Taste Test: Chicken Wings

Chicken wings may be messy to eat but when made right, they can be finger lickin’ good. We sampled chicken wings at five city restaurants and rated their take on the classic pub snack on crispness and flavour.

HARD ROCK CAFE
Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Bombay Dyeing Mills Compound, Lower Parel. Tel: 2438 2888.
Price: Rs195 (excluding taxes) for half a portion.
The music-themed bar stays faithful to the classic, deep-fried Buffalo version of chicken wings. Coated in vinegar-based, cayenne pepper sauce, the crisp, fiery and sticky appetiser is a fine bedfellow for a pitcher of cold lager. However, given their relatively high skin to meat ratio, we would have preferred it if our wings had been grilled rather than fried. ★★☆☆☆

T.G.I. FRIDAY’S
First Floor, Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills. Tel: 6615 5687.
Price: Rs230 (excluding taxes) for four pieces.
The Palladium outpost of the American casual dining chain needs to urgently enlist the services of a new poultry supplier. Our portion of chicken wings comprised four sad pieces that had more bone than meat. The fried chicken had been tossed in an oil-slicked hot sauce that was sour, possibly from too much vinegar. The wings came with a coagulated blue cheese dip. The most offensive part of the dish, however, was the stale tasting chicken. ★☆☆☆☆

BLUE FROG
Mathuradas Mills Compound, 
opposite Kamala Mills,
 Tulsi Pipe Road,
 Lower Parel. Tel: 4033 2300.
Price: Rs375 (excluding taxes).
Entertaining at Blue Frog is an expensive proposition. Should you have to treat some friends at the club, order the chicken wings, which are sure to satiate your dining guests without denting your pocket, much. The chicken wings cost less than most of the other non-vegetarian appetisers on the menu, which are mostly priced around Rs450. A portion of chicken wings consists of about 14 juicy pieces of meat that could easily suffice three hungry guests. Most importantly, the fried chicken is well-cooked and basted in Blue Frog’s special sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. An excellent, creamy blue cheese dip (which tastes like the garlic and herbs-flavoured Boursin cheese) is served along with the wings. Our only complaint with the snack was the pool of oil under the heap of chicken. ★★★☆☆

RUBY TUESDAY
CR-2 Mall, Unit No. 31, Nariman Point. Tel: 6651 0709.
Inorbit Mall, Shop No. 20, Second Floor, Malad (West). Tel: 6645 0925.
Price: Rs475 (excluding taxes) for the wing sampler.
At Ruby Tuesday, they serve chicken wings dipped in three kinds of sauces—Buffalo, Boston BBQ and an Asian sesame-peanut sauce. You can order a single portion of any one of these or get their wing sampler, which includes about four pieces of each. We ordered the sampler only to be disappointed by all three types of wings. There was a thick, rubbery layer of deep fried batter around the chicken, which was undercooked. The BBQ sauce was sickly sweet, the Asian sauce was pasty and the Buffalo sauce was under-salted and simply not fiery enough. ★☆☆☆☆

INDIGO DELI WINNER
First Floor, Palladium, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: 2498 6262. Also at 5, Ground Floor, Pheroze Building, Apollo Bunder, near Gateway of India. Tel: 6655 1010.
Price: Rs410 (excluding taxes).
As with almost every dish at Indigo Deli, you have to wait a good 25 minutes for their Bombay chicken wings. Your patience is rewarded with chunky pieces of crisp chicken tossed in a tangy barbecue sauce, and a peppery spice mix, which is probably the reason they included “Bombay” in the name. This is an addictive entrée that had us gnawing on the bones, without any help from the sharp blue cheese dip served on the side. ★★★★☆