Review: Clutch

A chicken restaurant where there’s more bird-related puns on the menu than you can shake your tail feathers at. Family-run Clutch, opened it’s doors to the (empty) street of Ravenscroft Road back in November last year. Close to East London’s Hoxton, but hidden away from the passer-by, I suspect most Clutch diners have heard about it before walking through the doors of their coop.

That said, it does stands out with that snazzy black and white wall. I just don’t suspect there’s a very high footfall.

Time to talk chicken. The one sided menu is split into different sections, you’ve got brunch options, fried chicken and glazed wing choices, side pecks (such as twice fried fries and creamy coleslaw), a selection of sauces, Sunday specials, a list of cocktails, bottles, soft drinks and Clutch’s only dessert choice – the Sweet Beak Brownie. It’s a pretty random layout of nibbles, big bites and beverages – the majority of it is all shareable so it took us a while to decide what to go for.

It was a school night and we were being good so one Diet Coke and a Ginger Beer later we placed our order.

Something pretty unique about Clutch, is that they fry all their chickens in the finest grade groundnut oil and their entire produce is from a small free-range farm in Wiltshire, where all the eggs are produced in clutches (explains the name). The quality of their ingredients almost justifies the high prices – with a full bucket (6 pieces) of fried chicken setting you back £21 it is pretty pricy.

Speaking of a buckets, we went for one Sweet Soy and Garlic, full bucket. I apologise for the poor photo quality below – but in terms of taste, it was ruddy delicious. The six pieces include x2 legs, x2 thighs and x2 breasts, although we’d swapped one of the breasts for a leg in advance as my dining partner was more into meat on the bone than anything else.

The Honey & Sesame Wings were probably my favourite. The chicken was so tender and juicy, covered in a sticky, sweet sauce which was scattered with black and white sesame seeds and spring onions they were seriously good. Whilst we were eating them, our waiter kindly brought us over a finger bowl – which was definitely needed!

For sides, we ordered the Twice Fried Fries which were a decent sized portion for two – especially with everything else we’d ordered! They were delish, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. We also went for the slightly more adventurous Beets with Parsley Pistachio Pesto & Mozzarella. The foodie pic I took is just a big dark splodge, so you’ll have to use your imagination with this one. Chunks of beetroot filled the bottom of the dish which were covered with oily pesto, crushed pistachio nuts and mozzarella. It was a cold dish – which tasted okay, I didn’t feel it complimented the rest of the meal much so it did get a little neglected on the table.

The chicken finished us, in fact we couldn’t even finish it all – but the waiters assured us doggy bags were available. I absolutely loved our meal at Clutch – the chicken was awesome, would recommend it two times over. The restaurant atmosphere was trendy, friendly and honest. The food was highly priced but worth it.

The bill was presented to us in a cute little golden egg which was held inside a silver cup. Open the egg in half and you’ll find your receipt neatly folded inside.