Popeyes,
Lesley Forestside Shopping Centre,
Upper Galwally,
Belfast,
BT8 6FX
popeyesuk.com/restaurants/belfast-forestside
Ji The Chicken Shop,
143 Lisburn Road,
Belfast
BT9 7AG
One of the many, many, (many) reminiscences triggered by the 50-megaton nostalgia detonated with the news Oasis are getting back together was just how great it used to be to queue outside record shops to buy concert tickets.
None of this modern nonsense of glaring at a screen trying to work out how nearly 8% of the entire population of the island is in front of you in a virtual line for a couple of spots in the nosebleeds at Croke Park.
It was all very different way back before all you whippersnappers who only want to go so you can film yourself singing along to Wonderwall for one of your TikToks were even born. Then, you had to physically make your way to somewhere called Sounds Good or Cool Discs in the dead of night and wait with like-minded cool kids until the doors opened.
This was a good thing, apparently. And, by extension, whoever we were all queuing for must have been good too. Because who’s going to go to all that trouble if they’re not?
If that’s the case, US fried chicken chain Popeyes must really make a strong bird, with the perpetual line outside their first Irish outlet – at Lesley Forestside Shopping Centre in south Belfast.
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It’s been that way since the place opened at the end of September, with people seemingly falling over themselves to try it. Or maybe it’s because there are four ordering stations right against the door when you go in, so it only takes five people in the place at once to create a queue, in all its viral, buzzy glory.
Once you get inside it’s a neon-tinged, shouty orange chain restaurant, pushing its particular brand of Louisiana poultry by slapping ‘y’all’ into just about every sentence painted on its walls or popping up on its screens.
And the poultry itself is perfectly fine. One of those ‘y’alls’ comes after an exhortation to ‘Believe the hype’ about their chicken sandwich, and it does prove to be a cut above both the rest of the offering here and its competition in similar chains.
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It’s a generous slab of juicy meat inside a dry, crisp crumb with the simple adornment of mayonnaise and some pickles is a pretty good brioche bun. The classic coating is a bit lacking, however, and does little for a leg and thigh of perfectly serviceable fried chicken.
The spicier option that comes on the hot wings offers far more, while the Cajun seasoning on the decent fries also provides a bit of pep. But the sides – a biscuit (not for your tea, more like a savoury scone), mac and cheese, a tub of the most featureless mash you’ll ever taste, and Cajun gravy are all a shoulder shrug emoji in fast-food form.
Hardly the most surprising outcome of a visit to a soulless chain, I suppose, but it doesn’t have to be like this.
Ji The Chicken Shop, over on the city’s Lisburn Road, isn’t an American mega chain, but it’s a chain nonetheless, its Belfast branch the first of its 23 to venture outside England and Wales. It’s all about Taiwanese chicken here and it’s light years from Popeyes.
It’s also substantially more expensive, but simply on a pound of money to pound in weight comparison it’s worth it. And that’s before you taste it, at which point Popeyes is struggling to stay anywhere near the conversation.
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To be fair, they’re not like for like, with Ji not quite so fast but infinitely more interesting.
A chicken breast the size of an ironing board had been beaten almost flat but retains all its moisture under a fantastic crust that, like everything, can be dusted with your choice of seasoning ranging from plum through garlic and chilli to seaweed.
A brace of chicken thighs on the bone are showstoppers too, while the salt and pepper combination perks up some standard chips.
Ji really pushes the boat out with its treasure trove of deep fried bits and pieces – whether it’s just-chewy-enough chicken gizzards, slightly sweet lotus root chips or, best of all, curls of shatteringly crisp chicken skin.
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There’s a huge range of flavoured milk and green teas, with or without the signature bubbles of tapioca or jelly, to wash it down with, or sip while you wait for some truly fantastic fried chicken.
The queue starts here.
The bills
Popeyes
- Chicken sandwich £5.99
- Signature Louisiana chicken £4.99
- 6 hot wings £5.29
- Cajun seasoned fries £2.99
- Biscuit and Cajun gravy £2.59
- Mac and cheese £3.50
- Mash and gravy £2.59
- Strawberry milkshake £3.99
Total £31.93
Ji The Chicken Shop
- Chicken breast set meal including bubble tea £14.10
- Chicken skin £7.50
- Chicken gizzards £7.50
- Lotus root chips £7
- Chicken thigh on the bone £8.50
Total £44.60
