Now Open: Acclaimed Chef Aaron Turner’s Nashville-Inspired Hot Chicken Project Lands in Adelaide

Igni chef Aaron Turner’s love letter to Nashville fried chook has touched down in Adelaide. The three-month pop-up of the acclaimed chef’s Hot Chicken Project – at the Saracens Head Hotel – is the brand’s first location outside Victoria.

Turner opened the popular Belles Hot Chicken with chef Morgan McGlone in Melbourne in 2014 after spending a year in Nashville acquainting himself with the city’s fried-chicken scene. When the pair went their separate ways, Turner opened Hot Chicken Project (with Kate and Nathan Veach of Bistrot Plume) in 2015, serving up Nashville-style fried chicken and natural wine in the back blocks of Geelong before opening a second shop in Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road.

Now it’s crossed state lines to take over the Saracens Head on Carrington Street. The longstanding pub, which was bought by new hospitality group Duxton Pubs (which also recently bought The Lion Hotel and The Cremorne) last year, has undergone a bit of a facelift and a change in direction (the pokies have been ripped out and the gaming room replaced with a pool table and arcade games).

“When I walked into the pub before we bought it, one of the first things I thought of was Aaron and his hot chicken because I’ve always really enjoyed hanging out there,” says Josh Hillary, the group’s general manager of business development and operations. “I lived in Melbourne for a while [working with the Rockpool Dining Group] and we’ve spent a lot of time in each other’s restaurants.”

On the menu? “It’s a fairly traditional Nashville-style hot chicken,” says Hillary. You pick your meat (wings, tenders or dark meat) or tofu coated in spices, your heat level (from the milder Southern to the face-melting “evil”), your sides (slaw, potato salad, greens or fries) and your dipping sauce. There’s also a chicken burger, a fish sandwich and ribs, plus buckets of wings, tenders or drumsticks for larger groups.

The bar offering will be skewed towards low-intervention Adelaide Hills wines and craft beer on tap (including a collaboration sour with Little Bang) alongside an edit of grower champagne, whisky and American beers. Guests can peruse the wall of wine and grab a bottle to drink-in or take home.

Turner will remain in Geelong to oversee Igni, as well as Hot Chicken Project and his cosy new taqueria.

The pop-up is one of several plans for the pub, which has also re-introduced live music and will later this year undergo a major renovation.

“It seemed like the timing was right with Fringe, and we’re pretty keen to work with the Council to try to reinvigorate a bit of the CBD that is pretty dead, to be honest,” says Hillary. “So [in April] we’ll also close Carrington Street and throw a street party here with the brewers and the chicken guys.”

So, will the pop-up pave the way for a permanent address?

“I think we’d like to see some sort of long-time relationship blossom between us and Hot Chicken, and we’d look to explore the potential of some of their other brands … it’s just testing the waters the next three months, and hopefully we can leave it as a permanent home in Adelaide.”

Hot Chicken Project will trade Mondays to Saturdays from 12pm to late. Book a spot here.

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