Food critic accuses Chicken Cottage of pulling race card

That’s so !#%*^d up, I’ve been following you for ages and your out there with a great platform and content [sic] – Two Buns owner

A popular Youtube food review channel who branded chicken served by a fast food joint as “disgusting” has accused the restaurant of pulling the race card.

Having rated a branch of Chicken Cottage 1.8 out of 10 earlier this month, the Food Review Club (FRC) called on the brand yesterday to “put away the race card and get out your recipe books”.

Posting on their Facebook page, FRC said: “To find out the London bridge @chickencottageuk team are openly vocalising that we are anti Muslim is very upsetting to hear.

“To set it straight, their food was majorly sub standard, hence the score. Nothing else [sic].”

The accusation comes after the Youtube channel, which has over 21k followers, published a video titled ‘The First Review Where I Actually Spit Food Out’ which has since been viewed over 25k views.

During the review of Chicken Cottage in London Bridge, FRC owner Matthew Davies-Binge pulls out a wet-stained bag of fries which, despite initially calling it “pure 100% grease”, later concedes: “However greasy the chips are… not bad.”

As a self-professed “lover of chicken”, Matt, as he is popularly known, then moves on to “a small chicken burger” which, after just a single bite, he says is “dry as anything” with a “cardboard like texture”.

Pulling out a single piece of chicken thigh thereafter, not only does he call it “a grease fest”, but goes on to say: “Oh my God that’s disgusting,” before labelling it: “Dog sh*t!”

The final review item of BBQ Wings fares even worse with Matthew immediately spitting out his first mouthful and declaring: “That’s one of the most worst things I’ve ever put in my mouth.”

In the end, after calling on the franchise that boasts over 60 branches across the country “to do better than this”, Matt states: “All in all, that was just a greasy, disgusting mess.

“That is the epitome of UK sh*ty chicken shops. … No standards. No pride in what they were delivering. Really poor. No flavour. Not a lot of taste. In fact, it was repulsive.

“The wings were disgusting. These places should be shut. … You have a responsibility for people who love good fast food.”

Chicken Cottage rated 1.8 out of 10

After adjudging the branch 1.8/10, Matt concludes: “I think they’re lucky to get that to be fair. Just sh*t,” before apologising to his listeners: “Sorry guys. This is what we do on Food Review Club – try to be as honest and up front as possible.”

While he does urge his audience to “avoid Chicken Cottage”, a number of followers do respond by recommending a few other branches.

Although the fast food brand’s “flagship” store in Tooting, south London, is named as one to visit, the majority of comments on Youtube and Facebook were not favourable.

Following the scathing review, Chicken Cottage did recently post on their social accounts: “We’ve been perfecting our seasoned & golden fried chicken recipe since 1994, and you can taste it.”

The Food Review Club further clarified yesterday: “We are only interested in finding great British food, hidden gems & local hotspots. Please don’t pull the race card with us. Black, White, Blue, Asian, even homeless we chat with & love everyone, you’ve seen it. Shame on them.”

Muslims defend the Food Review Club

A fair number of Muslims have also responded in support of FRC including Romale Karim, owner of London Halal burger brand Two Buns, who said: “That’s so !#%*^d up, I’ve been following you for ages and your out there with a great platform and content… They are crusty burnt drum sticks….. score -5 ‘and that’s a review’. [sic]”

Another fan of the channel Amir Mohammed added: “How can you be racist when a large percentage of your reviews are on different establishments owned by different religions. Ignore the clowns and take some legal action if it carry’s on. P.s love your videos keep it up. [sic]”

While Hassan Omar noted: “I’ve been following you a long time and you done plenty reviews at halal food joints clearly never discriminated. Lot of dirty chicken shops out there need exposing. Keep up the good work mate. [sic]”

FtLion have contacted Chicken Cottage for a response.