Coop Chicken House

Prepare to be shocked and horrified.  I don't like Nandos!  For some reason it seems to be a lot of people's guilty pleasure but I am forever the spoil sport who refuses to go.  I have tried it a few times but as someone who really doesn't like hot spices, I find the choice of mild sauces limited and pretty tasteless which means I'm left eating dry chicken.

Luckily my days of ruining people's dinner plans are over as I now know where the best chicken party is at.  Coop Chicken House has been open in Newcastle a little while and shame on me for taking this long to get myself there.  The good news is that Coop Chicken are brilliant fun on Twitter so after having a bit of banter with them the week before, they were fresh in my mind when Simon and I came to make spontaneous dinner plans on Friday.

The Coop looks fantastic.  The restaurant was very busy when we visited so I couldn't really run about like a crazy blogging lady taking photos to share with you, so instead you'll have to imagine (or alternatively get down there to have a look for yourselves).   The dark wood floor and exposed brick walls are beautifully lit by the exposed lights and neon red chicken sign that hangs proudly above the diners.  The place is wonderfully cosy with the warmth of the open kitchen sending the most amazing smell of cooked chicken wafting round the tables.

The menu is simple yet fun.  You choose from a whole, half or quarter chicken and then have a choice of sides to go with it including sweet potato fries, grilled corn on the cob and homemade slaw.  Then comes the fun part of the meal - choosing the chilli sauces to accompany the food.  The chilli sauce menu is impressively large with 3 mild sauces, 5 warm sauces, 6 hot sauces and, if you're feeling stupidly brave, two nuclear sauces that involve signing a disclaimer before trying!

Simon and I opted for a whole chicken to share which came out served up in manageable pieces with a lemon garnish.  We chose to have it with skin-on fries and picked 3 sauces - lime chilli and sweet chilli (the mild options for me) and spicy African BBQ (medium for Simon).  They were served in shot glasses which we loved. 

The chicken was absolutely perfect, it had a lovely smoky taste and was really juicy and tender.  The sauces were a lovely addition.  Unlike Nandos, the milder options were gorgeous and I particularly loved the sweet chilli which tasted like honey. 

I was really excited to get to dessert as I knew that they came care of Ali at Simply Cheesecake.  You may remember that back in March Simon ordered me this giant toblerone Happy Birthday Cheesecake from Ali and it was very good so I was looking forward to seeing what flavours they had at Coop Chicken.   This weekend the choice was Chocolate Aero, Salted Caramel, Apple Crumble or Chocolate Orange (which we knew immediately was the one we had to go for).  

If the amazing chicken wasn't enough, to finish a gorgeous meal with a sweet and creamy cheesecake really was the perfect end to a fabulous evening.

So next time someone attempts to get me to a meal at Nandos I shall be leading them firmly to Coop Chicken to show them what a real chicken party is all about.