Post by Chiefeater Jon Besar

As a connoisseur of fried chicken, I was excited at trying out Soul Byrd. Originally in Section 17, PJ, they are now based at APW in Bangsar. As such their menu has also been updated to include a range of Mexican selection - tacos, etc.

The chief fryer, Tim Jay hails from the USA and brought with him a unique take on the Nashville fried chicken.

Although I love fried chicken, I’m always careful when it comes to super hot and spicy chickens. I much prefer the wholesome flavourful fried chickens.

There used to be 5 levels of heat but now they offer it in 3 levels - Mild, Soul Byrd Hot and Nashville, in the order of spiciness. We had the chicken thighs in mild and Nashville heat levels and an order of chicken tenders in Soul Bird Hot.

The Food

The tenders came out first, unfortunately, it lacks both taste and spiciness. We mentioned to Vicki, the manager there, and she offer us a range of all of their spicy sauces to bring the heat up.

The second order arrived and it was the Nashville level thighs. Vicki also brought out their extra spicy sauce Whistlin Woman - habanero based. This I must say did have a kick to it.

The last order to come out at Soul Byrd was the mild chicken thighs. As a seasoned connoisseur, I was careful not to over do the earlier two spicy chicken in an effort to maintain the ability to taste on my tongue. This order did not disappoint. It was juicy and full of flavour and in fact the best out of the lot - where taste was concerned, even better than some of the top notch fried chicken in town. As I also like a bit of heat, I paired this delicious chicken with their sweet tangy Red Hot Mamma.

Be Prepared

Only shortfall is the seating is limited to perhaps 30 to 40 pax. Be prepared to wait if there is lots of people. When we were there, we noticed only 1 wait staff. This means turnaround time for tables to be cleaned and orders to be taken is a bit slow. Perhaps it was one of those days where they didn’t have enough staff for some reason. I like to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Soul Byrd has premium pricing as an order will set you back around MYR27 for a couple of chickens thighs or three chicken tenders with a side of sauce of your choice and sweet potato mash.