham (Peckham Levels), you’ll find their other locations. They are smaller so there are less menu options but the quality of food is the same throughout all the locations. The original location is right near Brixton tube station – you can’t miss it – it’s all glass – and an ugly orange inside. Too bad loud rap music was on play – not pleasant for this small 16-seater location. And unusually it was not busy at all when we were there at Saturday lunchtime.
Thanks to OSF – it looks like the fried chicken craze is here to stay – though I’d still stay away from Chicken with waffles – it’s so so wrong!
