A LITTLE birdie told us there's a new tuck shop on the block.
It has all the hallmarks of a traditional chicken joint, free-range rotisserie birds served in burgers and rolls, hot sides and salads sans the tired plastic strip curtain and rickety round steel table.
Birdie is the boys behind the Bennett Hotel's latest venture at The Junction, and while it might not look like your average takeaway shop - they won't compromise on flavour.
"We're all very passionate about good, clean, healthy food," co-owner Tom Glenwright said.
"There are plenty of takeaway options but there's a gap in the market for cleaner, healthier options for families, mums and dads, tradies and workers."
The shop is proof birds of a feather flock together, co-owned by Dan Turner - who's married to Tom's cousin, his brother Joel and business partner Simon Finlay.
All of them started at The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay, Joel and Dan went on to own Hamilton's Bennett Hotel, while Tom owns a bar and a chicken shop in San Francisco.
When the opportunity arose to open Birdie at The Junction, they jumped at the chance.
"We've been talking about doing it for five years, when it came up we started to get excited about the location, what the area was missing and what it already had - we've been tightening the screws for the last six months," Tom said.
"I think not only The Junction, but Newcastle as a whole is developing pretty rapidly and I think what we've seen with a lot of Sydneysiders moving up is the population is getting younger, more educated, they want healthier options and options in general.
"We don't want to be seen as a high-end chicken shop, we've worked with suppliers and local farmers to bring the best product at the best price to the local area."
And, they've done their research, tasting hundreds of different chickens until they found the right bird.
"It's one of those things where the rotisserie does its work, the less you do to it the better," Tom said.
"We use Bannockburn chickens, it was a rigorous process of trial and error - a pretty tedious process but at the end you could really tell the difference between suppliers and it was an easy choice for us."
Birdie opens at the end of August, located next to Glebe Takeaway at The Junction.
