The first Wingstop has come to Wales – and I got a taste of the menu ahead of the grand opening. The hugely popular American fast food chain is the latest addition to Cardiff's Chippy Lane, located just outside the Brewery Quarter.
It will open on Monday, May 29, and has replaced the former Busaba, a Thai restaurant that closed down after little more than a year. For anyone unacquainted with Wingstop the clue is in its name.
It specialises in chicken wings – including boneless wings – which are freshly hand tossed and sauced in 10 distinctive flavours. These range in spice intensity: on the milder end of the scale you can get Hawaiian, garlic parmesan, and lemon pepper while on the hotter end you'll find spicy Korean Q, mango habanero, and the extra fiery 'atomic'.
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And if you can't decide you can mix and match with two flavours. As the perfect accompaniment to its fried chicken Wingstop serves up fries (including a sweet potato variety) which also come in different flavours: Wingstop style (which includes a unique mix of salt and sugar), lemon pepper, or Cajun seasoning. If you want to get something a bit more substantial you can get loaded fries.
The menu also has chicken tenders, a 'big flavour burger', and churros if you fancy dessert. Three days before the launch – you can get a sneak preview inside the new restaurant here – Wingstop offered me several items on the menu to try.
As I waited for my order Malachy O'Keeffe, head of marketing for Wingstop UK, explained that the chain's USP is its variety and intensity of flavours. "Everyone will find something that is suitable for them," he said. And they certainly aren't shy about proclaiming this – I spotted the words 'flavour', 'flavour first', and 'flavour is our everything' emblazoned on the restaurant's walls.
Wingstop also markets itself as a "premium" fast food chain – a notch above your go-to Maccies, KFC, and Burger King. And the company certainly fulfil this objective – what they serve up is some of the best fast food I've ever had. I watched as my food was freshly made to order in the open kitchen, the employees whizzing round hard at work. It was delivered a short time later to my table with all the dishes nestled in Wingstop's signature mint green packaging paper.
There is a lot to get through so I'll begin with the bone-in chicken wings. I got to try two flavours – the Brazilian citrus pepper and the spicy Korean Q. The latter is one of the most popular flavours, Malachy tells me, and it's clear why: it's not as spicy as the name suggests and the heat is counterbalanced by a sweetness in the sauce.
It was deliciously sticky and I was grateful for the gloves that I was given to stop my hands getting dirty. The Brazilian citrus pepper is a dry rub, so not as messy, but there was still a nice tang to the flavouring.
The wings themselves were tender and had a good amount of meat on them but ultimately I preferred the boneless variety. These were more like a breaded chicken nugget – oh so juicy and moreish and not too crispy.
First I tried the Louisiana rub and the lemon pepper flavours of the boneless wings. The lemon pepper (which Malachy told me is another of the most popular flavours) was my favourite of the two – the taste of the citrus came through strongly.
I also got the original, which is essentially a Buffalo flavour, and hickory-smoked barbecue. The original was pretty hot but had a refreshing zestiness to it as well. I preferred the barbecue out of these two – it wasn't too overpowering, as barbecue flavouring can sometimes be, and it went nicely with the creamy dips (more on these later).
Finally I tried the mango habanero and atomic boneless wings. However 'tried' might be pushing it a bit – it was more of a nibble because they were far too hot for me. These flavours at the spiciest end of Wingstop's scale are definitely for thrill-seekers.
The mango habanero was my favourite of the of the two. Before the spiciness hit the sauce on the outside was deliciously sweet and fruity – a bit like a hot mango chutney.
I gulped down my peach Fanta (the restaurant has a Coca-Cola Freestyle drinks machine) to recover. Strangely I managed to eat an entire atomic boneless wing – but soon enough the heat overpowered my mouth. I probably wouldn't get these two flavours again but they were good fun to try and I'd recommend any first-time Wingstoppers to at least give them a go.
The crispy tenders were just as deliciously juicy and moreish as the boneless wings. I was given garlic parmesan and hickory-smoked barbecue once again to try. The former felt a bit more indulgent than the other flavours so far with a healthy smattering of cheese on top and decent garlic flavour – I can definitely see these being a crowd-pleaser.
It's obligatory to get chips in Chippy Lane so I was given some loaded Buffalo ranch fries to try and also some lemon pepper fries. The former had a strong kick to them, which was slightly counterbalanced by the ranch sauce. I preferred the latter, which were seasoned generously, but they were still a bit too salty for my liking.
Last but certainly not least: the sauces. I got to try all three dips: the ranch, blue cheese, and honey mustard. I've watched far too many TikToks of Americans practically guzzling Wingstop's renowned ranch dip – by far its most popular one, Malachy says – so I was intrigued to see if it lived up to the hype.
It was wonderfully creamy and great with the hot chicken though the flavour was a lot milder than I expected. I have never had blue cheese sauce before and I expected it to be too cheesy for my liking but, surprisingly, I enjoyed it even more than the ranch dip as I felt it had more of a discernible taste. I also loved the honey mustard, which also had a bit of a creaminess to it. I actually think the ranch ended up being my least favourite of the of the three but it was still delicious.
I finished off the feast with churros drizzled with 'sweet milk' (which I was told was essentially condensed milk) and Lotus Biscoff crumbles. This was an unexpectedly faultless sweet treat. Often I find restaurants that specialise in savoury food can miss the mark with desserts but this was perfect and just as good as anything I'd get from a specialist dessert shop. The churros were clearly freshly made and the toppings were a mouth-watering combination.
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