After a summer themed bloggers event with Jet2 just a lazy meander away from the abundance of culinary offerings of the Northern Quarter, Terri Lowe and I found ourselves in the midst of a mid afternoon food rush and were met by 40 long minutes of waiting at the bar before we could treat our growling and carby hungry bellies with food. Being unable to wait that amount of time (I’d had no breakfast and had downed two cocktails at the event, hiccup) we happened upon what Terri described as being heralded as a “posh KFC with alcohol“.

Advertising “chicken and booze” on their outside A board was more than enough to tempt us in from the cold and drizzly weather of a Saturday afternoon in Manchester. After all, what’s more comforting and food for the soul than the buttermilk fried chicken and a hefty serving of fries from Yard & Coop? Not a lot, I can tell you that.

With its bright industrial interiors, mix of bright wall decals, fairy lights and Cath Kidston pillows, Yard & Coop was the perfect place to refuel and get ourselves out of the wind.

Yard & Coop makes no secret of their love of chicken, especially seeing as appx 90% of the menu features some kind of chicken goodness – don’t worry veggies, they’ve got your back as well! Their signature dish, probably owing to its cheap as chips (and chicken) price tag, is the super size plate of chicken be it breast, boneless thigh or not chicken nuggets (crumb-coated halloumi) served with fries on the side or if you’re not feeling up to such a friend challenge, the Coop salad. Coming in at only £9 with a choice of sweet dipping sauces such as Bourbon BBQ, Jerkalicious and Bee’s Knees for your dunking pleasure.

I chose to order the boneless thigh plate and upgraded regular fries to the sweet potato variety and chose a blue cheese sauce for a saucy time! The boneless chicken breasts came fried in the deliciously crisp buttermilk coating *insert Homer Simpson esque drool noise here* and you get two fair size portions and a plethora of potatoes! We also ordered the mac and cheese bites as a side, because of course, we didn’t quite have enough deep fried food to go at. The bites were little mouth full size balls of mac and cheese coated in breadcrumbs – usually I’d complain about cheese balls, but these I can get on board with!

If you’re after a little more variety or want to devour a dish of finger lickin good wings, you can pick up one of the plates off the light bites menu or even try one of the wraps or burgers on offer. Yakety Wrap, which boasts buttermilk fried chicken breat, lettuce, avocado, streaky bacon, tomato and spicy relish looks especially good and the cheeky sounding chicken burgers such as Massive Cock Burger (I kid you not) and Parma Bird also sound right up my street.

After eating till the point of combustion, I washed the whole thing down with a Quite Russian, a non alcholic version alternative to the popular cocktail and oh, my, life – it was better than both the chicken and chips combined if that’s possible. Made from filter coffee, sugar, milk and ice cream it’s most definitely something I’ll be trying to recreate at Chez Charl.

As a massive fan of all things chicken, I’ve already promised to take Dan the next time we’re in Manchester and take them up on their chicken and beer mantra, after all – I was being a responsible back seat driver and going soft core in my drink selection. Until next time.