King and Co and Division 194 Review
New Orleans is one of my favourite places in the whole wide world. I love the people, the culture, the city, the food and the cocktails. So, with Division 194 taking over the King and Co’s kitchen during April and May, I was excited to visit. Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by staff and was introduced to Nick, the chef and creator behind Division 194. We spoke about how a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana (or NOLA) inspired him to quit his job and start up a street food business selling New Orleans snacks and Po’ Boy Sandwiches.
For starters, we were treated to Devilled Burford Brown Eggs with popped pig skin, Cauliflower cheese bombs with smoked chilli ketchup and Butter-milk fried chicken nuggets with aioli. With the starters being this good, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into the Po’ Boys. The Cauliflower cheese bombs were my favourite of three starters as they were just so full of gooey cheesy goodness. Plus the smoked chilli ketchup had such a nice little kick to it that it had me wanting more.
Next came the chicken wings which had been soaked in duck fat then fried until crispy tossed in pickled chilli butter and served with a blue cheese dip and celery. These were hands downs the best wings I’ve ever eaten outside the United States. If Division 194 did an all you can eat wings night… I’d be signing up straight away.
The Po’ Boys though was the real reason my friend and I visited tonight. The story goes that ‘in 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, the Martin brothers served their former colleagues these sandwhiches stuffed full of New Orleans seafood and meat. The Martins’ restaurant workers jokingly referred to the strikers as “poor boys”, and soon the sandwiches themselves took on the name’. While there’s some controversy about the true origin of the popular New Orleans’ sandwich, there is no denying that these Po’ Boys are going to be around for a long time.
We chose the NOLA-style shrimp Po’ Boy and the Buttermilk-Fried Chicken Po’ Boy. (Make sure you don’t forget to try the Skin on Fries with Creole Salt with your Po’ Boys, though you’ll really only need to order one. The portion size is quite large). My friend and I had differing opinions about which Po’ Boy was better. She liked the chicken while my tastes ran more towards the Nola-Shrimp. Despite our differing opinions, we can safely say they were both eaten with gusto and this will be a restaurant I’ll be returning to in the near future.
We finished off our meal with the delectable Dark chocolate mousse with salted peanut praline and crème fraiche. I haven’t had chocolate mousse this good since I moved to the UK, so it was a lovely treat.
It was great spending time sitting at King and Co while eating delicious food and drinking Jakes Kentish Cider and Tip-To Citra American Pale Ale. I’ll definitely be back so I can eat more of Division 194’s wings and a Nola-style shrimp Po’ Boys. The only thing missing was definitely a Hurricane, this classic New Orleans cocktail would have definitely gone down a treat with the Po’ Boys.
Division 194 will be serving daily until Sunday the 4th of June 2017. Make sure you come along and try their delicious brunch, Sunday roasts and New Orleans food. You’ll be in food heaven for sure.
Reporter: Tegan LeBon
Twitter and Instragram: Toogs1
THE KING & CO
100 Clapham Park Road, SW4 7BZ
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