MELBOURNE | Fried chicken is oh so hot right now, and if you’re looking for the best fried chicken in Melbourne there is no shortage of venues vying for your attention. Whether it’s American, Japanese, Korean or any other kind of fried chicken you can think of, Melbourne has you covered. We’ve taken on the task of trying a lot of fried chicken over the past few months, and have narrowed down the contenders to a list that we think showcases some of the best fried chicken that Melbourne has to offer. Let us know what your favourite kind of fried chicken in in the comments section below. Is your favourite spot on this list?
Le Bon Ton
Don’t let anybody tell you that there’s nothing better than a serving of Le Bon Ton’s Southern style buttermilk soaked, cracked pepper seasoned fried chicken tenders at 3am at the end of a big night out. The tenders are super juicy, the coating has a great crispy, almost crumbly texture to it and the seasoning and sauce work really well together. Of course the burgers, American BBQ, craft beer, fantastic spirits and overall fun atmosphere make this a place worth going to in any case but if you do go, order the fried chicken.
Le Bon Ton
51 Gipps Street
Collingwood
Victoria 3066
Australia
Gami Chicken & Beer
Gami might be big enough to be classified as a chain these days (they’ve expanded to 7 Melbourne locations and 1 Perth location), but this home grown Korean fried chicken original is still one of the best. There’s been many a time when we’ve been in the CBD and hungry and Gami has provided a reliable last minute option. Menus vary slightly depending on the location, but the signature 17 herb fried chicken is always there. The chicken is great value, it’s tender, the coating is crispy and flavoursome and there’s beer with which to wash it all down. Affordable, no-nonsense food that hits the spot every time. There’s even fried soy meat served with black sweet sauce for the vegetarians out there.
Gami Chicken & Beer
110 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Little Oscar
Korean Fried Chicken is an inevitability on any menu in Melbourne that purports to serve Korean food or American food so it’s no surprise to find it on the menu at Little Oscar. This version hits all of the right spots, with a nicely seasoned, crispy coating and beautifully tender chicken. Don’t worry if the chicken has a slight pinkish tinge – this is just marrow leeching out of the young, porous bones and is common when the chicken is of good quality and cooked on the bone, as is the case at Little Oscar. There’s also the Gangnam style burger which contains a beautifully fried piece of chicken amongst other things. The other Korean x American influenced food on the menu is great too, and it’s a cool little bar even you just want a drink. You know you want the fried chicken though.
Little Oscar
41 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
Victoria 3057
Australia
Rockwell & Sons
If there’s one place that we’ve been to multiple times but never managed to get a good photo at it’s Rockwell & Sons. We’re not quite sure why we never seem to have the camera at hand when we’re here, perhaps it’s because we’re enjoying our food so much! There’s never a bad time to visit Rockwell & Sons (their double patty smash burger is the thing of legends) but on Wednesday nights there’s a very good reason to visit – the fried chicken. Owner Casey Wall’s recipe (adapted from his grandmother’s recipe) involves brining the best quality organic chicken for 3 days before finishing it with Myrtleford Butter Factory buttermilk. The result is some super tender chicken with a perfectly crispy coating. The chicken is served with biscuits (the American kind, sort of like scones), devilled eggs and a 3 sides that rotate weekly.
You can normally just walk in to Rockwell & Sons and get a table but for fried chicken Wednesdays bookings are essential.
Rockwell & Sons
288 Smith Street
Collingwood
Victoria 3066
Australia
Belle’s Hot Chicken
Belle’s Hot Chicken is all about authentic Nashville-style fried chicken, with owner Morgan McGlone giving up the world of fine dining to spend time in Nashville learning all there was to know about fried chicken in that part of the world. Things are kept simple on the food front. You choose your meat – wings, tenders, dark meat, fish or mushrooms and then choose the level of heat you want – southern, medium, hot, really hot, or really f**kin hot’. Add some sides and your sauce(s) of choice and you’ve got yourself a meal.
The chicken is really tasty. It’s not oily at all and the coating is very crispy and unexpectedly powdery. We think that the hot (which uses Scotch Bonnet chillies) is the best – the balance between flavour and heat is just right. For those who can’t decide what to order, the Baller Bucket is a great option as you get 16 wings and your choice of 4 sides and 2 sauces.
Belle’s now has locations in Richmond and Sydney (with more planned) but we still love the original in Fitzroy the best.
Belle’s Hot Chicken
150 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy
Victoria 3065
Australia
Mr Miyagi
Chapel Street’s Mr Miyagi is constantly popular, with people queuing up to get their hands on some of the fantastic Japanese/Asian fusion food. There are a few things that have become signature dishes on the menu, and the MFC (Miyagi’s Fried Chicken) is one of them. You can order it in either 6 or 10 piece servings and it’s served with Kewpie mayonnaise. The taste and texture is perfect – e don’t know what’s in Mr Miyagi’s secret seasoning but it’s really good. Mr Miyagi could sell nothing other than this and that other famous dish, the Nori taco, and we’re sure there would still be lines.
Mr Miyagi
99 Chapel Street
Windsor
Victoria 3181
Australia
Ramen Misoya Sake Bar
Ramen Misoya, as the name suggests, focuses on ramen as their drawcard but this little Japanese bar actually has a very good selection of Izakaya style snacks as well. One of these items is their fried chicken which we think is some of the best in town. Their Japanese fried chicken (karaage) is very moist and tender with a light crispy coating and a shiitake mushroom sauce. It’s a bit different to the karaage you find at most Japanese restaurants and comes together very nicely. It doesn’t hurt that the ramen is very tasty too.
Ramen Misoya Sake Bar
165A Sydney Road
Brunswick
Victoria 3056
Australia
F.A.T Fried and Tasty
F.A.T Fried and Tasty serve up ““old school southern style fried chicken, buttermilk waffles, burgers and beer” to the people of Brunswick in a funky, hip-hop inspired space. You can order your serving of chicken standalone or as a bucket with your choice of a side. There are a variety of fried chicken options here -original, hot, hot wings, fried tenders, and BBQ wings. The fried chicken is moist, tender and nicely coated with good flavours and crispiness. The burgers with fried chicken as the centrepiece are very decent too and, if you want it, there’s F.A.T’s take on poutine.
F.A.T Fried and Tasty
360 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
Victoria 3057
Australia
Sam Sam
Sam Sam is conveniently located on Swanston Street and specialises in casual Korean food, including of course, Korean fried chicken. The fried chicken comes as either on the bone or boneless with your choice of whole, half of wings and with a choice of 4 seasonings/sauces – original, sweet & spicy, soy & garlic, hot & spicy. The fried chicken is moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. The sweet and spicy and original flavours are somewhat bland but when it comes to the hot & spicy and the soy & garlic flavours it’s a different story – these are the 2 versions you want to be ordering.
Sam Sam
209 Swanston Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Leonard’s House of Love
Stepping foot inside Leonard’s House of Love, according to co-owner Mark Catsburg is like entering “a log cabin with a ski chalet in the 1970s feel”. The funky space certain lives up to expectations on the looks front, and thankfully the food and drinks are top notch too. There are a few options on the menu for chicken lovers, with both charcoal and fried chicken available. The fried chicken on the menu is some of Melbourne’s best, with a crispy, flavoursome coating surrounding the tender chicken. You can choose from popcorn chicken served with ranch sauce and pickles, original tenders served with chipotle mayo and pickles (our favourite) or hot glazed tenders served with chipotle may and pickles. There’s also the South Side Fried Burger – a delicious combination of fried chicken thigh, ranch sauce, bacon, American cheese, pickles and green oak lettuce.
If you can’t make it South Side, Leonard’s is, for a limited time, taking over the kitchen at the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton too!
Leonard’s House of Love
3 Wilson Street
South Yarra 3141
Australia