A Delicious American Southern Chicken Diner / 美味的美国南部风味炸鸡

To celebrate one of my friend’s birthday this week, I booked a table at a restaurant called Joe’s Southern Kitchen. You probably can guess from the name that the restaurant serves up an authentic deep south dining experience and famous gluten-free fried chicken, offering up delicious food from the state of Nashville, Tennessee and Kentucky. I heard a lot of good things about this place so thought why don’t I give it a try for myself!

Located in the heart of Covent Garden within an enormous converted warehouse, Joe’s Southern Kitchen is essentially a restaurant and cocktail bar. Upon arrival, a vibrant neon sign hung right in the middle of the front window. Once inside, the restaurant looked quite cool with its exposed brickwork and over-sized hanging lights. It also sported a giant "Coca Cola" sign on the wall and pictures of highways and other things associated with those Southern origins.

It was only 7pm on a Thursday night and the restaurant was already buzzling with people, creating a great atmosphere. Due to the reservation, we got shown to our seats straight away. The staff were also quite friendly and helpful.

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The place has two floors with a smaller dining area situated upstairs via a spiral staircase.

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The downstairs bar plays Southern American music and offers a cocktail list full of original takes on some classic tracks. They probably have one of the largest collections of Bourbon, tequilas and mezcals in London that I have seen. Their are literally hundreds to choose from so if this is your thing, definitely take some time to try a few. I am sure it will be worth your while, lol. Apart from that, there is also a variety of American beers so there is pretty much something for everyone, making sure you enjoy the American experience to its fullest!

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I was up for trying out their "watermelon cocktail", with my friend opting for a rich vanilla milkshake. Both were extremely delicious!

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The menu is classic Southern American cooking, predominantly based around fried chicken along with a great selection of tasty side dishes and starters to spice up your choices of food. Also included is the Southern Fried Chicken, 8 hour slow roasted short ribs and pulled pork buns… So many choices that I seriously did not know what to order, lol.

Between the four of us, we went for a 36 piece chicken wing appetizer, sectioned into three different flavours. Southern chicken, buffalo and BBQ sticky flavours. A big starter, right? Haha! All of them were astonishingly good, but the southern chicken wings were definitely my favourite. A delicate crispy coating with juicy meat inside. And I am telling you, they are soooo finger licking good!!

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Joe’s signature dish is beer can chicken, but since we already had the chicken wings, I decided to try out the Mac and cheese. A perfect accompaniment to all the meat! OMG, the Mac n’ Cheese came with a biscuit crust drenched with melted cheese on top. Just looking at it made my mouth water! It was rich, warm and such a comforting treat reminding me of happy days. You just cannot beat a good bowl of Mac n’ Cheese!! Highly recommended.

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My friends also tried out the Buffalo Burger and bacon salad and they also enjoyed the food on offer. Due to that big starter, I was not able to finish my main and I was pretty disappointed with myself, lol. Most of us were so full by the end of it but as always @ezzy was the last one standing and ordered the only dessert from the group, haha!

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@ezzy went for the Cheesecake on a Stick, which is a baked vanilla cheesecake lolly dipped in hazelnut and chocolate. I managed to try one spoonful and it was creamy and heavenly!! What a wonderful finisher to the prior delicious feast!

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Joe’s Southern Kitchen is the perfect place to enjoy a great meal with family and friends or just chill after a long day at work. The food was excellent, and probably one of the most authentic American food diners I have ever eaten at in UK. A place you would get your fingers dirty in and your face sticky with barbecue sauce. In a very enjoyable way though, haha!

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这周我朋友生日，我们去了一家名叫 Joe's Southern Kitchen 的餐厅吃饭庆祝。顾名思义，大家也许可以从名字猜出这是一家专门吃风靡美国南部的风味炸鸡。我在网上看到不少关于这家店的好评，所以一直都想来看看，呵呵。

这家店位于伦敦中心 Covent Garden 附近。它是一家旧仓库改建的餐厅酒吧。一个巨大的霓虹灯招牌挂在正门窗前，十分醒目！餐厅看起来很酷，裸露砖墙设计，墙上挂了一个硕大的“可口可乐”标志，以及其它与美国南部相关的照片。这里环境宽敞, 共两层。一楼有长长的吧台和大投影，二楼位置不多，稍显拥挤，整个餐厅充斥着热闹的气氛！

虽然只是周四晚上7点多，餐厅已经有人山人海的感觉了。幸亏我们预定了座位，所以不用排队，呵呵。值得一提的是，这里的服务还挺不错。

楼下酒吧播放着轻松愉快的经典美国音乐，吧台上摆满了眼花缭乱的各种酒，其中Bourbon和龙舌兰酒的种类之多，是我在伦敦也很少见的。如果你喜欢品酒的话，可以在这里耗上好几个小时哦，呵呵。除了烈酒，还有不少美式啤酒可供选择，一定有你喜欢的！

我选了他们的西瓜鸡尾酒而我朋友要了一杯浓郁的香草奶昔，两样都非常好喝！

菜单当然是经典的美国南部美食咯，主要以炸鸡为主，还有各种美味的配菜和前点。这么多的选择，我都不知道从何下手，哈哈。

我们点了三种不同口味的鸡翼作为前菜，包括南方风味炸鸡翼，水牛城鸡翼和烧烤鸡翼。四个人分36只鸡翼，我们胃口是不是很大啊，呵呵！样样都好好吃，不过我最爱的还是南方风味炸鸡翼，外酥内嫩的鸡肉口感恰到好处，好吃得简直停不下来！

Joe’s Southern Kitchen的招牌菜是啤酒鸡。但由于我们已经有鸡翼前点，所以主菜我就尝了他们的芝士通心粉。小陶碗盛着满满的通心粉，融化的芝士和碎饼干铺在面上，浓浓的芝士香，看着就忍不住流口水了，入口更是幸福感爆棚！这个非常值得推荐。

我的朋友们点了汉堡和培根沙拉，都挺不错的。可能是之前的鸡翼吃多了，我根本没办法吃完我的通心粉，有点儿可惜哦。 看看身边的朋友都吃得很撑了，一脸满足的样子，呵呵。

最后只有 @ezzy 能吃得下甜点。他要了一份香草味的芝士蛋糕。我尝了一口，超级好吃，比普通的香草味口感更丰富！

Joe’s Southern Kitchen 这家餐厅非常适合与家人和朋友聚餐，又或者是下班以后消遣的好去处。食物味道很好，可能是我在英国吃过最正宗的美国南部风味炸鸡！

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