Posh restaurant serving pie with entire chicken head sticking out divides diners

11 October 2023 , 11:09

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Le Grand Coq pie costs £22 at London restaurant Fowl (Image: Jam Press/FOWL)

A posh London restaurant is dishing up a pie packed full of chicken wings and feet garnished with the bird's head poking out of the top.

Diners are divided after Fowl started selling the bizarre dish for £22, saying the Le Grand Coq offering is filled with all parts of the bird - but many were left stunned when the plate arrived at the table. The chicken is looking out the top of the crust, and hungry customers must pull the cooked head out before they dig in.

The pop-up chicken restaurant in St James, central London, offers a "beak to feet" experience - meaning that no part of the chicken will go to waste, But if that doesn't tickle your tastebuds, they are even serving up a "chicken leg corndog" for £16, which still has the animal's leg attached to use as a handle.

You need to remove the bird's head before digging in (Jam Press/FOWL)

Their 'beak to feet' experience means that no part of the chicken will go to waste (Jam Press/FOWL)

Staff say the offering is flying off the shelves and claim they sell out every day but the dish - created in a bid to reduce food waste and use up every part of an animal - isn't popular with everyone with some very mixed reviews from people on social media.

Diner Will Brightwell said: "Love this, forcing people to deal with the reality of where their food comes from. It's real food for proper adults." While another, called Ano said: "If you guys eat meat, but detach yourselves from the fact it's a dead animal, it's hypocritical really. Fair enough the presentation may be unpleasant to you but think about why you feel that way, and also why you're wrong."

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Even the dessert contains chicken. The chicken fat creme caramel includes a vanilla-infused creme caramel topped with lemon gel, picked thyme. It is topped with a chicken skin granola. Other menu items include chicken wings, a chicken fillet burger, and liver pat

The pie is a creation of guest chef Pierre Koffman. Chef Will Murray told The Sun: "I like to describe Fowl as all the best things about chicken on one menu. This pie is a beak-to-feet concept. The feet are usually mainly exported. The head is often thrown in the bin. For us, the farmer has gone to all this work to rear this beautiful bird, so we're using all of it."

Chloe Cawood