Coming Soon: Fried Chicken Pop-Up Sensation Chicky Boi Opens a Permanent Shop

For the past two months, Adriel Reddy has been making some of the most talked about fried chicken sandwiches in Melbourne at his pop-up Chicky Boi, in the Near & Far bottle shop. The pop-up, which runs Thursdays to Sundays, has been selling 500 sandwiches each week, and will conclude on Sunday March 1. But the good news is, after a short break, Chicky Boi will permanently take over the space. (The bottle shop is going, but there’ll be no changes to the Near & Far bar area.) 

The details are still being ironed out, but Reddy says after taking a short break of around three weeks, he hopes to open Chicky Boi for takeaway sandwiches then launch properly after Easter. The fried chicken shop will be a 50/50 joint venture with Jason Cameron (Near & Far), with food and cocktails by Reddy.

The menu is still being finalised, but Reddy hopes to add some sides to the menu as well as a three-piece chicken plate with pickles, hot sauce, a slice of lime, Reddy’s ranch and toasted Wonder White on the side. But the item that will definitely be on offer is Chicky Boi’s OG sandwich. 

To make the sangas, Reddy brines chicken breasts in a “secret concoction” for two days. They’re then double dredged, first using a buttermilk wet dredge and then a dry dredge made from a mix of flours. “The key element to creating the sandwiches, to me, is you’ve got to manage the flour to make sure you’re not over-dredging,” says Reddy. He fries the chicken once at a high temperature (as opposed to double-frying), which he says leads to “high crisp factor”. The fried chicken is then placed in a potato bun, filled with shredded lettuce, Always Fresh pickles and dill ranch that Reddy makes using Hellmann’s mayonnaise as a base. 

Opening a permanent shop is the manifestation of a childhood dream for Reddy, who always wanted to be a chef but became an engineer instead. The pandemic gave him extra free time, and he used it to “perfect” his fried chicken recipe. He started hosting fried chicken parties for friends before eventually approaching The Pound cafe in South Yarra to pitch a Chicky Boi pop-up, first held in September 2024. 

Chicky Boi will open at 375 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy this autumn.