Thirsty Bird Southern fried chicken, Potts Point

First there was Mr Crackles. Now we have Thirsty Bird. The folks behind Mr Crackles have expanded to a second outlet, moving their attention from (predominantly) pork to chicken. It's no surprise that their obsession with crunch - have you had their incredible crackling roast pork rolls? - has translated to poultry's version of crack: Southern fried chicken.


Thirsty Bird at Potts Point

Thirsty Bird quietly opened five weeks ago in Potts Point, down at the station end of Bayswater Road. Word is they'd searched for a site in the city for a year with no luck until this one became available. It's a prime location for what they do, offering a hearty but tasty meal to the hordes of foot traffic, especially late at night - they're open until 3am on Friday and Saturday evenings.


Thirsty Bird menu

The short but sweet menu is all about the chicken. Get it fried on the bone Southern-style or go for the Buffalo wings drenched in hot sauce or BBQ sauce. Four burgers alternate between grilled, crumbed or fried chicken fillings.

Order and pay at the counter and hover on the footpath until you hear your number called. The shopfront is even smaller than Mr Crackles with only five stools available to perch on inside. We're not sure if they're planning on replacing their stools but currently they're at an uncomfortably low height for the table, making you feel like you're a four year old in need of a high chair.


8 pieces Southern fried chicken with ranch and roast chilli sauces $25

Wait times for food can vary, but it does mean your fried chicken order is guaranteed fresh from the fryer. The 8-piece box is impressive value at $25, especially when it includes two tubs of sauce and a handful of pickles.


Southern fried chicken batter

The batter isn't as thick and heavy as other joints, but the chicken itself is succulent and juicy. It reminds me of homemade fried chicken, not over-the-top crunchy but its thinner batter means you can keep on ploughing through.


Katsu burger $10

The katsu burger is a surprise hit, a flattened chicken thigh fillet coated in crumbs and deep-fried. The fillet is super tender, sandwiched by a super soft torpedo roll. Shredded cabbage counters the richness of the chicken, and squiggles of mayonnaise and fruity tonkatsu sauce add sufficient lubrication.


Mash, gravy and chicken crackle $5

We skip the waffle fries and choose the mash and gravy instead, lured mostly by the promise of chicken crackle. It's a shame the curls of chicken crackling get soggy so quickly, but otherwise it's practically a meal in a tub. Smooth and buttery mashed potato is drenched in a lake of chicken gravy.


Mac 'n' cheese with bacon $5

We finish up with a side of mac 'n' cheese, the cheesy pasta mixed in with occasional shards of crispy bacon. It's a perfect Southern accompaniment. All we need now is a couple of cornbread muffins and some corn cobs and we'll be set.






Thirsty Bird
Shop 3, 2-14 Bayswater Road, Potts Point, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8937 4672

Opening hours: 
Tuesday to Thursday 5.30pm-11pm 
Friday and Saturday 5.30pm-3am
Sunday 5.30pm-11pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts
Fried chicken - Belle's Hot Chicken, Barangaroo
Fried chicken - Butter, Surry Hills
Fried chicken - Danjee, Sydney
Fried chicken - Mary's, Newtown
Fried chicken - Red Pepper, Strathfield
Fried chicken - Seoul Orizin, Haymarket
Fried chicken - Sparrow's Mill, Sydney

Butter, Surry Hills - Fried chicken, sneakers and champagne

Let's make one thing clear. Butter is not for the fainthearted. Sydney's first fried chicken and sneaker store is unapologetic about calories, music and photos of lascivious young women posing with food. But you know what? The fried chicken is amazing, fat pieces of juicy flesh covered in a rubbled armour of golden crunch. Who cares if you lose an artery or two over dinner? Priorities.


Sneakers in the display window

You'll probably hear Butter before you see it, the throbbing base of its hip hop soundtrack sounding more like a nightclub than an eatery. And then there's the wall of kicks in the front window. Word is they'll be setting up their online store soon, but for now you can only recreate Audrey's Breakfast at Tiffany's scene, swapping a croissant for fried chicken.


Pabst Blue Ribbon $8 
Butter as F@#k slushie $12

The dining area is bigger than you first expect, a total of 42 high stools clustered around long benches, along the counter and tucked around smaller tables along the wall down the back. The butter logo in neon blue is hard to miss in the dim surroundings. The vibe is reminiscent of Eddie Huang's Bao Haus in New York - the only thing missing is a wall of graffiti.

Place your order at the bar. The impressive drinks list includes a handful of wines as well as an international roll call of beers (Mexican Tecate, American Pabst Blue Ribbon, Japanese Sapporo, Korean Hite, Kiwi Yeastie Boys Bunnamatta and local brewers Young Henry's and Batch Brewing. Half of the drinks menu is devoted to bubbles and champagne, everything from a Chandon Brut Rose from the Yarra Valley at $11 a glass to a bottle of MV Krug Grande Cuvee at $450 for maximum baller level.

There are usually three slushies on the go too - two alcoholic and one alcohol-free. The Butter as F@#k is a pink grapefruit and butter combo that is bewildering and refreshing, its echo of butter menthol lollies continuing long after you've finished drinking.

Butter isn't just a slick name for the business, we soon find out. It pops up as an ingredient everywhere.


3pac - 1 thigh, 2 tenders naked and a side of slaw $16
Extra thigh with hot AF sauce $4

There are three main staples on the menu: the chicken sandwich, the 3pac and fried tofu nuggets (all your vegetarian friends can join in the fun!). The 3pac yields one thigh and two tenders with a side of slaw. We throw in another thigh for $4 because I want the hot AF sauce, served on the side which turns out to be a godsend. That sauce is crazy hot, the kinda peppery insanity that tickles the back of your throat and infiltrates every crevice in your mouth. I dip the chicken in cautiously, take a bite and feel my pupils dilating as I start to sweat.

If you prefer to keep your tastebuds functioning throughout your meal, you can elect for lesser grades of hot, OG and naked (complete wimp out). They also do sauces $2 each. The smoked aioli feels a little OTT dipping fried into garlic mayo, but the buttermilk ranch is my favourite, especially if you combine it 50/50 with the hot AF sauce. Perfect.


Rubbly batter

But seriously. That chicken. It's an impressive feat, the batter providing a relentless rat-a-tat-tat of crunch. Chicken fillets make for easier eating, and yet there's still that succulency without the support of bone to keep in the juices. That's where the buttermilk comes in, soaked so the chicken maintains maximum moisture.


The chicken sandwich $16
with pickles, dashi butter and a side of slaw

The chicken sandwich looks innocuous enough, but take one bite and prepare for the river of dashi butter flooding your mouth. It's a scientific feat as to how they managed to drench such a soft milk bun with so much butter.

Just like the 3pac, you score a side of coleslaw smothered in mayo. Don't expect any relief on your arteries. The onslaught is hard and fast.


#sojuicy

Don't believe me on the juiciness of the chicken? Here's the proof.


Miso corny $4
Corn on the cob with miso butter

We skip the shoe string fries ($5) and go with the corn. You know what it came with. Butter. Every nook and cranny of this cob is slathered in miso butter. It's a marvel that the stuff hasn't melted and dripped onto the plate.

Head chef Julian Cincotta (ex-Nomad, ex-Rockpool and winner of the 2015 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year) laughs when we ask him. "It's all about the temperature of the corn when you butter it", he says with a knowing nod. He's right. The corn isn't hot but warm, and the miso butter - faintly salty but not overly strong in miso flavour - is the same temperature as well.


Size 13s $60
4 thigh pieces, 9 tenders, 2 sides of pickles, 2 sides of slaw and 3 sauces

For the true baller experience, you need to order the size 13s, a party pack of 13 pieces of chicken with pickles, slaw and sauces all packed up in a... wait for it... size 13 shoe box. The attention to detail with the shoe box label on the side is commendable. They also use the boxes for takeaway orders.


Peanut butter soft serve with Milo crack rock $6

The soft serve machine will run through different flavours each week. Tonight it's a creamy and smooth peanut butter with Milo crack rock sprinkled across the top. On other rotations expect salted caramel, strawberry and, you guessed it, butter.






Butter
6 Hunt Street, Surry Hills, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8283 1329 (no bookings)

Opening hours:
Monday to Thursday 11.30am-10pm
Friday to Saturday 11.30am-11.30pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Fried chicken - Belle's Hot Chicken, Barangaroo
Fried chicken - Danjee, Sydney
Fried chicken - Mary's, Newtown
Fried chicken - Red Pepper, Strathfield
Fried chicken - Seoul Orizin, Haymarket
Fried chicken - Sparrow's Mill, Sydney

Fried chicken abroad - Momofuku Noodle Bar, New York City
Fried chicken abroad - Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, Los Angeles
Fried chicken abroad - Willie Mae's Scotch House, New Orleans

Mary's, Newtown

Who said cocktails can't come with a slice of grilled cheese and bacon? It makes perfect sense on a Bloody Mary, the spicy tomato juice protected by a lid of melted cheese. This bad boy comes to you from the crew at Mary's, Newtown- home of burgers, Metallica and deep fried chicken.



So Mary's might have opened a new takeaway outlet in the city, but only Newtown allows you to eat-in and while away several hours with booze. The entrance still looks grotty, the interior is deliberately dark and gloomy, and the music borders on deafening, but that still doesn't stop the joint reaching capacity by 12.30pm on a Saturday. There's a steady trickle of families too - it's not unusual to see prams and toddlers wandering the floor on a weekend.



Service can be notoriously brusque at Mary's. We queue at the bar at 11.55am only to have one bar staff tell us sternly "don't you dare try and order food before midday". Mmmkay. Other staff members, however, go out of their way to be helpful.


Bloody Mary with bacon and cheese $18

But they that gives us more time to settle in with drinks, me with a Young Henry's cider and Suze with her Bloody Mary. We all try some of that Bloody Mary of course.

Sucking up that spicy tomato cocktail through a blanket of blowtorched cheese has to be up there as one of the craziest things you can drink. Then there's a drunken sense of bewilderment as you try to scoop up that melty cheese goodness with a straw. The curl of caramelised bacon on top is crazy delicious. And the pickled onion works brilliantly too. If you ever wanted a meal in a glass, this would have to be damned near perfection.



The menu hasn't changed since my last visit, but novelty has never been high on the list of priorities here. The only thing that has changed is our appetite.


Cheeseburger and fries $14 
with extra patty $3 and trashcan bacon $4 

These days we're all about double burgers. A cheeseburger with fries will set you back $14 but throw in an extra three bucks and you've got a double patty. Trashcan bacon is mandatory, $4 for three strips of sweet and smoky cured porcine goodness - smoked on a clean trashcan lid if you haven't worked that one out yet.


Double cheeseburger goodness

Getting your gob around that double-stacked behemoth is your biggest worry. That melting river of gooey cheese is the least of your problems. Pickle slices are exactly what you need to balance everything out.


Mushroom burger and fries $12
with trashcan bacon $4

We've always steered past the mushroom burger on previous visits but word on the meat-free streets indicated this was worth making a detour. We succumb out of curiosity - but only after adding trashcan bacon.

Whoah. It's hard to beat the satisfaction of biting into a juicy meat patty, but sinking your teeth into this giant field mushroom isn't a bad consolation. The mushroom has a satisfying resistance with each bite, marked with an umami intensity that fulfils all your savoury requirements. Bonus points too for not squirting rivulets of oil like many other mushroom burgers we've tried.


Whole bird fried chicken $30

And of course there would be fried chicken. A whole bird ends up a decent-sized pile in our plastic basket. There's a terrific crunch to the knobbly batter. Make sure you drench it in hot sauce, siphoned into mini Jack Daniel's bottles on every table.


Mashed potato and gravy $5

Round everything out with mashed potato and gravy. The mash is silkier than your sexiest bed sheets, smothered in a lake of gravy.


Carb on carb action - chips dipped in mashed potato

There's no shame in carb on carb action. Dip your fries in that mashed potato and relish every mouthful.

Even as burger joints seem to opening up all over the city, it's good to see that Mary's is still holding her own.


Mary's burger (with lettuce and tomato)


Double cheeseburger with trashcan bacon


Downstairs bar






Mary's
6 Mary Street, Newtown, Sydney

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 4pm-12am
Saturday 12pm-12am
Sunday 12pm-10pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Mary's Newtown (April 2013)

Burgers - Pub Life Kitchen at the Lord Wolseley Hotel, Ultimo