Why I really love ordering 'chicken to share'
When he's eating out Andrew Webb's eyes light up when he sees the phrase `for two people' on a menu. He explains why a main to share is something to savour.
To break bread or chew the same piece of meat was one of the human race's most primitive acts of companionship. But fast forward to the present and, though we still eat out communally, what’s eaten has often become separate choices on separate plates. Some venues, however, have embraced family-style serving, sending out a large dish and letting the entire table tuck in. And the greatest family-pleasing sharer is a roast chicken.
At the bottom end of the market Nando’s offers a whole (not free range) chicken for £12.50, while places like Clockjack in London offer a free range one for £18.95. The Flat Chicken in Stratford-Upon-Avon offer the same for £17.95. (None of these include side dishes.) Plenty of pubs have cottoned on to this trend and offer a whole chicken, with all the trimmings included in the price, as a Sunday lunch special. The Stag in North London offers a free range chicken for £30, while The Aston in Newport’s is £24.95.
The lunch that keeps on giving
At The Horseshoe in Hampstead last weekend my family and I set about our chuck for two. Despite my daughter tackling both drumsticks at the same time, we still had a breast and thigh left over. It was a case of ‘can the kitchen wrap this up for me?’ and the meat went into soup the next day while the bones made stock in the slow cooker. (I’m a big fan of doggy bags, an issue we’ve looked at before on lovefood)
I really like this style of eating: it’s relaxed, fun, and you get to take home the bits that the kitchen would normally throw away or use themselves. Yes you’ve outsourced the cooking of the Sunday roast, but that’s part of the charm, and there’s no washing up. Because let’s face it, some weekends you just can’t be bothered.
Not just chicken
Jonathan Jones, Robert Shaw, Harry Lester and Mike Belben, the ‘dream team’ behind London's Anchor & Hope and 32 Great Queen Street, regularly put ‘for two’ and ‘for three’ on the menu of both establishments. I once had a slow braised leg of lamb with chick peas and preserved lemon. It came to the table bubbling a le Creuset dish and we were given a carving knife and serving spoon and left to get on with it. Hawksmoor also do larger cuts of meat for people to share. And when it comes to meat, the larger cuts are often the most interesting. One of my best meals of 2012 was whole Dorset cock crab and chips to share, again at The Horseshoe.
Getting it right
Bigger things need longer cooking times, meaning dishes can’t be cooked to order. The kitchen must take a gamble every night that someone will order their special creations, and most nights they do. To do that relies of front of house staff up-selling the exclusivity of such dishes by spotting a group of people who look like they’re in for a good time.
Have you ever ordered a menu item to share? Did you enjoy it? Or does the thought of other people sharing your food turn you off? Let us know in the Comments box below.
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