Belles Hot Chicken

Belles Hot Chicken used to be Belles Hot Diner until they realised that fried chicken is all a person REALLY needs. Now their menu is slick, stripped back and it’s fried chicken to perfection. It very much still resembles an American Diner, but with the lights down low and a little more moody.

Seating at the bar is significantly less romantic, but tables turn over quickly, even for a Thursday night.

I started off with Wings ($16.0) at Medium Heat, whilst a friend ordered the Dark Meat (Drumstick & Thigh $16.0) at the Hot Heat. I opted for the Old Bay Fries which were included in the price, and paid for the Mississippi Comeback Sauce ($2.0) which is like a garlic aioli.

The chicken wings are oily and tender, and really, really tasty. When the basket arrived I looked at it with great scepticism, but I was full by the end.  Each basket comes with a slice of white bread to soak up that chilli oil, and you can choose to eat it or avoid it at the end of the meal. I should have opted for the Hot Heat level, as Medium was barely even spicy. They definitely do not use KFC’s secret spices at Belles, and the flavour is so much more intense and less commercial. I much prefer this fried chicken over Crazy Wings.

The Dark Meat selection seems to have more meat, with less fiddling around with the bones, but the flavour does not penetrate in to the chicken meat as much as with the wings.

To end, I couldn’t resist getting the Soft Serve of the week ($6.0) – chocolate with crumbled caramelised peanuts. It was pretty good, but nothing special. A fudge brownie would’ve really made it good.

TL;DR Some finger lickin’ chickin.