You are scrolling through Instagram, past the 776 pictures of dogs and smug friends on holiday, and you see that place. That place on Instagram where all the micro-influencers brunch together with their shiny hair and perfect lighting. You look on jealously at their matcha teas and whitewashed walls. These places run the risk of being overhyped by the beauty of clever photography and witty captions, yet I can't help but get sucked into it; they always look so pretty!
So, I have put my own health, safety, and paycheck to travel across the UK and actually try these places. I've called this segment 'Double Tap That Place'!
(get it?)
The first place I wanted to go for this segment was the famous Temple of Hackney.
If you frequent any kind of food or vegan blog on Instagram, you have already heard of the Temple of Hackney. For those of you who do not follow these accounts -- in which case you and I see different worlds -- let me introduce you to The Temple of Hackney, the first vegan fried chicken shop.
Let me just repeat that,
The first VEGAN FRIED CHICKEN SHOP.
You may be sceptical about the concept of vegan fried chicken (I definitely was). How can there be vegan fried chicken? And, more importantly, does it actually taste any good? That was what I was desperate to find out. I had tried several times to head over to try the chicken*, but as it turns out Hackney is a little way out of London, so no one ever wanted to travel so far out for a spot of junk food. In the end, I had to cash in on the fact it was my birthday(!) in order to convince Joah to accompany me on this greasy pilgrimage.
After an hours commute, Joah and I were wandering the streets of Hackney. I had heard that the shop was pretty unassuming from the outside so we had been warned to keep our eyes peeled. Joah was particularly unimpressed, as he is under the (mistaken) impression that I have no sense of direction. Just because it took me two hours lost around Soho in the rain to find the Vegan Pret! However jokes on him, as his doubt in my orienteering abilities spurred me on if anything, and we I found the Temple of Hackney easily (probably because it is right around the corner from the station).
We were in.
And my gosh,
It was worth it.
First impression: the store was tiny.
No bigger than the kitchen island with two small picnic benches sat outside it looked like, well, a typical London chicken shop. We arrived just before 1 o'clock so there was little-to-no queue, but given what I had read about how popular the Temple of Hackney is, I think we were just lucky.
The menu was really exciting, but that could just be because I had never been to a fried chicken shop (of any variety) before. The things that caught my eye and made me start drooling were:
- Twist wrap
- Hot wings
- Popcorn Bites
- Mac'n'cheese!!
Joah and I had already decided to share a couple of things so we could try more of the menu. This was a great idea until it actually came to order; Joah's diabetes meant we had to edit every item to make sure there wasn't any additional sneaky sugar. So, we couldn't try the hot wings or the mac 'n' cheese this time, but the server was really fantastic and recommended which items they could adapt so they would be more Joah-friendly. It was really great to go somewhere that was able to cater for both Joah (the fussy diabetic) and me (the pretentious vegan).
In the end, thanks to the server's recommendations, we decided to share the plain burger, the chicken and mayo wrap, some popcorn chicken, and a large fries (with two glasses of water, ya'know, to be healthy). Outside the shop and the halal butchers, we sat on the steps and I unwrapped every item as if it was made of cashmere while Joah stabbed himself with medicine.
2 and a half minutes later, Joah looked up and, literally, half the food was gone -- It was so good! The chicken wrap, in particular, was deliciously crispy and - according to the meat eater - tasted surprisingly like chicken. This could be because the recipe is based on the classic KFC flavour. Rebecca McGuinness and her husband Pat O'Shea, the owners of the Temple of Hackney, said that the coating is made from a gluten-flour base mixed with herbs, spices, and tofu to make it seem more realistic and KFC-ie.
The chicken itself was made of a protein substance called seitan, which is made from scratch by the owners. The Temple of Hackney was originally called the Temple of Seitan, named after the main ingredient, but they changed their name due to Christian outrage surrounding the similarity between the words 'Seitan' and 'Satan'.
Both the popcorn chicken and the wrap were superb; so good in fact, I tried to get back in line to get another! The flavours were delicately balanced, especially when I added a cheeky squidge of hot sauce to the popcorn pieces. The chicken burger, in comparison, was not as remarkable, although that could have been either because the servers had made it without any Joah-threatening sauces, or because I had utterly failed at trying to split it in half to share, so I ended up with a lot of bread and very little chicken*.
The fries were splendid; hot and crispy without tasting like you'd eaten your annual allowance of grease, but, thanks to Joah they didn't have their usual seasoning so I can't say what they are like usually.
In short, I loved the Temple of Hackney and have been recommending it to everyone I know! It was reasonably cheap (for London anyway), coming in at £20 for two mains, two sides, and two bottles of water, and we both had to walk the belly off afterwards.
The Temple of Hackney made it to instafame because of its novelty as a vegan chicken shop, but its repeat business comes from people genuinely loving the food. People tend to think that vegans all follow a super healthy, raw, clean-eating diet which in turn limits the amount of junk food available, but sometimes you need a good injection of greasy, fast food. I am also pretty happy to have finally had a chance to try fried chicken (in a sense).
In short, brah try it out. This is one of the few times I am so happy I don't live in London; it would be hard to resist some of that cheeky seitan.
Does the Temple of Hackney live up to the Instahype?
Damn straight!
Insta-judgement: Double Tap!
Address:
10 Morning Lane,
London
E9 6NA
Price: ££
Opening hours:
Monday - Saturday: 12 - 9
Sunday: 12 - 6
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