I am not always that excited to see chain restaurants open up in Nottingham but when I read that Popeyes were moving in to the old Burger King space on Upper Parliament Street my stomach rumbled ever so slightly and I had a little grin on my face
Popeyes Famous Louisiana Chicken are well renowned for their very crispy crunch shattering coated Fried Chicken. I used to eat this and love it when I lived in Chicago from their joint in the Loop so I was really hopeful that it would be just as good as it travelled across the pond to Nottingham
I suppose I should not have been that concerned as they should have had plenty of practice in the UK now as they have multiple franchise outlets across the country, lots in London, in nearby Derby and up north in Newcastle
THE ORDER
I confess that we went slightly mad and perhaps over the top with our order. A Deluxe Chicken sandwich meal with cajun seasoned fries and a soda, five piece tenders with garlic mayo dip, a side of mac and cheese, and a side of biscuit with cajun gravy.
The receipt is at the bottom of the blog if you want to see the breakdown of the prices just to say tha overall that lot cost £22.98. Which seems a lot but between two was not that bad as we had a lot of different stuff to try.
CHICKEN TENDERS
The size of the Chicken Tenders seemed very generous, the Chicken itself was moist and tender with the crispiest and crunchiest coating I have had anywhere in the UK
It was pretty much as I remembered, but I feel like it was spicier and had more Cajun flavours in the States but it was still nicely seasoned and was decent just not quite enough Cajun heat for me
I would happily pop back in for a small tenders meal if I was passing by, as tenders go in the city these are right up there and I would just about pick these over Slim Chickens. However if there was a long queue I would hit up Slims in the square
DELUXE CHICKEN SANDWICH
The Deluxe Chicken Sandwich was a good bite of food as well. It does not look like the promotional photos on the menu and order machine, but then again how often is that the case at places like this.
The chicken was really good just like the tenders and I was happy to find that it was a whole piece of chicken as opposed to being a few tenders thrown into a bun
The menu describes this as “Fried chicken breast, cheddar cheese, lettuce, fresh pickles & creamy mayo in a soft brioche bun”. You cannot really see the green bits in my photo but they were in there somewhere just not quite as prevalent as you might think considering the use of the word Deluxe.
I liked the play of the creamy mayo against the cool tang of the pickle, I would have preferred my cheese slice to have been a little more melted and I would have like more fresh crisp lettuce
Apart from that it was a good sandwich, but if you are here for the chicken perhaps just order some fried chicken.
I would note that the cajun seasoned fries were really good, they were not just sprinkled with seasoning like some places, here the blackened cajun seasoning seemed to be well coated as they were prepared and they were nice and crunchy too.
For £9.25 the meal is perhaps a little pricey and to get the good Cajun fries I had to pay a £1 to upgrade. I suppose it is what it is and that’s what it costs.
BISCUIT AND CAJUN GRAVY
Yes ok so I know we are probably all coming here for the fried chicken, but you should know that the unsung star of the joint is going to be the biscuit and gravy.
For biscuit read scone and for gravy read spicy thick sauce. I used to love this for breakfast in the States especially when travelling in the South but I concede it is a little more unusual for us folks here in the UK
Anyway they do a good biscuit here, it could be bigger but as ‘savoury scones’ go it is bang on. You do get a really large pot of gravy which is a bit out of scale but it is excellent for dipping your fries into as well so none of it was wasted on our table.
For just £1.99 this side is a bit of a bargain if you ask me!😍
MAC N CHEESE
I do love a pot of Mac n Cheese and the one here at Popeyes is not bad, it is quite cheesy and you do get the nice bit of crispy cheese skin on the top. Sauce was a bit thin and the pasta a bit too big maybe but still decent
If I am being picky though it is quite a small pot for the price. I thought £3.50 was a bit steep for the size of the portion.
Popeyes Lousiana Kitchen is located at 8-10 Upper Parliament Street in Nottingham right on the corner with Milton Street opposite the Intu Victoria Centre and just across from Jollibee.
I reckon that is definitely worth checking them out just for the fried chicken if nothing else, but if you are there I suggest you do try the biscuit and gravy as well
When we went they were still queuing outside to get in which was both a good sign and a surprise. They had been open for a few weeks so I was hoping that the novelty had worn out. Hopefully it continues to stay popular just not on the days that I want to go. 🤣
The only downside apart from it being busy was that it was a bit to complicated ordering wise. We tried to order from the table through the app but that just didn’t work so I ended up going back downstairs to order from one of the screens. Hopefully that will improve as they work out the kinks
For the socials check out Popeyes UK on their Facebook Page, Instagram Profile and Twitter Feed