With the new year upon us, we are seeing some new players on the restaurant scene here in London. Late 2010 saw the opening of London's first Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, which is KFC's only real rival in the fried chicken business in Canada. Just this past week, Jess and I went to sample some of the items they offer, but first, a little bit about the company in general.

Popeyes was founded in 1972 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They've been in Toronto since 1984. The founder of Popeyes wanted to offer a different kind of fried chicken, so he developed a fried chicken recipe with a Cajun twist.

The first thing we noticed about the restaurant is that no matter what you order, you will have to wait at least 10 to 15 minutes for it to be prepared. This can be a bit of an annoyance to anyone expecting fast food in its most traditional sense. If you wanted to go to a restaurant where you had to sit down, read over a menu, order and wait, I'm sure you would've done just that. I don't know about you, but when I do end up going to a fried chicken joint, I don't expect a long wait. This is likely due to the newness of both the restaurant and the employees and I imagine it will get better over the coming months.

So now that you've ordered and you're waiting, you can take a second to appreciate the atmosphere of the place. Bright colours keep the mood cheery for the most part, but the new-to-the-job employees take a little patience as disorganization is apparent behind the counter — something I'm sure time and practice will help.

Finally the time has arrived and you have your food! Let's eat! When I went I got the four-piece dinner, which included four pieces of chicken (your choice of mild or spicy), a biscuit and a small coleslaw. If you want a drink with your meal, you have to order the "four piece combo."

I went for the coleslaw first and was happy with the taste, although when they say small coleslaw, they mean small: two-ish forkfuls and you're done. The coleslaw has a rich and creamy flavour, so I'm sure they won't have a shortage of people asking for seconds. The biscuit was actually really good. It's flaky and flavourful and it tastes as if it's pre-buttered, which is never a bad thing. The only complaint I have is that it has a bit too much of a salty aftertaste.

And so we arrive at the main spotlight of our adventure, the chicken itself. We opted for the mild chicken as it was our first time there and we didn't know what to expect. The skin is crispy and the flavour is very different from KFC. Even though we got the mild, it still had a bit of a kick to it due to that Louisiana spice. One other thing I should mention is that Popeye's chicken is halal which makes it available for a wider range of cultures. KFC has no such menu option or alternative.

All in all, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen is a welcome addition to London's food scene as it offers something that KFC doesn't. Its locatation on Wellington Road South (across from the Radisson hotel), means it isn't as accessible to many Fanshawe students, unless you're willing to take the bus trip down. Even if you only go once, we still recommend giving it a try if you've never had it. It may just grow on you.

Rating:
Quality: 4.5/5
Staff: 3/5
Affordability: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Total: 14.5/20

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