Trinidad's Best Friken Fried Chicken

Trinidad’s Best Friken Fried Chicken

In Trinidad, good fried chicken isn’t hard to find, but the best has always up for debate—until now. Forget everything you know about your favourite box of dead or bucket of bird. Crispy, fried chicken has never, ever tasted so delicious. From today, we declare the king of the coop Pappy’s, Home of “Brian’s Fricken Chicken”.

A small family began perfecting this spicy, fried chicken recipe over a decade ago. Now, it’s a viral sensation. It’s unlike anything our nation has ever been served. It’s no battered, assembly-line chicken. It has love and plenty, plenty heat in it.

No lie. Here’s how it’s made: An absurd amount of spicy peppers and garlic are fried until they’re almost nonexistent. That’s then used to fry the chicken, lending the oil lip-smacking, finger-licking flavour that’s carried straight down to the bone. I bet you’re imagining mouth-tingling, nose-watering and ears-burning heat, but it’s controlled—even for those who can’t handle any pepper at all. The red, yellow and green bulbs offer more flavour than spice.

It all started 25 years ago on a Monday morning during a boys’ lime in the hills of Aripo. There were several pots bubbling: one with pelau and a few others with curried meats. A single pot in particular caught Brian Patience’s attention, though. He stuck around, studying a technique that was completely foreign to him and thought, “Hm, I could do something with that.”

The six-inch cast iron pot that he observed could only handle one piece of chicken at a time. Patience, a natural entertainer, tweaked what was left in his memory and multiplied it to feed a crowd more efficiently. He took this adapted recipe, which his wife Maggie dubbed “Brian’s Fricken Chicken” (the PG version, obviously), to cook ups at the Yacht Club, Penal, Maracas, Tobago, Toco—everywhere. Soon enough, people were begging him and his wife Maggie to cater for weddings, birthday parties and even Carnival fetes. That’s where Patience’s step-son Shahinder Singh got involved; “Pappy” taught him how to fry pure magic around the age of 17. After preparing a pot for his friends Down the Islands, they too were hooked and demanded that he fry chicken at every get-together if his father couldn’t. Demand was high, but Brian’s Fricken’ Chicken took a while to find a home.

Now, Pappy’s has settled in the most unexpected place: At Cousins’ Services, jammed in the quietest corner of the auto yard. You better not blink or sneeze when driving there—this spot is almost too easy to miss at the very start of Mourne Cocoa Road in Petit Valley. Inside is nothing fancy, really. The cashier for Cousins’ is conveniently located to the right as soon as you enter the restaurant. Owning majority of that space, though, is the kitchen and eating area. (Ha! It’s a trap. Here, you can quite literally kill two birds with one stone: Sit comfortably in Pappy’s air conditioned dining room while waiting for your car to be serviced. Win-win.) There’s a blackboard with prices listed in colourful penmanship and a fluorescent light reaching from the floor to the ceiling with imagery of peppers, garlic and chicken, of course. There are only seats for about 16, or so, but spots clear up quickly.

My work buddy Marc and I went in for the kill after seeing a million and one posts about Pappy’s on our social media feeds. The reviews went like this: “Yum!”, “Woahhh!”, “It was sooooooooo goooooooood”, “I keep fantasising about that chicken” and “that’s the best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life”. Obviously, that last comment had us shook, as we both have our own tried-and-true, beloved fried chicken establishments. We had no choice but to put this to the test.

We ordered one quarter chicken, leg and thigh, with spicy fries and one quarter chicken, breast and wing, with spicy fries, each ringing in at $35. Their introductory prices are a steal of a deal and they also offer whole chickens. So, if you’re feeling lazy after a long workday, you can take a huge order back home to share with your family for dinner. (We won’t judge you if you eat it all yourself, though.)

“One bite was enough to seal my love for Pappy’s. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and so incredibly moist.”

Brian, Maggie and Shahinder run the entire operation alone, taking orders, preparing the food and serving customers. Surprisingly, we only waited for 15 minutes before collecting our food at the counter. And we weren’t mad about it because all orders are fried a-la-minute and served hot and fresh, so be careful not to burn your fingers while tearing the chicken apart!

I was morbidly upset when Marc bit into the leg and thigh combo, leaving the breast and wing for me. Usually, I avoid breast like the plague because they’re dry and chalky. Boy was I proven wrong. One bite was enough to seal my love for Pappy’s. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and so incredibly moist (sorry not sorry to those who hate this word). People waiting in line eyed us enviously—and I couldn’t blame them.

The skin is so crispy, you could swear that the chicken was battered. You think that there’s no other way to achieve perfect crunch, right? Well, no. Wrong. There is absolutely no flour involved here, so those with gluten allergies can indulge, too. Maggie lives with celiac disease and cannot eat fried chicken from many restaurants, so she takes pride in the fact that Pappy’s fried chicken is gluten-free. Without flour, the flavourful pepper-and-garlic oil seals in the chicken’s moisture and creates a perfectly crispy skin.

The fries completely floored us. Thinly cut and properly seasoned potatoes tossed in a homemade mix of salt, garlic, paprika, parsley and more will make your tastebuds cry. We loved them so much we ordered more.

“Simply said, this chicken changes lives.

And we also loved that Pappy’s is environmentally conscious. Here, nothing goes to waste. The same peppers and garlic that were used to seasoned the oil are mashed into an unbelievably tasty pepper sauce. The punch is so incredibly bittersweet, you’d beg the Singh family to bottle and sell it. And all meals are served in compostable and biodegradable packaging from Hello Green to reduce the one-time use of plastic products. They even encourage customers to bring their own containers. (Yay!)

In the short time that Pappy’s has opened, Brian, Maggie and Shahinder have seen it all: A two-year-old “buss up” two boxes of spicy fries. A man ate lunch and came right back for dinner that same day. And most shockingly, a vegan “fly through” two boxes of chicken! (We didn’t believe it either until we actually heard it from the man himself when he came back for more.)

Simply said, this chicken changes lives.


Pappy’s, Home of Brian’s Fricken Chicken

1 Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley
(868) 239-3183

[email protected]
facebook.com/pappysbfc
@pappysbfc_

Opening Hours: 
Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 7 pm 
Sunday & Monday, Closed

How to Get There: