Chicken wings, buffalo wings, deep-fried wings, barbecue chicken wings, Asian sticky wings. Whatever you choose to call them, we can all agree on one thing: chicken wings are amazing. Crunchy, spicy, covered in sauce, the moist meat is as indulgent as just about anything we can think of, and delicious to boot.
These morsels are also amazing to eat – done in a truly primal, back-to-basics, dare we even say ‘caveman’ way: with your hands. Sauce, grease and seasoning stains your fingertips, it creeps up the sides of your mouth and little strands of chicken get stuck in-between your teeth as you gnaw your way through them, leaving no flesh on the bone behind. If they’re hot wings, little pearls of sweat will appear on your top lip and maybe even on your forehead, so you cool off with a cold beer. Perfect.
But where can you get hold of the crème de la crème (or should we say crunch de la crunch) of chicken wings in London? Below, we have listed 13 restaurants that we think serve up the very best wings money can buy. From dedicated wings restaurants and fried chicken places with an awesome wing line-up to restaurants simply featuring a great wing selection on their menu, here are London’s must-go destinations for chicken wings.
Fried chicken purveyors Chick ‘n’ Sours, which have locations in Islington, Haggerston and Seven Dials, offer up some wicked Asian-inspired deep-fried chicken wings alongside crunchy drumsticks. The fiery Disco Wings will blow your head off, but they're oh so worth it.
Don’t wing it and order this: The Disco Wings with the ultra-spicy Kung Pao sauce
Where: Islington: 62 Upper Street, N1 0NY; Haggerston: 390 Kingsland Road, E8 4AA; Seven Dials: 1 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LL
The wings section on this street-food vendor turned mini restaurant chain’s menu includes the classic BBQ, served with the group’s signature ‘awesome’ sauce, sesame seeds and spring onions, as well as the buffalo-chipotle merge Chipuffalo, served with a blue sauce dip. A more novel interpretation from Thunderbird is the Salted Caramel, which comes complete with smoked salt, orange, toasted sesame and chilli flakes. Ranging from £5 for five wings to £17 for 20 wings, you can get them by the bucket-load here for a cheap buck.
Don’t wing it and order this: The Chipuffalo, it’s too fiery to leave without trying
Where: 10 Market Row, SW9 8LB
Bringing the lesser-known Nashville fried chicken (there’s cayenne pepper in the batter, which is usually not the case for regular southern fried chicken) to the streets of east London, Louie’s also has a fab listing of deep-fried chicken wings on its menu. Choose between either three pieces or a dozen jumbo wings with your preferred sauce – pick between options such as ranch, buffalo, blue cheese and Kansas City BBQ.
Don’t wing it and order this: The set of dozen jumbo wings (duh) with the Kansas City BBQ sauce
Where: 37 Hoxton Square, N1 6NN
Asian-American wings are on the menu at this lip-smackingly delicious restaurant group, which has a canal-side site in Hackney Wick alongside a City-based site in Aldgate. Wing-wise, Asia meets America in classic, yet innovative ways, with classic Buffalo wings (with an extra hot option), Gong Bao (with a pineapple, coriander and Sichuan pepper sauce), and Gravy Train (American fried chicken with cheddar sauce and chicken gravy).
Don’t wing it and order this: The Korean-inspired fried Gangnam wings with a sweet and sticky sauce are hard to beat
Where: Hackney Wick: Here East, Canalside, E15 2GW and Aldgate: 30-33 Minories, EC3N 1DD
Sticky Wings, Shoreditch
It might look like a shabby, late-night, drunk-people-drawing joint on a corner of Brick Lane, but inside, (unofficially) the best chicken wings in London are churned out to the hungry masses. The wings come with the option of US portion size (11 wings) or UK portion size (six wings), but both serves include fries and a dip. Choose between American Buffalo, Sticky BBQ, Jerk or Hot Chilli with the classic dips to accompany them. Yes, it’s served in a plastic container with the sauces in little plastic cups, but you will not regret a visit here.
Don’t wing it and order this: The deep-fried American Buffalo is a winner
Where: 40 Brick Lane, E1 6RF
Everything at Blues Kitchen’s three locations across Brixton, Camden and Shoreditch exuberates the life and soul of southern America, from funky soul music, a huge variation of bourbon, whiskey-based cocktails, BBQ and of course, fried chicken. The wings come in the classic buffalo style, as well as Szechuan, both as appetisers and to share.
Don’t wing it and order this: The classic buffalo wings with blue cheese dip
Where: Brixton 40 Acre Lane, SW2 5SP; Camden: 111-113 Camden High Street, NW1 7JN; and Shoreditch: 134-146 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AR
Burger-champion Patty + Bun, with locations all over London, including Borough, Goodge Street, Soho and Shoreditch, are mostly known for, well, their burgers, but we’re here to tell you that the wing side dish, cleverly named (as are all of Patty’s menu items) ‘Winger Winger Chicken Dinner’ is one to look out for. Smoked confit wings are served smothered in BBQ sauce and spring onions. Yum!
Don’t wing it and order this: The Winger Winger Chicken Dinner – they're delish
Where: Borough: 19 Borough High Street, SE1 9SE; Goodge Street: 55 Goodge Street, W1T 1TQ; Soho: 18 Old Compton Street, W1D 4TN; and Shoreditch: 36 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP
White Men Can’t Jerk, Brixton, Peckham, and Shoreditch
Successful street-food vendor White Men Can’t Jerk can be located at two London pubs (The Duke of Edinburgh in Brixton and the Prince of Peckham) as well as at street-food markets Dinerama and Winterville. Serving up Caribbean food to famished Londoners, the line-up includes the crispy-coated, Red Stripe-poached Pterodactyl (chicken) wings covered in the signature sauce of chilli, herbs, spices and honey.
Don’t wing it and order this: It’s a Wing Ting: Red Stripe-poached fried chicken wings
Where: Brixton: 204 Ferndale Road, SW9 8AG and Prckham: 1 Clayton Road, SE15 5JA
The yellow-painted old brick pub with its cute turfed patio out front is as cute as the food is tasty. Clutch specialises in ethically sourced, free-range fried chicken, so it’s no surprise that juicy chicken wings are available here. The ‘Put A Wing On It’ (we do love good pun) are crispy-coated wings with a choice of soy garlic glaze; honey butter and sesame; or Naga fire as sauce. Not that hungry? £6.50 will get you six wings. Famished? Splash out on 30 wings for £28!
Don’t wing it and order this: Put A Wing On It with the soy garlic glaze
Where: 4 Ravenscroft Street, E2 7QG
Coqfighter, Boxpark Shoreditch, Soho and Boxpark Croydon
Mainly specialising in delicious fried chicken burgers, these guys also deserve a spot on this list for their K-wings. Choose between five, seven, 16 or 32 pieces of vodka and sesame wings complete with soy garlic glaze and Korean hot sauce. With some delicious sides on the menu too, you can accompany your wings with more chicken (we don’t judge) – this time in the form of strips – or fries with dashi and smoked paprika salt.
Don’t wing it and order this: 32 pieces of the K-wings
Where: Boxpark Shoreditch: Unit 42-43, 2-10 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6GY; Soho: 75 Beak Street, W1F 9SS and Boxpark Croydon: Unit 19, 99 George Street, CR0 1LD
Butchies serves up fried chicken to east-Londoners across two floors with a wide range of fried buttermilk chicken sandwiches. There is only one option for wings, Buffalo Hot Wings, but these award-winning ones don’t need any competition. You can have unlimited access to them with bottomless wings on Wednesdays (AKA Wicked Wednesdays) from 6pm for a mere £12.
Don’t wing it and order this: Buffalo Hot Wings – go on a Wednesday
Where: 22 Rivington Street, EC2A 3DY
There is nothing absurd about the chicken wings at Absurd Bird Splitafields in Splitafields, and especially not its bottomless wings night every Wednesday. From the menu’s ‘Wing Shack’, you can choose between crispy fried wings, dry-rubbed ones, spicy buffalo ones, ‘extreme’ hot wings (we dare you) and a more Asian-inspired version of garlic sesame caesar.
Don’t wing it and order this: The extreme hot wings with buffalo sauce – go on, you can do it
Where: 54 Commercial Street, E1 6lt
Burger palace MEATliquor with London locations in Soho, Islington, and Clapham Junction has some fiery chicken wings on its menu, including a South African version of Braai Wings. These are dry-rubbed with fiery spices before being chargrilled for that well-known South African BBQ taste and served with sour cream. The classic Buffalo Wings, slathered in the in-house buffalo sauce, are also worth a try.
Don’t wing it and order this: The Braai Wings for something a little different
Where: Soho: 37-38 Margaret Street, W1G 0JF; Islington: 133b Upper Street, N1 1QP; Clapham: 74 Northcote Road, SW11 6QL
Into the whole chicken thing? We get ya. You should also browse our ultimate guide to the best fried chicken in London, then