One of New York’s best-loved fried chicken joints is coming to London for the first time, popping up on the Southbank for a two-week residency in May.
Charles Pan Fried Chicken is a Harlem institution, known for its tender, golden fried chicken, macaroni cheese, beans and collard greens, as well as its classic Southern hospitality.
Every customer who walks in is greeted with calls of “Saucy” or “Ooooh” from staff at Charles Gabriel’s restaurant, in situ since 1990 and always busy with diners.
Gabriel, originally from South Carolina and now well into his 70s, first started selling fried chicken on a picnic table outside his apartment years before. Back then he cooked it in his kitchen at home and served dishes on paper plates.
Charles Pan Fried Chicken
He became known for frying in a skillet rather than in deep fryers, a technique some chefs favour because the chicken is turned, watched over – they know when the exterior is perfectly crisp, the meat still juicy and flavourful.
Raised in a family with 19 siblings, Gabriel learned the art of pan-fried chicken under the guidance of his mother, cooking for his family after long days working in the cotton fields in Huntersville.
On May 2, the chef will return to London for the first time since his honeymoon in 1975. He’s collaborating with Tom Bickers of London’s Truffle Burger, which last year brought another New York food brand, 7th Street Burger, to the capital.
“We are about to bring you some real Harlem flavour,” said Gabriel. “We’re packing up the soul of our kitchen and bringing the best of our menu straight across the pond to your beautiful city.
“This is food that comes from the heart, recipes passed down, pan-fried with love, and served up with that signature Harlem hospitality. We cannot wait for you to try our food. London, get ready — hope you’re coming hungry.”
The arrival is part of a bigger series from Truffle Burger, which is putting together a line-up of cult status restaurants from around the world.
Mendez
Also on the way are Homer Lobster, a French restaurant group known for its generous lobster rolls; Isabel Lee’s lockdown-founded NYC burrito joint, Forsyth Fire Escape; Nixta Taqueria, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin, Texas, which is the work of Sara Mardanbigi and chef Edgar Rico; Bodega Truck, the Manhattan chopped cheese slinger; and Utopia Bagels, another NYC favourite, baking in Queens since 1981.
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Bickers said: “Drawing on from new friends made in NYC, and around the globe, plus the added success of the transatlantic burger collaboration with 7th Street, we came up with the concept here at Truffle Burger to share both good food and independent brands we love with the streets of London this summer.
“We invite you down to Southbank to try out some of our favourite food, flavours and friends from around the world.”
Truffle Burger will be hosting star names at its “& Friends” venue from April 24 until September 21 and will be open 11am-11pm, seven days a week.
For more information visit truffle-london.co.uk
