“You had me at FRIED CHICKEN.” -me

I can’t resist Southern food, I can’t resist fried chicken, and I can’t resist waffles. So when all three are presented together at The Bird Southern Table & Bar, well, it’s on like Donkey Kong!

 

The Bird Southern Table & Bar is located within The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, and is clearly aimed toward clientele after a ‘nice dining’ experience. It may feature fried chicken as it’s main item, but a casual KFC it is not.

The first thing that Chris exclaimed when he looked at the menu was, “Whoa this place is expensive!” even though I’d warned him before we even entered. He’s not wrong. It IS expensive considering it’s fried chicken, but the location is tres chic and the service is impeccable.. plus they pride themselves with using ‘farm fresh ingredients’.

And well, hello classy ambiance!

 

The various menus and options had me flipping through them for a good few minutes. It seemed that the Prix Fixe Lunch aka Executive Set Lunch (served Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm), priced at $40 for 3-courses, was the best option at the best price point.

 

You’ll read loads of raves about their Fried Green Tomato & Crispy Pork Belly with pimento cheese, smoky tomato jam, frisée, lemon vinaigrette. It’s definitely unique, that’s for sure. The fried green tomato was crisp yet juicy, and the layers of ingredients complemented each other so well. It was a pretty good looking canape-sized bite, and one of their signature dishes.

I really enjoyed the Deviled Eggs with dill, chive, smoked trout roe. Partly because it looked so darn cute! How tall does it look? Hee hee. I told Carter that this was an egg (his favourite food), and he eyed it very dubiously and didn’t believe me! It was creamy, smooth, and savory but not too salty.

 

I am an absolute sucker for cornbread, so insisted we ordered the Skillet Cornbread with sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, jalapeño, honey butter ($10). I thought it could’ve been executed a little better. It was a little too dry and bland for my liking, and needed twice the amount of butter to make it more moist/flavourful.

 

Called The Blue Plate Special, I’m sure there must have been some meaning behind this, as the plate certainly wasn’t blue 😉 This was the set lunch’s main course, featuring two pieces of Lewellyn’s fried chicken, chilled spiced watermelon, and a housemade buttermilk biscuit.

Of course, The Bird is a FRIED CHICKEN place, so let’s discuss their fried chicken!!

It is definitely good. The meat is tender, incredibly juicy, and served piping hot. The batter is thin and crisp, and spiced perfectly as it wasn’t too salty. The chicken is served with a small bottle of their secret sauce, which is FANTASTIC!

Their watermelon is spiced with mint, lemon, and lime.. and another item on the menu that receives rave reviews. Chris really enjoyed it but it didn’t amaze me. That said, I’m not a huge watermelon fan 🙂

But the buttermilk biscuit…. OH MY!!! Perfection. Next time I’d get a separate serve of this. It’s warm and moist, and utter comfort food.

 

Hunter loved this, asking me what it was called and carefully repeating “buttermilk biscuit” after me so he’d remember 😉 They gave us a small pot of whipped butter, which really elevated the biscuit’s flavour, as the chilled fluffy creamy butter was so well matched with the warm savory biscuit.

 

The Chicken and Biscuit Kids Meal came adorably like a mini chicken burger, with the savory biscuit sliced into two and a small piece of fried chicken sandwiched in between. Hunter preferred to have it deconstructed and eaten separately, polishing it all off with gusto.

 

The Drumstick Kids Meal was, literally, a chicken drumstick and coleslaw (we swapped it from fries). Enough for a toddler, but Carter (5 years old) could easily have eaten two or three of these drumsticks. Something to keep in mind!

 

A smooth, creamy and flavourful cafe latte. They surprisingly do a really good coffee here!

 

The kids meal came with a scoop of ice cream, which was a hit with the kids.

 

I absolutely adored their Banana Pudding ($14), which was a luscious blend of chilled sweet sliced bananas, encased in smooth chantilly cream and spiked with rum and banana cake. Bonus points for the adorable chicken-shaped vanilla wafer biscuit on top, which delighted the kids!

 

We had a lovely meal at The Bird, and were delighted with the attentive service. We’ll be back next time the fried chicken craving hits!