And oh my – it was worth every second
Inside Ragin’ Bird, which has recently won Uber Eats’ Restaurant of the Year for the East Midlands region. (Image: LeicestershireLive)
It came as quite the surprise to me that I hadn’t heard of the Leicester chicken shop which recently bagged a regional title.
Ragin’ Bird has been on the scene since 2019 serving its Nashville hot chicken and boasts 36,000 Instagram followers.
Eager to try it, I drove over to Maidstone Road in the Highfields area of the city to get my fried chicken fix.
After pulling up on the road, about a one-minute walk from Ragin’ Bird, the location surprised me with its randomness.
It’s located on an industrial estate, tucked away inside a small corner unit. The road was pretty busy and several customers were dotted around – to be expected for a Saturday night.
Upon stepping inside I ordered the ragin’ box for £15 which comes with the OG bird burger, made with a brioche bun, buttermilk fried chicken, a cheese slice, shredded iceberg lettuce – plus the takeaway’s signature ‘blazin’ sauce’, ranch sauce and gherkins.
With the box comes one ragin’ taco – a tortilla filled with melted cheese, buttermilk fried chicken tenders, shredded iceberg, blazin’ sauce, ranch and herbs.
Its final component are the crinkle fries, topped with blazin’ sauce, ranch, chopped chicken tenders, gherkins and herbs.
With the meal I was also given a pot of ranch, a pot of blazin’ sauce and a choice of drink, of which I opted for water.
If ordering directly inside, the chicken shop operates on a cash-only basis however a cash machine was located around a three-minute drive away in Melbourne Road.
It’s also important to note that it is far cheaper to order inside as the same meal costs £19.95 if ordering through Uber Eats.
The staff member behind the counter informed me that it’d be a 30 to 40 minute wait for the food which did shock me at first, especially given that it took me about that same time to drive there.
It did occur to me that this is a good sign that the food is cooked completely fresh and I suspect the wait time may be a little less if you are visiting on a night when it’s less busy.
After getting cash out and sitting in my car for just short of 40 minutes, my phone rang to let me know the food was ready.
Feeling ravenous at this point I couldn’t get the box open quick enough after getting it back to my car.
I slightly shifted my car seat back and laid out a couple of napkins in my lap as I knew this may get messy.
I took a big bite of the OG bird burger first which had a juiciness that was actually audible. My meal was off to the best start I could have imagined.
The chicken was piping hot and the burger itself was an absolute taste sensation.
Next I tucked into the blazin’ fries with my plastic fork which was met with generous chunks of chicken tenders and fries coated with a mix of the blazin’ sauce and ranch.
The blazin’ sauce had quite the kick to it which made me pretty grateful for that bottled water.
This was, however, a manageable heat, although enough to make you sweat a little. Thankfully, the creamy ranch helped to cool things down.
The signature blazin’ sauce tasted quite different to any other sauce I’ve had, but if I had to liken it to one it would probably be a hot Buffalo sauce.
As I got halfway through the chips I grabbed the taco which oozed with melting cheese and sauce.
I did find it pretty bizarre but intriguing that a fried chicken shop included a taco as part of its meal.
A bite into this was a proper eye-rolling moment in the best way. For me, the taco was the star of the show.
Ranch sauce and fried chicken together with the herbs Ragin’ Bird use created something I never even knew I needed!
The taco was soft and the flavours of the sauce, chicken and cheese combined was heavenly. I would visit again and happily go for those tacos alone.
Overall I was very impressed with the food and I thought that £15 for all of that was a very decent price.
In all of my years living in Leicester this is the best fried chicken I have experienced yet.
The only downside for me is the location. While convenient if you live in or just outside of the city, it is a bit of a journey for me.
To be honest I would love to see Ragin’ Bird move into the city centre one day and who knows, maybe even into the wider county.
It appears to have quite the fanbase here in Leicester and I can see why. I am excited to see what the future holds for this place!
Our rating: 4/5
