Sticky Wings

A few years ago I moved down to London and found an overpriced, undersized room in Whitechapel. Whilst I don’t miss my single bed and the one shower between eight of us I do miss its proximity to Brick Lane, but not for the curries, for the wings. 

Buffalo wings to be precise.

Brick Lane is home to two amazing wing establishments but in this case I’m going to talk about my favourite, Sticky Wings, we’ll get to the other one later. I stumbled upon this place during one of my deepest darkest hangovers whilst desperately googling American food delivered. Ok, they don’t deliver, but the 10 minute walk down the road was totally worth it – I live in West London now and I still travel 40 minutes to go there...you get the picture.
Sticky Wings is different to your typical TGI Fridays-esque establishment. The décor is minimal, there’s no random USA paraphernalia just a handful of tables and chairs. Whilst I do love a kitsch establishment, simplicity is what Sticky Wings does best. 

Ok, the food. The menu is stripped back completely, focusing on the wings with burgers or wraps for those who aren’t fans. There’s a choice of four sauces: buffalo, BBQ, jerk twist and hot chilli. As much as I love the buffalo, the BBQ is also excellent so my advice get half and half, then you can try a bit of both. 

What I love about Sticky Wings is the abundance of sauce, they don’t hold back, it means sticky gross fingers, but who cares. The wings come in two sizes, UK or American (very fitting) with the UK price being £6.89 and American £9.89. The UK size is about 6 wings, whilst US is around 10. Both portions come with fries and a choice of dip (blue cheese or ranch) but trust me, go for the blue cheese. The wings themselves are excellent with a mixture of flat pieces and drumsticks, they come hot and fresh with crispy skin and perfectly soft meat inside. Its comfort food heaven.
Whilst the beer selection is limited, they stock Samuel Adams, a great Boston lager that is way better than the Budweiser offered…I don’t trust people that actively choose Budweiser as their beer of choice, but I get it, its American, so sticky wings, you’re forgiven. If they start doing Blue Moon I will be there for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Darul, the owner is also an amazing guy. If you’re lucky enough to meet him when you’re in there make sure to have a chat with him, we are now twitter pals. 
In my opinion skip all the sides, you won’t need them and the wings truly are the star of the show. They do takeout as well which is great for a lazy hungover Sunday but the freshness of the wings can only be truly experienced when sitting in.
Sticky Wings is a simple does what it says on the tin establishment, but it does it with serious dedication and a real knowledge of how to make that authentic buffalo sauce. Trust me, I brought a New Yorker with me. Next time you’re in east forget the curry and get wings, but not on a Monday as they’re currently shut then!

By Jess


Wingin it wings rating: 9/10 Who to go with: This is not a first date place, I’d always go with friends, unless you wanna kiss your significant other with buffalo sauce around your face….well actually, that does sound quite good…
Website: http://www.stickywings.com

Location: 40 BRICK LANE, London E1 6RF

London E1 6RF

 
Jess's under the wing: Want more wings? Ask for no chips with your meal and you’ll get a few more wings added to your basket. They also do take out , so in summer grab a beer and some wings and sit in the park behind brick lane.

Polly's under the wing: One of the few American restaurant's in london that is truly american in the sense that it's family run - make sure you say hi to Darul and his lovely wife!

Red Dog's Saloon

This weekend I went for a celebratory meal with Jess, co-writer of this blog, known as the Persian princess amongst our mutual friends. The occasion? Jess had hit her 1 year mark on tinder. I'm sure you'll agree, it's worth celebrating that 400 men you've never met are keen to marry/date/have sex with you. Red Dog Saloon is in walking distance of both our houses, and although recently we've rarely ventured further into shoreditch than StickyWings on brick lane (more to come on that from Jess) we took the extra hike to Red Dogs.


A little history about Jess and Myself: we met in 2012 in America, and have overall spent six months together in the states, so despite the fact that we ate an equal amount of chipotle and sushi to the among of wings we ate, back in London we get extremely nostalgic to those carefree summers jumping in lakes and drinking corona for breakfast, and always turn to USA themed resteraunts to eat out, to the point that we've become self proclaimed experts. And by experts, read gobby over sharers who just want an excuse to eat more. 
Red dogs has a slightly different vibe to the other American themed resteraunts in the area (diner, far rock away etc)  forgoing the neon signs and leather booths for a true to thier name saloon style, and I love it. It's a little dinger, a little more sordid, and has an air of guilt about it, so basically ideal for ordering too much, spending too much and over feeding the little piggy inside of you.

A tester of a great resteraunt to me is a menu so varied that I want to order more than one dish, and even better, one that recognises that greedy urge and allows me to do so. Red dog offers the option to combine two off thier BBQ meats and add two sides, so following our shared portion of buffalo wings, when piled high wooden boards approached us, filled with pulled pork, baby back ribs, brisket and surrounded by baskets of fries, mac & cheese and wedge salad, I was pretty chuffed! Food was good generally, perfectly cooked meat, could have done with a bit more sauce but i like to smother things generally so personal preference over anything. Best thing was there was loads of food. Admittedly it was at the higher end of what you expect to pay for diner food in London, but when you get so much food, its definitely worth forking out for! 
Wing's were a good solid buffalo wing- not worth writing home (or to the states) about, but enjoyable all the same. The guys at the table next to us were attempting the red hot wing challenge, which from what I gather is a portion of super hot wings in 15 or so minutes, and this dude looked like he was dying! So if your lucky theres a little bit of entertainment thrown in there as well! 

The highlight of Red Dogs? The Jug of beer. Not enough diners offer a jug of beer, American sports bar style, and it's amazing as well as always way better value for money, which in a city where a pint costs a fiver, is a much needed necessity. I was always partial to a pitcher of wetherspoons purple rain as a student, but now I'm not getting money from the government to live, I've realised that I was paying for a lot of ice, cheap booze and a bunch of e numbers and food colouring and that a jug of ice cold, no frills beer is a way better bulk buying drink choice. 

We actually went to Cargo for a drink after, and I took some of the leftovers in a brown bag and the doorman confiscated it and (probably) ate it, and he just looked like a man who knows his meats so I'd say that Red Dog Saloon has another new fan too!  


Wingin it wings rating: 7/10 
Who to go with: Anyone who's not a vegetarian/on a diet. 
Location: 37 Hoxton Sq, N1 6NN
Website: http://www.reddogsaloon.co.uk

Polly's under the wing : I'm allergic to the south of the river unless it's a saturday at Infernos, but Red Dog's have just opened a Clapham branch too! 
Jess's under the wing: Skip the sides and head straight for the meat - my philosophy for life