Buffalo wings are fucking great. We eat piles of them. If we are eating burgers at a place that sells them, we’ll order portions and portions of the lil’ chicken arms over fries every time. Sometimes if we know the burger in a place is awful we’ll just order wings. You can never have enough. NEVER.
But whilst you can get them in burger gaffs and restaurants all over London now, we’ve oft scratched our noggins at why no one has gone all-in and opened a stall somewhere. It seems an obvious choice, and one that’s been noticeably lacking from the Kerb collective.
Truth be told, Orange Buffalo snuck in under our radar - it was weeks before a pal who worked out by Brick Lane told us about the little truck perched in Ely’s Yard, on the site of what was a short-lived Daddy Donkey stand. We couldn’t figure out how to get there and try them quick enough, reeling off message after message to see when we could hit it.
These wings are double fried, something we highly recommend having tested most variations at the B/A dungeons, giving them a great crispy outer coating whilst retaining the moisture in the meat. They are a little on the small side, but there is enough meat to satisfy and balance with the sauce-sopped skin.
Tossed in one of the signature sauces, their classic buffalo shines with an eye-popping gloopy, orange glow. It’s thick and has all the vinegary sourness tussling against the buttery richness you want, although it lacks a little bit of the ‘murican sweetness you get with a Frank’s mixture.
The hotter version is borderline too hot, throwing out a just bearable Holy Fuck-like spiciness. We didn’t try the Vipers since we’re not total idiots, and had to go back to work and actually talk to people.
A road trip across the States, proper Texan provenance and countless pounds of consumed wings, have led to these chipper dudes to embrace their love of the bird and create some original sauces, and not just lump some Franks and butter in a pan and stir. Apparently you can buy bottles of the sauces, something we are eagerly clapping our greasy, sauce ridden hands at.
The only sore point is that they are a bit pricey for the portion sizes, but when you only sell wings, and you take into account overheads and stuff we guess they have to be a bit more in the money department.
Not much else you can say about wings really. These guys are doing them right, so go and eat them already.
- Rob.