Everywhere you look these days, there’s chicken. Rotating chicken, fried chicken, flattened and barbecued chicken… the methods seem endless.
Sticking out in this crowd can be tricky. Not, it would appear, for The Social NQ’s new bird-based pop-up – the retro-leaning Le Coq Boutique, which starts turning out its first chicken dinners this week.
Winner winner, indeed.
They’re eschewing the rotisserie trend and going instead for long-brined and spatchcocked birds, free-roaming and sourced from a selection of hand-picked farms in the Lake District (Cockram’s, Byerstead, Hodgson’s and Harrison’s, from Whitehaven to Longtown).
The focus is simple: quality chicken, cooked properly. You can order half or whole, seasoned with a house rub and served with chicken jus, then choose your ‘smother’. Café de Paris, hot honey, chicken fat or lemon and garlic all do exactly what you’d hope them to. There’s triple peppercorn, buffalo and more hot honey on the sauce list too, if you want to double down.
Snacks and sides are an event on their own. Chicken skin crackling with an unctuous chicken jus glaze is a drink accompaniment for the ages. There’s smoked corn, olives and a Caesar topped dramatically with a whole grilled sardine, buried under a blanket of pecorino with just the head and tail sticking out.
Crispy fries come dusted in house seasoning, greens are paired with romesco and parmesan, and charred hispi gets the full treatment with chicken fat hollandaise and chicken skin crumb, making it one of the most unnecessarily luxurious green side dishes you could imagine. Social hashbrowns land with pecorino and truffle cream.
Then there are the Le Boutique frites: crispy French fries topped with cacio e pepe foam and cracked black pepper. Everywhere should have their own signature fries. These are something else.
There’s thought for non-meat eaters too. A glazed cauliflower steak with purée, crispy kale chimichurri, dukkah and chive oil holds its own, and several dishes can be adapted for gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian diners.
Drinks lean French. Expect a French Martini with Grey Goose Le Citron, a rosé spritz made with La Ferme Julien, a Social Sidecar with Hennessy VS and a French 75 topped with Crémant. There’s even a chicken fat-washed Dirty Martini for the curious. The wine list runs through Rhône, Languedoc and Bordeaux, with Crémant and Champagne on hand for when you’re feeling flush – and even bottles of the famous ‘chicken wine’, served in a spritz or straight up.
In a city currently awash with poultry permutations, and where chicken is having a moment Le Coq Boutique is making sure it’s dressed properly for the occasion.
Le Coq Boutique is open Wednesday to Saturday, 5pm-9pm.
Bookings will be live from Wednesday 25 February – head to their Instagram to keep up to date.
