An intense three-week taste-test reveals the best chicken wings in Sydney. Featuring Wingstop, McDonald’s and a Mount Druitt original.
Howard Chen
In May, American fast-food heavyweight Wingstop opened its first Australian location in Kings Cross. In June, McDonald’s made chicken wings a permanent menu item. These almost-simultaneous events prompted a big question in the Good Food office: who fries the best wings in Sydney?
It took three weeks of eating at restaurants, breweries and food trucks across Sydney to find out, putting my health on the line to create the ultimate top 20 power ranking.
Here’s how it worked: wings were freshly cooked, eaten immediately and scored on chicken flavour, size, tenderness, how crunchy the skin was and the spice blend.
I had to draw the line somewhere, so the wings had to be drums or flats (tips optional) and served without sauce (chicken should be the star). They could be fried naked (without batter) with a classic lemon pepper (or similar) dry rub, or breaded and fried with an original spice blend.
The 20 places below are ranked from worst to best, judged from a single visit to one location (noted below). All wings in the top 10 are worth trying. The bottom five may be irredeemable.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to eat steamed vegetables for a month.
20. Lemon pepper wings at Chuck Trailers, CBD
Sometimes, size does matter. These wings were the smallest of the lot, and were served with too much seasoning. Compensating much?
$17 for eight wings
36 York Street, Sydney, chucktrailers.com
19. Original wingettes at NeNe Chicken, CBD
I didn’t believe Korean fried chicken wings could taste this bland. Were they boiled in water? Where’s the seasoning?
$8.50 for six wings
8/505 George Street, Sydney, nenechicken.com.au
18. Lemon pepper wings at WingMill, Neutral Bay
You’d think a place with “wing” in its name would excel at making them, but the only thing WingMill excelled at was overcooking them.
$14 for six wings
9 Young Street, wingmill.com.au
17. Chicken salt wings at El Camino Cantina, The Rocks
Chicken salt was invented to season chicken, but maybe not this chicken. It made the wings salty and brackish, saved only by their reasonable size.
$18 for 10 wings
18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, elcaminocantina.com.au
16. Lemon pepper wings at Wingstop, Potts Point
The wings were properly cooked but swimming in about three times the amount of butter you’d expect from a lemon pepper rub, giving a whole new meaning to butter chicken.
$13.95 for six wings
1/111 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point, wingstop.au
15. Buttermilk wings at Red Rooster, Summer Hill
Now the Red Rooster line has been redrawn, can we also agree its fried chicken is never going to catch up to KFC?
$5.55 for three wings
25 Liverpool Road, Summer Hill, redrooster.com.au
14. Southern fried wings at Super Nash Brothers, Waterloo
The wings were cooked well, then doused in an aggressively salty spice blend. Maybe the house-made Nashville seasoning could have balanced it out, but rules are rules.
$7 for three wings
29 Amelia Street, Waterloo, supernashbrothers.com.au
13. Lime and chilli wings at Wings and Tins, Darlinghurst
These wings came so close to greatness, they pushed right past it. The chicken had crispy skin but tough, sinewy meat, and a delicious chicken flavour, but a way-too-intense spice blend.
$16 for eight wings
2 Chapel Street, Darlinghurst, wingsandtins.com
12. Original Southern-style fried wings at El Jannah, Earlwood
El Jannah might be known for its charcoal chicken, but the Granville-born chain makes decent fried wings, too. They’re well-sized, with an earthier spice blend, but remain more of a box-tick than a must-try.
$8.50 for four wings
283 Homer Street, Earlwood, eljannah.com.au
11. Hot N Crispy wings at Get Fried, Belmore
These are the biggest wings on the list, but they came haphazardly breaded and minimally seasoned, with just a touch of heat. At least they’re open late.
104 Kingsgrove Road, Belmore, getfried.com.au
10. Salt and vinegar wings at Winghaus, Barangaroo
These wings had all the hallmarks of greatness: good size, flavour and crispness. It was the salt and vinegar that let it down, giving the wings a sharp acidity that made my tongue cry for help after eating four.
$17 for 10 wings
Scotch Row, Hickson Road, Barangaroo, winghaus.com.au
9. Chicken McWings at McDonald’s, Haberfield
Extra-thick breading means Macca’s serves some notably big pieces of juicy fried chook. Ronald could stand to add a little oomph to the seasoning, though.
$7.95 for three wings
141 Parramatta Road, Haberfield, mcdonalds.com.au
8. Lime and pepper wings at My Mother’s Cousin, Bexley North
Tender wings with audible crunch. My Mother’s Cousin serves some standout chicken, only let down by slightly uneven breading and a slightly too-salty spice blend.
$13 for six wings
9 Shaw Street, Bexley North, mymotherscousin.com.au
7. Lemon pepper hot wings at The Boiling Crab, Haymarket
These wings are the epitome of ugly delicious: sure, they look burnt, but the skin has a satisfying snap to it, and the lemon pepper seasoning might be the best I’ve tried.
$16 for six wings
68 Harbour Street, Haymarket, theboilingcrab.com.au
6. Alabama dry rub wings at Philter Brewing, Marrickville
Alabama dry rub gives these wings a sweet, tangy flavour you don’t often come across in Sydney. It was delicious but overpowering, diminishing the chicken flavour. Otherwise, it was high marks across the board for this Marrickville brewery.
$16 for 500g of wings
92-98 Sydenham Road, Marrickville, philterbrewing.com
5. Lemon pepper dry rub wings at Wingboy, Haymarket
This is the most enjoyable place in Sydney to eat a meal consisting entirely of chicken wings. I had no complaints about the experience until the QR code point-of-sale system asked me to leave a tip.
$18 for 10 wings
7 Steam Mill Lane, Haymarket, wingboy.com.au
4. Lemon pepper wings at Surly’s American Tavern, Surry Hills
Juicy, tender, crispy skin. These were the best-cooked wings I tried. A stronger kick of zest or pepper in the rub and we could have had a winner.
$18 for eight wings
182 Campbell Street, Surry Hills, surlys.com.au
3. Wicked Wings at KFC, Earlwood
The OG is at the top of its game at Earlwood, especially when you score the wings straight out of the fryer. The Colonel’s spice blend remains a favourite for its subtle kick.
$10.45 for six wings
27 William Street, Earlwood, kfc.com.au
2. Original wings at Fried Brothers, Mount Druitt
Is this Sydney’s hottest chicken, as the Fried Brothers claim? Well, the wings are big, juicy and coated in a seasoning so good it could rival KFC’s secretive 11 herbs and spices. This is a food truck worth travelling for.
$5 for three wings
7 Luxford Road, Mount Druitt, friedbrothers.com.au
1. Original wings at Krazy Bird, World Square
Korean-born chef Jack Choi wants to take his double-fried Korean fried chicken from his original Campbelltown store to a nationwide franchise, and with chicken this good, it might just happen. The wings at his World Square and Surry Hills stores were the only ones I ate (with bonus gloves!), where the flavour of both the brine and seasoning shone through. From the tender meat to the crispy skin, these wings were incredible.
$9.90 for six wings
World Square, 644 George Street, Sydney, krazybird.com.au
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