Opening in Wales for the first time, small chain Eat The Bird says it's bringing the dirtiest and very well-packed chicken burgers to Cardiff. The restaurant promises to "single handedly flip your usual burger joint expectations upside down" with its "outrageous fried chicken sandos" and "crunchy-on-the-outside, moist-on-the-inside pieces of golden fried joy".
And wow, it certainly succeeds in its promise. We went along on opening night on Thursday, September 16 to try these chicken burgers with the mouth-watering descriptions. You can keep up to date with the latest What's On news by signing up to the newsletter here.
The restaurant on St Mary Street is long and narrow and is well lit with plenty of tables. Upon first glance, it looks like it is mainly designed for couples or people eating in pairs as 90% of the tables are for two. The tables could be pushed together though to accommodate bigger groups.
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With minimal decoration, funky round lights and exposed pipes, the restaurant has a cool modern feel but it's also welcoming and relaxing. Eat The Bird has a very extensive menu with nine chicken burgers to choose from and a good range of sides.
The drinks menu is also well equipped with milkshakes, cocktails, beer, cider, wine and more. We opted for the milkshakes, one Oreo and one Biscoff, both £4.50 each.
A very decent portion of thick creamy milkshake was served in a large round glass. Both milkshakes were very well flavoured, clearly tasting of their different biscuits and ice cold. A milkshake to definitely recommend.
For mains we choose the Double Dip, priced at £12.95, and the Holy Cluck! costing £13.95. The Double Dip features gravy fried chicken, Swiss cheese, barbecue, wood smoked bacon, crispy onions and gravy. At first unsure of mixing gravy and barbecue, I almost dismissed the Double Dip but decided to give it a go. And boy, am I glad that I did.
Coming in a pool of sweet and herby gravy this is not a burger you could pick up in your hands easily. The sweet and silky taste of the gravy paired with the sweet and tangy barbecue dressing worked really well.
The smoky hints of the bacon added a great extra taste and the chicken was delightfully crunchy. All of this combined to create a great mixture of an intense sweet and smoky burger.
The burger was also cram-packed with plenty of gravy to mop up from the plate and the toasted brioche bun added a sense of that little extra care and attention going into the burger. Beware though that this is a big portion - only halfway through eating the burger I was feeling full.
All burgers are served with fresh cut chicken salt fries but, for an extra £4.50, I upgraded to Kyiv Fries. If you like garlic you will like these fries. The Kyiv Fries come with fried chicken, confit garlic butter, garlic mayo and parmesan. They have a very strong garlic flavour with a good kick.
The chips themselves are light and fluffy and just what you want from chips. However, I did feel that the garlic butter was missing and there was definitely more garlic mayo than garlic butter. You also get a huge portion of chips - I was unable to finish them so got the leftovers as a takeaway to finish later - so it's a very hearty meal.
Burger number two, the Holy Cluck! burger, was also packed. This burger came with fried chicken, brie, wood smoked bacon, caramelised onion jam, garlic mayo and rocket.
Again the chicken was perfectly crispy and crunchy and the burger was very well packed. There was a healthy amount of bacon, bringing the smoky flavour and also a sweet taste from the jam and deliciously creamy brie.
We upgraded these chips for an extra £2.50 to Cheese Louisiana fries. These fries come with molten cheese, ranch, and barbecue. They looked and tasted like the perfect dirty fries you would get from Chippy Lane after a night out. Very well coated with generous helpings there was cheese, ranch and barbecue dressing all over the fries.
This created a very cheesy, very tangy barbecue flavour. The strong flavours all worked well together and again it was another big portion of fries.
Finally, we shared Classic Tender for £6.50. These chicken tenders come with a very decent-sized dipping pot of their own gravy. You get four big, crunchy, and delightfully tasty tenders. The gravy was so good - sweet and herby and great for dipping chips too - I would 100% recommend the gravy.
There was also top-notch service at Eat The Bird, as the staff were very friendly, chatty and helpful. Overall I would recommend Eat The Bird if you are looking for dirty, filling burgers.
These meals are a bit heavy - or perhaps we just ordered too much food - so make sure you visit Eat The Bird with an empty stomach and you won't regret those banging, jam-packed and very well flavoured burgers. Who needs KFC?
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