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Morgan McGlone: best places to eat fried chicken in the USA

Lee Tran Lam
Lee Tran Lam

Martha Lou's Kitchen

Martha Lou is 84 and is still cooking amazing chicken. Eat the dark meat here. It takes a little longer than other dishes (approximately 25 minutes), but you will not be disappointed. Your order comes with two sides and they only ever be lima beans and the amazing mac and cheese. The sweet tea is sweeter than most, but it's worth every cavity.

1068 Morrison Drive, Charleston, South Carolina, +1 (843) 577 9583, marthalouskitchen.com

Gus's Fried Chicken is worth the pilgrimage.
Gus's Fried Chicken is worth the pilgrimage.Supplied
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Gus's Fried Chicken

In my humble opinion, Gus's is my favourite fried chicken in America – but only at the original store in Memphis. It's the one on S Front Street. Get the dark meat and all the fixings as well as sweet tea. Gus's fried chicken is so special because of the actual recipe. These days, chain fried chicken spots tend to cut corners; Gus's hasn't ever changed their recipe ever. It's seasoned right, clean, and the sides offering is amazing – especially the collard greens.

310 S Front Street, Memphis, Tennessee, +1 (901) 527-4877, gusfriedchicken.com

Mad for Chicken

For Korean fried chicken which takes 45 minutes, but it is amazingly crispy. I prefer the hot and spicy one as opposed to the sweet one. Drink only with Korean beer.

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Hattie B's has fantastic fried chicken.
Hattie B's has fantastic fried chicken.Joseph Woodley

Hattie B's

This place is one of the reasons why I started Belles. I would order this chicken and buy a bottle of natural booze and sit on my buddy's porch and say this would go great in Australia. That was in 2013 and now we have four Belles stores and we're continuing to growing the brand. The chicken style is Nashville hot chicken and it's delicious. They serve theirs with craft beer, we serve ours with natural wine.

112 19th Avenue S, Nashville, Tennessee, +1 (615) 678 4794, hattieb.com

Husk

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I remember the first time I ate Sean Brock's five fat fried chicken was July 30, 2011 and it was cooked personally by the chef. It was the last day of my stage at Husk and he said that he wanted to cook me his five fat chicken. It takes two days to make. There's one whole chicken that's been sweet-tea-brined and then marinated in buttermilk. It's floured and then cooked in chicken fat, butter, beef tallow, bacon and ham fat. The seasoning is also so important. It's eaten with hot sauce and honey.

37 Rutledge Street, Nashville, Tennessee, +1 615 256-6565, husknashville.com

Morgan McGlone runs Belles Hot Chicken, which has various outlets in Sydney and Melbourne. The new permanent Sydney eatery at Barangaroo will open on Friday September 23 at Shop 5, Alexander, Wulugul Walk, Barangaroo, belleshotchicken.com.

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