Poyo is a Beak to Feet Chicken Shop pop-up created by the team behind PORCO, focussed ‘in their own words’ on Free Range Chicken, Zero Waste, World Flavours.

Tonight the meal at POYO  @poyo1.0 was all about the bird with a whole host of chicken cooked up by Jez Poyser aka Porco @porcouk and his team served up in the most delightful dining space at Destination 105 in Lady Bay  @destination105ladybay

POYO MENU

Unsurprising the menu was focussed on Chicken, and all of it, not just the white meat from the chicken breast, this was a menu using all of the bird and certainly celebrating the Chicken

The menu was laid out with snacks, bites, and sides. We started off ordering two of the snacks (Chicken Kaarage, and Tsukune), and a couple of bites (The Dan Dan Sando, and some Buttermilk Fried Tenders), then after scoffing those ordered more Bites getting the Korean Fried Drumsticks and the Fish Sauce Caramel Wings.

Was that too much?

Yes it probably was but we did order and eat it all anyway.

Lets look a little closer at the highlights

BUTTERMILK FRIED TENDERS

The first dish that arrived were the chicken tenders detailed simply on the menu as;

“BUTTERMILK FRIED TENDERS”

’10 Month Parmesan, Triple Peppercorn Ladybay Honey, Miso Ranch’

This was probably my favourite bite of the night and a bargain at just £10.

On Instagram Poyo described the preparation “The tenders are buttermilk brined, fried in a spiced flour, drizzled in Peppercorn infuse local honey and showered in 30 month parmesan. Served with Miso Ranch to dip”

They were incredibly juicy, tender and moist. The sweet and spicy notes from the honey and the peppercorn alongside the salty flakes of grated parmesan started a party in my mouth.

TSKUNE

The next dish to arrive was the TSKUNE – Cured Egg Yolk, Chicken Bone Tare £9.

I was quite excited to try this dish as it was a quite familiar one and a favourite that I had eaten previously at Kushi Ya and I was really looking forward to seeing how Jez was preparing this and how it matched up to my hopes and expectations

Before the night Poyo described the dish as “Chicken meatballs, minced in-house from a mixture of leg and thigh of our fantastic @packingtonfreerange birds, seasoned simply with Miso, white pepper and spring onions and grilled until seared and succulent. Served with a tare fortified with roast chicken bones and a golden egg yolk for dipping.”

The skewered meat were a world away from a meatball, thick, meaty and exceptionally well flavoured and seasoned. They were indeed ‘succulent’ as promised.

I really enjoyed the dish but in contrast to the version from Kushi Ya the meat was not as coarse a grind and while I really did like this version of the dish I did miss the texture and crunch.

THE DAN DAN SANDO

The next bite was of the DAN DAN SANDO which we shared

listed on the menu as
“Buttermilk Fried Chicken Thigh, Dan Dan Sauce, Spring Onions, Peanuts, Pak Choi, Miso Ranch, Brioche Bun” it had everything that I hoped for in a chicken sandwich

The pre-dining Instagram build up to this dish was really quite bold as Poyo declared

“This chicken thigh had something of an identity crisis and, manifesting himself as a bowl of Noodles, went and dove into a vat of Dan Dan Sauce, absolutely laced with Sichuan pepper, toasted sesame paste, black vinegar, chili oil and garlic and got drenched. Then he rolled in some salted peanuts and put a Pak Choi hat on. He’s looking to blow some taste buds up – Sichuan Style!”

This was another excellent dish and bite of food! Is it a SANDO in the traditional sense? well visually not really but it is still a fantastic chicken sandwich or burger if you like

CHICKEN KARAAGE

Where would a menu be these days without a plate of Kaarage? It seems to be one of the most popular additions to the restaurant playbill these days, and sadly many times it is just a confused fried chicken nugget with a bit of mayo

I knew that Poyo would not let us down and would offer something more aligned to tradition and something cooked and served with understanding.

This plate of CHICKEN KAARAGE came served with – Yuzu Kosho Mayo, Shichimi Togarashi, Lemon £9 and described better by Poyo in advance as;

“The most succulent chicken nuggets made from twice fried free range chicken thigh and served simply with Kewpie Mayo and aged soy sauce and some lemon to squeeze on top for Zing”

The strips of deep fried chicken thigh had a super chewy bite and the mayo mix with the tart lemon and salty soy was a perfect accompaniment

FISH SAUCE CARAMEL WINGS

A late addition to the table from our second round of ordering was a side of the Fish Sauce Caramel Wings which turned out to be two HUGE wings, a much bigger portion than I had expected

In their words;

“Twice fried until they are shatteringly crisp, doused in a mega umami thin caramel and scattered with chili and peanuts for extra texture and spice.”

“You’ll notice that we don’t joint our massive chicken wings. They are left whole, which means they are juicer, with more edges to crisp up and more fun to rip apart and devour!”

On the first bite I was thinking that the sauce was not as sweet or as spicy as I had expected. However by the end, once I started smearing the bits of meat and crispy skin into the sauce left on the plate, then my mouth was feeling it a bit

The skin was indeed crispy, and there was plenty of meat to be found on the bones.

KOREAN FRIED DRUMSTICK

The last dish that we shared was one of the KOREAN FRIED DRUMSTICK with Soy Garlic sauce £6. This was one of the biggest drumsticks I have encountered for a while, more like a Turkey leg!

There was a lot of meat on this bone and while it seemed thick, it all pulled apart quite easily once we had cut through the crunchy battered coating.

The sticky sauce was a great addition to the bite, it got everywhere, all over your fingers and face. There was not an ounce of decorum left after chewing the meat off this bone!

I really enjoyed this ‘Feast of Chicken’ from Jez at his Poyo pop-up. This was the second evening that he has run with the team at Destination 105 and I hear that there are more in the pipeline.

I will be looking out for the announcements with eager anticipation for the next menu adventure!