Mad Egg delivers chicken that’s not crazy
Every few years a new food trend emerges or in some cases remerges. Mexican restaurants, pizzerias, hamburger joints and Donut shops are just some examples of this. Darwinian law then comes into play and survival of the fittest takes over. Resulting in some restaurants in particular food trends closing.
At times it was easy to spot the restaurants that would close. One of the main reasons was the restaurant owner having no experience in working in a restaurant environment. Another reason was not getting enough footfall to cover your rent. Once one restaurant opens up others follow suit. One of the success stories is Bunsen who I reviewed back in 2020. They opened in 2013 in Wexford St and now have nine restaurants on the island of Ireland.
Some of these restaurants have a simple menu such as the Bunsen one which you can see below.
A few weeks ago, I noticed an example of this. A restaurant that sold burgers, kebabs, and Indian curries. To me this is confusing, does the restaurant know what they are good at? They are hedging their bets. Because if one type of food is not a big seller, it will be quickly dropped. I don’t understand why restaurants do this.
This week’s restaurant is?
So, you might be wondering what food trends has to do with this week’s restaurant. Well, quite a lot. One of the current trends is chicken restaurants, and they can offer chicken wings, chicken tenders, chicken burgers or fried chicken. The latest variation on the chicken trend is to offer chicken Korean style. But this week I am reviewing a restaurant chicken restaurant that has a lot in common with Bunsen. Both have a small venue that allows them to do what they do best, and both started with one restaurant.
I am of course talking about Mad Egg. The fried chicken restaurant that offers chicken in two ways, tenders and seven different chicken burgers. Staring in 2018, in Charlottes Way, Mad Egg now has three other restaurants in Dublin. So, don’t be surprised if you soon see Mad Egg in other parts of the country.
One thing that really annoys me about restaurants is when they claim their beef is Irish but don’t mention their chicken. That ensures, there is no chance of me buying any of their chicken dishes. Mag Egg are proud of their chicken, stating “we only use free-range birds hatched locally in a family-run farm”. The chicken is brined in breakfast tea for 48 hours to make them super tender and juicy. Before getting double dipped in spiked buttermilk and coated with their in-house season mix. Lastly, they are fried in rapeseed oil.
As for their excellent buns, supplied by the artisan bakers Coughlan’s. Mad Egg state “We use a soffft AF Amish roll”. This is the perfect bun for Mad Egg’s chicken. The fluffy texture perfectly matches with their crunchy chicken, and it easily melts in your mouth.
So what did I order?
It was a toss-up between two burgers, the Heartbreaker or the Hot Chick. The Heartbreaker consists of hot sauce, pickle and dripping cheese. The Hot chick consists of hot dust, house hot sauce, pickles and chipotle slaw. Another burger, the Honey Baby intrigued me. Mainly because one of the main ingredients is candied streaky bacon, something I have never heard of before. It sounds like it could taste like the maple syrup you get on bacon and pancakes. Nice and oh so sweet.
I also ordered a side of fries to go with my Heartbreaker. The other sides you can choose from are regular or sweet potato fries, salted or chicken salted. Crack Fries, regular or sweet potato with dripping cheeze and candied bacon or Mac Bombs are your other choices. Mac Bombs are Smoked Applewood Mac, wrapped in panko and fried, that come with a dip of your choice.
The best thing about ordering your burger online with Mad Egg is that fussy eaters are catered for. When you place your order you can decide what toppings and sauces you keep or remove, just like Bunsen does. As I am not a fan of pickles it was easy to order my Heartbreaker without them. So once I found which delivery app Mad Egg was on (Deliveroo), I placed my order.
So how was my Meal?
The meal arrived well packaged which ensured it was nice and warm.
Thankfully the hot sauce was on the bottom bun and the dripping cheese covered the top of the burger. As there was not too much of the sauces on the burger, no leakage occurred. When this happens it can ruin your meal. Jalapeño’s is the hot sauces main ingredient. I could smell it as soon I opened the delivery bag. It had me thinking what would it taste like especially with dripping cheese.
Thankfully the hot sauce was on the bottom bun and the dripping cheese covered the top of the burger. Been a lover of spicy food, the kick from the hot sauce was impressive. It lingered on my tongue after I finished the burger but it wasn’t a real burning sensation. The cheese sauce was nice and cheesy and contrasted perfectly with the hot sauce. As for the chicken burger, it tasted oh so moist on the inside and had the perfect amount of crunch on the outside.
The fries were lovely and hot, and as you can see below they were crunchy and not greasy.
So what did my meal cost?
The Heartbreaker cost €10.50 and my regular fries cost €4.25. With a service fee of €0.85, and a delivery fee of €2.00. The bill came to €17.60 before my Rider Tip.
Mad Egg is open between 12–9pm, Monday to Wednesday, 12-9:30pm on Thursday, 12-10pm on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday 12-9pm. They also do sit in and collection or delivery takeaway from all of their restaurants. I definitely look forward to ordering from Mad Egg again. The candied bacon has me intrigued whether as a burger topping or with Crack Fries.
Mad Egg, 6 Jervis house, Millennium Walk, Dublin 1
See more reviews here.