There’s a new fried chicken roast dinner breaking onto the scene in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and it sounds absolutely incredible.
Consisting of a giant Yorkshire pudding, sweet potato mash, roasties, veg, crispy chicken skin and Kong’s signature fried chicken thigh, all this then comes topped with chicken gravy to provide hungover Mancunians with the ultimate Sunday cure.
Using thigh meat, the chicken here is brined for three hours, rolled in a secret spice mix, then double-dredged for a crispier texture. And if that’s not enough to tempt you, did we mention that the fried chicken roast also comes with a game-changing extra layer of fried crispy chicken skin ‘crackling’?
Phwoar.
A close up of the fried chicken roast dinner from Kong’s Chicken Shop / Image: Kong’s Chicken ShopThe fried chicken roast in all its glory with Yorkshire pudding, sweet potato mash, roasties, veg, crispy chicken skin and Kong’s signature fried chicken thigh / Image: The Greek Eats MCR
The fried chicken roast is the latest creation to come out of Kong’s Chicken Shop – the brainchild of Tom Potts (bar manager at CBRB and all-around fried chicken mastermind).
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The fried chicken roast premiered last weekend and seems to have been a hit, as he’s now decided to run it again this Sunday 8 August – albeit in limited numbers.
Sharing the news to Instagram page yesterday, Kong’s said: “Don’t know if you heard but we dropped a fried chicken roast yesterday. A lot of you have been asking if we’ll do it again next Sunday…
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“Well, we are yeah! Obviously! And hopefully every Sunday maybe forever?
“If you’ve been following up from our humble beginnings as a collection pop-up at CBRB you might remember that we asked you to pre order and book a time slot through our DM’s.
“If you want to secure a roast on Sunday, drop us a DM with what you’d like and if it’s a chicken or veggie! Walk-ins will be available but we’re only doing very limited numbers so if you don’t wanna chance it slide into those DMs.”
Up until now, Kong’s has been all about the wings, burgers, and tater tots, so this new fried chicken roast makes an exciting new addition to the lineup.
The fried chicken passion project, which first started life as a pop-up out of CBRB, is currently operating out of Northern Monk’s kitchen on weekends. If you want to get a fried chicken roast this weekend, that’s where you want to head.
They’re serving up their regular menu across the weekend too, but if you want to head down on Sunday for your fried chicken roast dinner fix, it’s worth dropping them a message first to secure your plate as the numbers are going to be limited this weekend.
You can hit Kong’s Chicken Shop up on Instagram here.
Food & Drink
The best Christmas party food and picky bits from M&S this year
Daisy Jackson
Clear the tables, pop the oven on to pre-heat, and set the paper plates – it’s Christmas, and that can only mean it’s party food season again.
No one does silly little festive nibbles quite like M&S, with their Christmas party food range getting more and more extravagant every single winter.
2025 is absolutely no exception – expect the likes of cubed rice, snowman-shaped bao, tiny Yorkie puds and plenty more delicious madness besides.
We’ve been down in the aisles of everyone’s favourite posh supermarket to see exactly what concoctions they’ve conjured up this year, and did not leave disappointed.
This is not just party food, this is M&S Christmas party food.
A very Marbella Christmas
Have you ever seen a square paella before? No? You haven’t lived mate.
These angular rice bites are one of three Spanish-influenced picky bits in M&S this Christmas, alongside tiny tortillas and patatas bravas stacks (tiny potato rostis topped with tomato sauce and chorizo then served with a garlic sauce on the side).
Don’t be put off by the hot pink prawn curled up on the rice bed like a dog that’s been bought a bed two sizes too small…
A little fishy on a little dishy
Everyone knows that the M&S salmon and potato salad is one of their most elite items, so those hot smoked salmon rosti bites are going STRAIGHT in my basket.
If you like your fish dishes really bite-sized, there’s also the smoked salmon appetisers that look like they’ve been lifted right out of a 1960s cookbook.
And of course, tiger prawns wrapped in various shapes and sizes of pastry, too.
Jingle baos
If you’d told me three years ago that bao would become a staple on every posh Christmas buffet, I’d have sent you to the hospital.
But they’re back for a third year in a new novelty festive shape, and this time, M&S has gone to new heights.
Presenting – double decker bao in the shape of a snowman, complete with cosy green scarf and a veggie pad Thai filling.
Some of them look like they’ve been through the wars, don’t they?
Pam Shipman would buy these
If you’re not a Gavin & Stacey fan, just imagine the following section being read aloud by a flapping (ideally Essex) mother with a fresh blowdry and a waft of YSL Libra about her.
“Those, Bryn, are M&S mushroom vol-oh-vohnts.”
“A little goat cheese tart for you, Smithy?” (“Who you calling a tart Pamelarrr you minx!”)
Basically, these are the posh little nibbles your mums will gravitate towards to show off their hosting gravitas.
Merry Texmexmas
M&S always seems to lean over to the States for inspiration for its party food and this year is no different.
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They’ve got a real Tex-Mex flavour going on in 2025, with Christmas party food including mini vegetable tacos filled with peppers and sweetcorn.
There are also those impossible-to-eat-why-are-you-sliding-everywhere miniature beef burgers, back to piss me off for another year.
Ee by gum it must be Christmas
‘Ey up! Has M&S recruited an actual Northerner to help put together the party food for Christmas this year?!
We all know the deal with British pub food – a little bit stodgy, very comforting, and incredibly filling. Okay, now picture that, but not remotely filling.
M&S has brought back a couple of its miniature bites inspired by classic British fare – pies that fit in the palm of your hand (beef and ale, or chicken and leek), and Yorkshire puddings so small they must’ve been baked in a cupcake tin. Cute.
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The most important picky bit of the day
Whether or not to bother with breakfast on Christmas morning seems to be a bit of a hot topic – what’s the point in a bowl of cornflakes when you’re readying to slam the biggest meal of the year in a matter of hours?
Well, M&S is making sure the most important meal of the day infiltrates all the way through to party time with these two.
A stack of miniature pancakes and slivers of bacon, plus pint-sized ham and cheese croissants. Has anyone ever handed you a croissant on a dancefloor before? This might be the year.
Better than your mum’s turkey curry
Oh now we’re cooking with tandoor! Not one, but two picky bits inspired by Britain’s national dish – curry. And the most British curry of all, a chicken tikka masala.
For Christmas this year M&S has created the world’s smallest naan breads, which are topped with tikka chicken and pickled pink onions.
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And in the other hand, there are spiced potato and spinach dosa rolls, which we have literally never seen on any buffet spread before ever, but sure.
Get it before it’s scone
If your hand impulsively twitches towards a Christmas sandwich every time you’re shopping for a meal deal, get a load of this – tiny mini turkey feast toasties. Yay!
These tiny square sarnies have got pulled turkey, stuffing, ham hock, Emmental cheese, cranberry sauce AND gravy in them, somehow. When did M&S unlock a cheat code to overcome sandwich physics?
There are also miniature mature Barber’s cheddar scones, with honey and mustard pulled ham inside. They sound like a sheer winner.
That’s not a hambush, it’s a charcutertree!
Oh, look who’s back to make a mockery of your flat cheese board again. It’s the Christmas Charcuter-tree. Sigh.
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Real fancy people present their cured meat and cheese selection in the shape of a Christmas tree (obviously) and M&S have got a build-you-own kit available for £23 (that’s actually two quid cheaper than last year).
I can only begin to imagine the meltdown I’d have as another piece of salami refused to act like tinsel and unravelled onto the table.
More than 12 million Brits think Yorkshire puddings belong with your Christmas dinner
Emily Sergeant
More than 12 million Brits would argue that your Christmas dinner needs a side of Yorkshire puddings, a shocking survey has revealed.
The survey in question carried out by retailer Next – which polled a total of 2,000 Brits about their Christmas dining and tableware habits – has uncovered that millions of people stray off the beaten track when it comes to, what we can all agree is, one of the biggest and heartiest meals of the year.
It turns out, Brits like a lot of unusual items on our Christmas dinner plate.
Some of the most obscure finds the survey is that two million people admitted to eating onion rings alongside their turkey and sprouts, and a further 5% (3.4 million) Brits like tucking into a bit of seafood on Christmas Day.
A surprising 4% (2.7 million) of people admitted that they like to add ketchup to their Christmas dinner plate – with mac and cheese, chips, and sweetcorn also making the top 10 list.
More than 12 million Brits think Yorkshire puddings belong with your Christmas dinner / Credit: Rumman Amin (via Unsplash)
If all of that wasn’t mad enough as it is, one of the most shocking stats from the survey is probably the fact that a whopping 1.4 million respondents even said that they wouldn’t consider it a Christmas dinner without the addition of baked beans.
But when it comes to Christmas dinner, there’s probably one debate that’s bigger than them all, and is still yet to be decided – do Yorkshire puddings belong on your Christmas dinner plate or not?
Well, 12.7 million Brits believe that they do, and we reckon a good chunk of that number is us northerners.
The UK’s top 10 non-traditional Christmas food items
Yorkshire Puddings (19% – 12.7 million)
Bread sauce (5% – 3.4 million)
Seafood (5% – 3.4 million)
Ketchup (4% – 2.7 million)
Mac and cheese (3% – 2 million)
Onion rings (3% – 2 million)
Chips (2% – 1.2 million)
Bread (2% – 1.2 million)
Sweetcorn (2% – 1.2 million)
Beans (2% – 1.2 million)
A new survey has revealed has uncovered that millions of people stray off the beaten track for Christmas dinner / Credit: Lisa Baker (via Unsplash)
While previous research has shown that the most common items on a British Christmas dinner are roast potatoes and gravy, these latest stats reveal there are some people out there who just like to do things a little differently.
But no matter how you like to eat it, a delicious Christmas dinner is always going to be something to celebrate, right?
Georgina Pellant -
3rd August 2021 
