A few weeks ago I decided the one thing my kitchen was missing was a deep fat fryer, and while my flat mate protested a decent set of pans might have been a better way to spend some money, all I was thinking of was being able to make things like scotch eggs, doughnuts and especially some fried chicken. While my experimenting got underway (and i’ll post some recipes in the next few weeks) I heard of a new street food trader that was going to be selling their own fried chicken in Hackney. So on Saturday, their first day of trading, I headed down to the Hackney Homemade market to check out Spit & Roast and their deep fried wares.

As well as the fried chicken that I was there to check out, Spit & Roast, as their name suggests, also sell roast chickens cooked in the back of their van on a rottiserie spit. Finishing off their menu is pork loin, which I didn’t get a chance to check out as I was so full of fried chicken goodness. The chicken is soaked in buttermilk, then coated in a seasoned flour mix before being dropped in the hot oil. The result is perfectly crip chicken that gives way to incredibly succulent chicken which has clearly benefitted from sitting in the buttermilk for a while – there’s no dry chicken on the menu here! The chicken is nicely seasoned, and not overly spicy – though my personal preference would be to have it a little spicier, it was extremely tasty as it was and i’m sure some would resist it being spicier.

And while the chicken is clearly the star of this food truck its worth mentioning the sides that come with every dish as well, as they were fantastic accompaniments. Served with some garlic and roasemary potatoes, and a beautiful herb gravy that made for a different dip than typical BBQ sauce (though they’ve plenty of that as well). But the side I really loved was the cornbread muffin with sweetcorn inside. My last experience of cornbread in London was something extremely dry and crumbly, but this was the complete opposite, moist and full of flavour – even better when dipped in with the herb gravy.

Even though it was their first day out selling to the public, Spit & Roast were already dishing up some seriously good fried chicken and I can’t wait to see how these guys develop in the next few months. I’d definitely recommended heading down to Hackney to give these guys a go.

Spit & Roast
@spitandroast
Hackney Homemade Market (St John’s Churchyard Carpark), Saturday’s 11am-4pm

View Street Feasts in a larger map