Located at 79 Kensington Ave in Toronto

Yay!  I finally got to try The Dirty Bird Chicken + Waffles which is located downtown in Kensington Market!!  I’ve heard so much about this chicken and waffles joint but didn’t have a chance until now to go.  Priscilla and I actually planned to come here in September but because I got sick with a sore throat, we pushed it back to mid-October.  I was so excited for it!

It’s a fast food joint essentially; not many seats inside

The Dirty Bird Chicken + Waffles is a casual eatery.  It’s close to Seven Lives Taco, Moo Frites (need to go!), Rasta Pasta (also need to go!), and Millie Creperie.  There are so many amazing eats here in this downtown market!  The menu is simple to read on their black and white board and after you order, you wait to be called.  You can either sit down to eat at their first-come, first-serve tables or you can take it out to eat.  I love that their tables included built-in looks for you to hang your purse or coats — it’s something so simple but so necessary and crafty for us ladies!

Yay, Dirty Bird!

Priscilla and I got here around 6:30 p.m. and there weren’t a lot of people here at all on a Tuesday evening.  In fact, most of Kensington Market seemed to be closing or closed and rather quiet.  We decided on sharing The ODB and Dirty Fries.  We had both never been here before.

Everything that they serve

We waited around 5-10 minutes for the waffles to be freshly made and for the chicken to be freshly fried.  Yum!  Everything is self-serve, so you grab your own napkins, plastic cutlery, and wet naps at the station.

Everything is made fresh to order

Before long, we got our food!  Both dishes arrived on metal trays and we took pictures of the food.  Yay!

The ODB (I think stands for Original Dirty Bird) contained Boneless Thigh & Leg, Waffle, Buttered Maple, Dirty Sauce with Coleslaw or ‘Tato Salad (we chose the coleslaw).  It was a massive piece of boneless thigh and leg on a soft and wide waffle.  It’s interesting that the whole thing just sat on the piece of paper that was on the metal tray — no plate!  We cut it in half and enjoyed it with some maple syrup that was on the tables for our perusal.

THE ODB. $15
-Boneless Thigh & Leg, Waffle, Buttered Maple, Dirty Sauce with Coleslaw

Wow!  That deep fried chicken skin on the chicken was amazingly crispy and crunchy!  It was almost so crispy that it was like eating a potato chip.  Wow.  I was impressed.  It was covered with a bit of buttered maple and dirty sauce (a little spicy) and the inside meat of the thigh and leg was very moist and tender.  Yes!  Good fried chicken should be this way!  Although it was moist and tender, the meat wasn’t too seasoned with flavour.  I guess that’s a good thing so that it’s not too salty though.

I really liked the waffle.  It was soft and well made.  A little bit of maple syrup went a long way and it was delicious to alternate between bites of the fried chicken with the soft and sweet waffle.  The side of coleslaw was average tasting.

Dirty Fries. $7
-Hand Cut Fries, Dirty Seasoning, Cheddar, Dirty Aioli, French Fried Onions, Chives

The Dirty Fries were Hand Cut with Dirty Seasoning, Cheddar, Dirty Aioli, French Fried Onions, and Chives.  I actually didn’t expect it to be such a big portion or be in poutine style!  I thought it was going to be a bag of fries that you just ate with your hands one by one.  With this, you had to use a fork and eat it like a poutine. 😀  The dirty seasoning with cheddar was very apparent and it was interesting because it tasted a little sweet yet was very cheesy from the cheddar.  It was also a little spicy too.  What a unique combination of fries!

We were getting a little full from all the fried food because it was actually quite a lot!  I’m so glad that we decided to share The ODB because if we got our own, we wouldn’t have finished it all.

THE PB&G. $6
-Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich: Sweet Cream with Grape Jelly + Peanut Butter

To finish off, I wanted to try their ice cream waffle sandwich because I’ve heard about it from other food bloggers at a Zomato event.  We decided on the PB&G Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich.  It had Sweet Cream with Grape Jelly and Peanut Butter.

Again, we had to wait a bit, around 5 minutes, for it to be made fresh.  It arrived with two cute little round waffles with a mound of ice cream with grape jelly and peanut butter smothered on the waffles.

Those two little waffles are so cute!

At first, we used our spoons to scoop the ice cream to try.  It was pretty good and the grape jelly definitely made it very tasty.  Then, we cut the waffle ice cream sandwich in half and devoured the whole thing with our hands.  It was very messy!  The ice cream was quick to melt and you had to eat it fast.  I loved the waffle and how soft it was — just like the waffle in The ODB.  I’ve heard of other bloggers not liking the waffle from here, but I have to say that I really like it!

A great meal! 🙂 (Take omega-3 afterwards to help break down the fat!)

Alas, that was the end of our visit to The Dirty Bird.  I would love to come again and try more of their fried chicken and other Dirty Bird creations (chicken and waffle sandwiches)!  Mmm!  Chicken and waffles are delicious!  I really liked the chicken and waffle from Inspire, but this one at Dirty Bird was a lot more “rough” and “dirty”.