Mother Clucker, oh, what a name. Well, three guesses what they sell. It’s a Southern fried chicken place. The truck is an old military green oil tankery. Olive green with stenciled white spray paint and it’s placed directly into the setting sun. It’s a beautiful summery Thursday afternoon, which really helped the photography! The kitchen inside the tanker is all cold, stainless steel and looks incredibly tidy.
Ely’s square, behind Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, is a wonderful area; vendors all congregated in a picnic area. It’s another brewing food hotspot in an already predominated place full of curry houses and Jewish bakeries. It would be very easy to spend a few months reviewing all of the vendors that come and go here. Not a bad idea actually. And if you can’t find your way to Brick Lane you’ll be pleased to know there are a handful of Mother Cluckers throughout London. (What a sentence.)
“. . . There’s a glaze of buttermilk; sweet, honied-like, glazed over the top of the chicken. That lime mayo adds something[. . . ] tangy that you don’t expect in a fried chicken bun . . .
To start with, the smell coming from the place is incredible. That rich, fried chicken and salty smell. Keeping it basic, they sell two basic things here; strips and burgers with a few sides.
Okay, firstly we have the chicken sandwich. You can really taste that lime mayo in this one and the pickle works brilliantly as a counter to it smooth sauce. For a lighter meal it works. The pickles are warm so don’t stick out so much. I’d be interested to have it with a BBQ or ranch or something spicy thrown in.
We also have the Cluck Bun (£9). The Brioche bun is soft, and comes with that gently sweet taste. There’s a glaze of buttermilk; sweet, honied-like, glazed over the top of the chicken. That lime mayo adds something tangy, it stands out is what we mean, and a flavour that you don’t expect in a fried chicken bun. Or something you knew you needed. There’s a few bits of lettuce there to save the bread and fried breadcrumbs from dryness. The cheese slice is not that prominent but you can know its there. The chicken is succulently soft and clearly fresh from the fryer. This bun is a touch more fluid than say Thunderbird Fried Chicken’s. The payoff is so much flavour. I love this lime flavouring, it gives it a certain acid, a little burn to go with the fat of the mayo and the lean meat. It cuts through it so well. It’s a unique selling point for this place.
They’ve sold out of their gravy which I really want to try, to suffice their Cajun fries are fantastic. Just off the fryer and salted heavily and that seasoning blends with the spice. With the MC pepper sauce; t’is a wonderful drizzle to round it off. Our other side, the halloumi strips, are big cuts, and come in boxes of three. The salted skin on the outside crumbles apart. And the innards breaks apart like the texture of a well fried haddock or cod. The cheese itself is fully-fatty. That lime mayo sauce compliments it so well, let’s hope they’ve patented it. The other sauce I got – I think it was BBQ sauce – also had a strong citric undercurrent – was strong and smokey.
So yes. Amazing. Late night fried chicken in Brick Lane after a in-store gig or venue? Sounds like a perfect ending to a night out. Especially in the summer. And to think that there’s vendors and street food like this scattered throughout the city! Will certainly be prioritising more of the vendors and street food places around London in the future.
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note: Mother Clucker have now moved their location to Islington.
The Poet of Cuisine 
Sold. Out. Of. Gravy?
Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh
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