Joe's Southern Kitchen & Bar (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 Things you need to know about Joe’s Southern Kitchen restaurant:

1) London slowly embraced fried chicken and now there are fried chicken joints aplenty. If you’ve ever craved - with a yearning deeper than the Mariana Trench – to enjoy amazing chicken that rivals the Deep South, you’ve finally made it. Welcome to Joe’s.

2) Of course, you must remember that this isn’t the South (it’s not even South London!) so don’t expect ‘gator heads and alike. Think British version: a full bar, bare brick and photos of American culture beamed onto the wall by a projector.

3) It’s simple and probably understated, but who really wants outlandish, stereotypical eye-watering eye sores? Exactly. Nobody. You came for chicken so let’s talk about chicken!

4) Firstly, order the Loco London cocktail - a rum and coconut potion - and ask what they’d advise you to order for your starter.

5) There’s no judgement so don’t fear when asking for suggestions. Personally, I would highly recommend the popcorn shrimp and meatloaf. The aforementioned shrimp is pillow-soft and will change your life; the meatloaf will make you question why you’ve never had it before and if you should get another portion to go.

6) Next: the mains. The options include chicken, catfish, prawns, ribs and sundry, so get to know the staff some more and accept their recommendations. When you do, your order will become a laundry list comprising mains and at least three or four different sides.

7) Whilst waiting (the food takes a short while), order the Mango No5 and Rumdog Millionaire No2.

8) When your food arrives, eat yourself into a food coma. The chicken is crunchy and succulent. The three cheese blend mac ‘n’ cheese is creamy, yes, of course cheesy, but never greasy. The watermelon cleans the palate and the maple syrup is just the icing on this chicken cake.

9) Thank the waitress for suggesting the two-piece fried chicken with watermelon, bourbon maple syrup, biscuit topped mac ‘n’ cheese and slaw because everything was grand.

10) Joe’s will blow your mind. It will. It’ll settle your long working weeks with good booze, warm your cockles with sexy food and even offer you a downstairs bar called Jailbird to soak up all that fried fare. You’ll be taken over by perfect chicken and suddenly find yourself in Kentish Town unexpectedly begging for more....read more