O’Grill, 149 Princes Highway, Footscray. Phone: 8307 0153

O’Grill is a new fast-food chicken place tucked into the service road just a block or so up from the Plough.

We like the idea of this sort of place in this sort of location – there’s pretty good parking capacity for one thing.

The menu is mostly chicken-based, well-priced and ostensibly of a Tex-Mex bent.

(See menu and prices below.)

The meal four of us have there is OK – but we for sure reckon some tweaking here and there could make it an outright winner.

 

 

By common acclaim, the hit of the night is this black bean salad.

Doesn’t look too tempting, hey?

But it is delicious!

Underneath the beans is a generous jumble of red onion, tomatoes and coriander, all of it liberally dressed with a really good green tomato salsa.

 

 

Chips?

OK but could definitely be crisper.

 

 

Corn?

OK but not much sight of the lime chilli dressing.

 

 

Chicken wings?

Not “buffalo wings” – and thanks to one of my buddies for deepening my understanding of exactly what that means (deep-fried for starters) – but quite nice anyway.

 

 

My two companions who go the burger route note a mismatch between the large buns and the less-so chicken.

Basically, too much bread!

My other companion goes, as I do, for a half chicken and like the burger eaters comments that the breast meat was a tad dry.

Yes, we know it’s hard getting that right.

And while me and my pals might prefer thigh meat in just about all applications, I’ve been told frequently by restaurant folks that there are a significant amount of customers for eating outlets of all kinds that demand breast meat … no matter what.

 

 

I have no such problem with my half chook though there is little by way of the spiciness or smoky chipotle vibe I have been expecting.

Perhaps most of all we’d recommend some greater delineation between the various chicken options and an understanding that the people who come here looking for a feed are almost certainly well used to food that is super-charged in the flavour department.

But we’d also recommend giving this place a go – there’s a heap of other stuff on the menu.

Try the black bean salad when you do.