CoqBull Soho – a chicken and burger concept with a mouth-watering menu

Discovering CoqBull Soho

There’s nothing ‘cock and bull’ about this cute little restaurant, if you take it from the English meaning of this phrase. In fact, far from it. Everyone has been waiting for a new lunchtime or ‘after work’ venue that’s fun, welcoming and above all – the food is simple but great. Looking at it logically, the ‘coq’ refers to the mouthwatering chicken dishes that are served, as well as the succulent burgers (as in ‘bull’).

Situated in the heart of Soho, CoqBull is finally open after a delayed start, and it is already proving a very popular venue. There’s nothing glitzy about this restaurant, maybe apart from the house cocktails on offer. The food is full of flavour, the staff excellent, so what more could you want. It’s a reasonably small menu, but it’s done so, so well.

Visiting with my partner, we sat out on the terrace enjoying a drink and browsing the menu. CoqBull was a brainwave of an Irish entrepreneur, and started some 14 years ago. It only moved to the UK fairly recently with a pop-up, before opening their flagship in Denman Street, W1.

Starters and Mains That Impress

We opted for starters of Popcorn Chicken with Habanero Mayo (chicken was succulent and juicy) and Halloumi Fritters with chilli flakes, crème fraîche and lovely crunchy, sweet pomegranate seeds. You can opt for single dishes, or share a whole corn-fed chicken as a starter or main course, which has been soaked in a tea brine, steamed then fire-roasted with a coating of the famous ‘coq rub’. This tongue-in-cheek style towards names was beginning to make us smile a little too much. A couple at another table had opted for the whole chicken and it was so juicy that you could see them perpetually wiping their mouths of dribble!

We chose the ‘Bacon Bull’, a double beef patty served burger style with lettuce, sweet red onion, tomato and chips, lovely crispy bacon, special ‘coq sauce’, pickle and American cheese, so filling but a lipsmacking delight. If you don’t want the bun, they will wrap everything in lettuce leaves, better for those on a diet or who have an allergy.

Of course, we had the amusing sounding ‘Smoking Coq Burger’ as our other choice, equally as juicy and tasty but with marinated chicken, smoked Applewood cheddar, perfectly crispy bacon, smoked barbecue mayo and my favourite tobacco onions. If you have never had those before, do try them, they just add something special to a burger.

Decadent Desserts

Puddings were just as good, again a small choice, but frankly, the first two courses filled us up nicely – still, we had to try them! We had the ‘Warm Cookie Pan’, served with ice cream and toffee sauce, but there were also some tasty-looking waffles or ‘Coq Whips’ which all seemed to be a mélange of ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate or an Eton Mess style with raspberries, meringue and yes, vanilla ice cream.