How To Eat Fried Chicken ...

… according to the ‘Chuck Norris’ of fried chook, JOHN KUNKEL, behind Miami restaurant Yardbird and The Bird in Singapore.

- Yip Jieying

The world’s most famous poster boy of fried chicken is Colonel Harland Sanders, the snowyhaired food tycoon who introduced Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to the world in the ’50s. American restaurateur John Kunkel (right), 46, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia, has also built a Southern chicken empire. Albeit a smaller, more artisanal one. John founded 50 Eggs Inc, the parent company behind awardwinning Miami restaurant, Yardbird Southern Table & Bar. It has three outlets worldwide, and an upcoming one in Los Angeles. We caught up with the bouffant-haired bossman — who bears more than a passing resemblance to ’80s American martial arts star Chuck Norris — when he was in town last week for the opening of his Singapore outlet in Marina Bay Sands.

Fun fact: Yardbird restaurant is named after the Southern slang for a cooked chook. Its Singapore branch has a new moniker: The Bird. John shares, “Unfortunately, [Hongkong yakitori joint] Yardbird John’s restaurants for his famous Lewellyn's Fine Fried Chicken, cooked using a 100-year-old recipe handed down by his late grandmother Lewellyn (say ‘lou-ellin’).

8 DAYS: How did Lewellyn's Fine Fried Chicken come about?