Fighter Chicken

For what seems like forever, the biggest and only players in the fast food fried chicken scene were Church's and KFC.  Sure, we had a dusting of Brownie's, Lee's and even Juicy Chicken at one point, but nothing compared to the big 2.  The landscape has changed considerably over the last decade where we have seen the addition of Hi-Five and Win-Win.  Yes, there are more single location spots, but I'm not going to name them all right here (because I've blogged about them already).  This post is to concentrate on one of the newest, which is Fighter Chicken, with its 2 locations in Vancouver.  We got some takeout from the Renfrew spot to see what they were all about.

We ended up getting a little of everything including naturally, the Fried Chicken.  Even though you are merely looking at pictures and reading these words, it is pretty obvious the chicken had a crunchy batter.  Just look at it, the flakes of batter that are emanating from the skin.  Beyond that the skin was well-rendered and the meat was both juicy and well-seasoned.  The only thing I can say as a counterpoint is that if you like a little less batter, this chicken isn't for you.

Now for something different, but really much of the same, we had the Fried Chicken Wings.  Same crunchy batter and maybe a little less rendering of the skin on the wings.  Possibly because they needed less cooking time and since the batter was relatively thick, there was less chance it would render completely.  However, the meat was juicy and seasoned just like the big pieces of chicken.

So if one did not want to deal with bones, I can tell you the Crispy Chicken Fillets sported the same batter.  It didn't seem as thick possibly due to the smooth texture of the chicken tenders and lack of skin.  Hence, it didn't eat as crunchy. Despite being white meat, it was still tender and moist. Obviously, not as juicy as the dark meat, but it was still good.

So another option, for those who want bite-sized pieces, the Popcorn Chicken was, as you guessed it, coated with the same flour batter as everything else.  Similar to the fillets, the batter wasn't as thick, so each piece was rather meaty.  Being white meat, these were actually the least moist of the bunch.  Also, they didn't seem as crunchy either.  However, one would dip these into something anyways, so no big deal.

For those who don't want to each chicken altogether (but why did you come to a fried chicken joint???), there is the option of the Crispy Fish Fillet.  If you wondering why everything looks the same, they once again used the same batter.  Not that it was a bad thing though as the fish was crispy and flaky inside.  I quite liked these.  On the other hand, it gets really monotonous with the same batter, same flavour and same visuals.  We couldn't even tell the difference between the chicken fillets and fish fillets until we bit into them. 

So for something different, I predictably also had their Spicy Chicken Burger (because I'm searching for the best chicken sammie in town: @shermaneatschickensandwiches).  I also ordered the regular sandwich, but they forgot it in my order.  Now for the spicy, it had good heat and it was huuuuuge.  Look at the 2 fried chicken thighs!  Very crunchy and still juicy in the middle.  This was good and a great value.  In fact, most of the stuff from Fighter Chicken is more than acceptable and priced well considering the portion size.  But my biggest issue, if it hasn't been obvious by now, is that they need to vary the batter.  Maybe for the fish, use panko?  I know this is not unique to Fighter Chicken only as many fried chicken spots use the same batter.  However, by virtue of the variety offered, they might want to at least consider one or two other options.

The Good:
- Crunchy, moist chicken
- Large portions
- That chicken sandwich

The Bad:
- Everything uses the same batter