Best Fried Chicken in Melbourne

There's a sort of primitive pleasure to eating fried chicken. You're gnawing the bones to get at the last morsels of meat and your fingers are all covered in grease. It's real caveman stuff. Would you have it any other way, though? It's way more fun than using cutlery or even nibbling carefully at the edge of a burrito.

So choose a style (American or Korean?), a cut (thigh or wing?) and your spice level, and get stuck in.

Words by Dan Cunningham And Holly Bodeker-smith
Updated on 20 May 2022

Restaurant

Belles Hot Chicken Fitzroy

Inspired by Nashville, the original home of hot chicken. True to form, the most blistering variant here has been known to make people cry – in a good way.

Restaurant

Juanita Peaches

Moist, zesty and actually tastes like chicken, rather than last week’s oil. Juanita’s bird almost doesn't need the optional honey mustard, ranch or “boss sauce”. But you definitely should try it with them.

Restaurant

Gami

Gami was among the first Korean fried chicken chains to land its bird in Melbourne over a decade ago. Now it has 24 stores across town, with some of the most cheap-and-cheerful chook on this list; best devoured with a side of pickled radish and slaw.

Restaurant

Pelicana

When it landed in New York, Eater magazine named this Korean chain the best fried chicken in the city. And now, it's in Melbourne. Tender, crisp fried chicken made using a method perfected over 40 years.

Bar

Leonard’s House of Love

Last time we checked, Leonard’s original seasoning was a classic blend of onion, garlic, paprika and cayenne. That recipe may well have changed, but it’s not important – this place will never lose its loving touch.

Bar

The John Curtin Hotel

Sonny’s Fried Chicken & Burgers is the Curtin’s formidable in-house kitchen. Here you can choose white or dark meat, half and whole birds, plus every kind of Southern-style side you could shake a drumstick at.

Restaurant

Le Bon Ton

Down-home comfort food is the specialty at this New Orleans-inspired smokehouse. Sure, the fall-apart-tender pork and juicy brisket are both hard to look past. But you should take a chance on the buttermilk-soaked tenders, served with white gravy and pickled jalapenos.

Restaurant

F.A.T. (Fried and Tasty)

Towering KFC-style buckets, succulent tenders and popcorn pieces are the tip of the wing at this Southern-influenced joint. Lashings of the house peach sauce are highly encouraged.

Restaurant

Lagoon Dining

The protruding bone on Lagoon’s togarashi-dusted chicken chop is the perfect device for dragging the meaty end through a tangy glop of bulldog sauce.

Bar

Benchwarmer

The snacky menu at this outstanding craft beer bar is izakaya-influenced, which means edamame, tempura, yakitori skewers and a banging kaarage chicken that’s perfect with a few suds.

Restaurant

Truck Stop Deluxe

Replicating an American truckers rest stop comes with its caveats: the burgers should be a formidable two-handed affair, and the fried chicken needs to be served with waffles or without. You can get the whole hog here.

Restaurant

Magic Mountain Saloon

The exact dressings rotate frequently, but this fun Thai restaurant and bar always puts a fiery twist on its crisp fried chicken ribs. Plus you can usually get them till late.

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Restaurant

Daughter In Law

Jessi Singh's vibrant diner deals in “unauthentic” Indian food. Look no further than the IFC (“Indian Fried Chicken”) served with mustard seed mayo and pickles.

Restaurant

Bird

A red neon arrow beckons you inside for a choose-your-own-chicken adventure. Just decide what cut, heat and sauce you want – then add on silky mash with 48-hour gravy and some wads of garlic-butter brioche.

More Options

Sam Sam Chicken, CBD and Clayton

No country has perfected the marriage of fried chicken and beer quite like Korea. Samsam is proof of that. Order bone-in or boneless bird, in flavours ranging from soy and garlic to an original recipe dusted with "snow cheese". Then wash it down with Korean bottled beers, soju and soft drinks.

Hot Star Chicken

Hot Star’s famous, oversized chook disc began as a street food snack at a Tapei night market. Now it’s practically everywhere – for good reason. Hand-held, piping hot and widely available.

Nene Chicken

NeNe means “Yes! Yes!” in Korean, and fans of the almost two-decade-old fried-chicken chain might shout those words too when they realise the recipes used in Australia for Nene’s crisp-battered, often saucy fried chicken are unchanged from those used in its mother country.

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