Belles Hot Chicken

Belles Hot Chicken, aka 'Belles ' is a chain-restaurant in Australia.

The restaurant is known for southern-style fried chicken.

Description
The hot spice mix of the store is flour based and mostly relies on just smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. The chicken is hormone-free and submerged in brine a day in advance. Plain white bread is served underneath the chicken. Sauces are available including a Belle's branded ranch dressing, as well as a blue-cheese based sauce. Other dishes served include mac and cheese, potato salad, braised-beans in ham hocks, hot fish, and soft-serve ice cream.

Drinks served include beer; Melbourne Bitter, Resch's, Pabst Tallboys, and Kronenbourg; another drink is rye-whisky with pickle juice.

The interior of the restaurant's Gertrude Street store is designed to resemble a Nashville diner, with a big stool-studded bar.

History
The chain was founded by three people. Joss Jenner-Leuthart, a well-known Melbourne restaurateur; Aaron Turner, known for Loam on the Bellarine; as well as Morgan McGlone, a former model minder for Lily Cole; who later trained as a chef. McGlone became interested in the fried chicken after living in Nashville, Tennessee. After returning to Australia they took over a store on Gertrude St Melbourne's suburb of Fitzroy under the name 'Belle's Diner'; and rebranded it as 'Belles Hot Chicken'. Under its previous ownership the store had focused on American food by was not well received.

After taking over and rebranding the store in 2014 the new owners refocused its menu. Following these changes the store received a positive review in The Age. The store then began to grow a cult following for its combination of serving spicy-fried chicken and natural wine.

The next year the pair expanded the chain to a pop-up location in Barangaroo, NSW, and in 2016 the location was made permanent. At some point in the years after the chain's establishment, Jenner-Leuthart bought out McGlone's stake in the franchise. After its NSW pop-ups, the franchise looked to open a flagship location in that state, eventually settling on its location at Circular Quay.

As of July 2023 the store has six actively trading locations three each in both of Australia's largest states. In Victoria its locations are in Fitzroy, Docklands, and the Melbourne CBD; in NSW its locations are at Tramsheds, Barangaroo, and Circular Quay. The franchise plans to expand to the Adelaide CBD.

Reception
The chain has generally been well received in Australia, after its first rebranding. It has received positive reviews in The Age, as well as in the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Herald Sun.

In his 2014 review for the Herald Sun, food reviewer Simon Plant gave it a favourable review, writing: "Belle’s Hot Chicken is more fun than you can poke a drumstick at. Next best thing to being in Nashville." Simone Egger writing for The Age said: "I went as far as the brick-red coloured "Hot", which slapped me in the face, but had me going back for more". In her review for the Sydney Morning Herald, Myffy Rigby said: "To my mind, you can pretty easily skip the leg meat, which doesn't yield the same level of crunch, juiciness and intensity of flavour as the wings, which you should definitely double order".