Carl Clarke – godfather of the chicken fry – has secured an exclusive second site for his hugely popular Chick ‘n’ Sours concept, after just one year in Haggerston. Chick ‘n’ Sours Seven Dials will open in mid-September and will have a short, punchy and reimagined fried chicken menu of free-range herb-fed fried chicken fried in state-of-the-art-fryers, bold and whimsical sides, banging flavours, sour cocktails, local beers & cracking soft-serve ice-cream creations.
The new 40-cover site, at 1 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, is a thrilling move for Carl and his business partner David Wolanski. In its short twelve months of trading, food lovers from all over London & top chefs such as Pierre Koffmann regularly head down to the current cosy site and it has enjoyed 5* reviews from an array of top London publications.
The core menu will remain short & straightforward and will include some of the much-loved classics such as THAT Korean Fried Chicken Bun and Szechuan Aubergine (winner of Hot Dinner’s Dish of the Year 2015). There will also be new additions to the menu such as the Hot & Numbing Disco Wings and Xian Xian Tenders, which Carl has already been trialling at the East London site. The signature House Fry is finished off with Carl’s unique “seaweed crack” seasoning & served with pickled watermelon. The Guest Fry will change on a seasonal basis and is inspired by travels and other countries’ interpretations of fried chicken. Expect pimped up versions of Chinese twisted classics, Burmese curries & flavours of Thailand and beyond.
Continuing his long-standing relationship with small independent producers – such as fruit & vegetables from the Keveral Farm organic community in Cornwall – Carl will continue to use the best possible free-range, herb-fed chicken from Pilmoore Grange Farm in Yorkshire. A herb-based diet makes for happy, tasty, healthy chickens. Using state of the art, greener, pressure fryers, Carl fries his chicken in British rapeseed oil which has the lowest trans fats. So it’s healthier of sorts.
The side dishes are once again stars in their own right and at the Seven Dials site customers can enjoy Charred Hispi with explosive chilli, kimchi salad cream and bacon, or Coal-grilled corn with Berkswell cheese, lime and coriander, or White Sprouting broccoli with seaweed mayo and a tea-pickled egg.
Weekends will see killer brunch menus take centre stage complete with classics including the towering Brunch Bun – fried thigh, gochujang mayo, bacon, fried egg, avocado, Asian slaw, & Sriracha sour cream – and will introduce some new additions such as Cornbread & Kimchi waffle, poached eggs, chicken skin and Ssam sauce hollandaise.
The famous Chick ‘n’ Sours Sours won’t be hiked to West End prices and Earlham St will have its own unique interpretation of the popular House Sour in Haggerston using blackberries and finished with Womersleys Farm’s Lavender, Lime & Black Pepper vinegar.
Carl & business partner David Wolanski continue to drive collaborations and pop ups with like-minded cooks, most recently in the form of partnerships at Chick ‘n’ Sours with Berber & Q, Breddos Tacos & Hoppers. The boys have enjoyed an incredible start to the life of Chick ‘n’ Sours, with packed houses, celebrity fondness (Usher sent a limo to collect his chicken when he was recording in London last….) and consistent rave reviews from press and bloggers alike. Their first birthday at the beginning of June saw queues snaking round the block alongside a ton of social media buzz.
Carl says of the new opening: “We couldn’t be happier with the location & the site, bang in the West End of London. Nothing changes though in terms of what we are all about – it’ll be the same wicked vibe & spirit that we’ve brought to everything we’ve done since our first parties years back. We’re extremely grateful to Shaftesbury for giving us the chance to help make the Seven Dials shine.”
Julia Wilkinson, Portfolio & Group Restaurant Strategy Executive at Shaftesbury added: “Chick ‘N’ Sours is another unique dining offer for Seven Dials and the brand sits perfectly alongside the mix of international retailers and joins the recently opened Swedish bakery concept Fabrique. We are pleased Chick ‘N’ Sours selected Earlham Street for its West End launch as this is a prime location at the gateway to Seven Dials and will no doubt benefit from the investment currently taking place at Cambridge Circus and looking ahead to 2018, the opening of Crossrail.”
Thanks to Carl’s musical background as a DJ in the past and his family ties to Turnmills nightclub (RIP), he will be in charge of the ever changing soundtrack, drawing on some of his connections in the musical world to provide the soundtrack. Carl has designed the interior along with his friend and neighbour Camilla and as always – loyalty is king for Carl, who continues to nurture and work with people who worked with him at the pop ups of the early day fame.
Chick ‘n’ Sours Seven Dials will be open seven days a week and will be open every day for lunch. Bookings will be welcomed and a new punchy lunchtime only take-away menu will give people their fried chicken fix on their lunch breaks.