Toum, London
There’s something familiar yet deeply comforting about rotisserie chicken.
Maybe it’s how often I’d see it at big supermarkets — the smell of warm seasoning and salt drifting from those rotating ovens. Or maybe it’s the memory of summer evening dinners, when my mum would do her version of “salad night.”
And by salad, I mean shredded rotisserie chicken, her take on a potato salad made with tinned chopped pineapple and peaches, sweetcorn, baby potatoes, and a shit-ton of mayonnaise, all piled onto crisp iceberg lettuce.
Honestly, it’s probably still one of my favourite summer meals to this day.
So whatever it is, whenever I see a food spot that specialises in rotisserie chicken as the star of the show, I’m more or less intrigued.
It also happened to be the perfect place for dinner and a proper catch-up with KK. She’s always down for suggestions, and weirdly, we only ever eat Western food when we’re together.
Toum still had a lot of hype, even a year after opening. It’s a Lebanese–French rotisserie with chic cocktail-bar energy. Dark, moody, with really nice burgundy furniture — honestly, pretty sexy and a great spot for date nights.
However… the main door is aggressively loud every time it slams shut. Like, genuinely alarming. If you’re not paying attention, it could absolutely take you out — so yes, they need to fix that.
But enough faffing from me, let’s get into the food.
The Halloumi Kataifi with hot honey came first, and if you know me, you know I love a crunch. Fried golden and crispy when you cut through it. The sweetness of the hot honey worked beautifully with the salty cheese, very much giving spring roll energy. I liked it.
The Yellowfin Tuna Tataki with tahini, sesame, oregano and lime was the perfect starter in my opinion — but then again, I love anything raw fish. Light, tangy, and delicately soft in texture. A really well-balanced dish.
We loved the Aubergine with yoghurt fatteh, pomegranate, toasted markouk bread and pine nuts — but then, I love anything aubergine. It’s a cold dish, yet we couldn’t stop complimenting the flavours: sweet, tangy, savoury, with a lovely nutty fragrance. Would absolutely eat this again.
The star of the show, the Half Rotisserie Chicken with chicken jus, was pretty good. Moist and cooked well, but even though it was seasoned, some parts could’ve done with a little more love. The jus itself was savoury and complemented the chicken nicely, though it wasn’t quite hot enough for me… but that might just be because I like my food lava-hot.
The Koffmann fries were like elevated McDonald’s fries — skinny, salty, and oh-so-crispy. Unfortunately, poor KK experienced one of the biggest traumas of her life when she bit into a raw potato. And yes, she should be freaked out because how?! (She's fine by the way!)
We also liked the Mac & Cheese Quatre Fromages. One of the better mac and cheeses I’ve had in London so far. Proper cheesy and well done. And really, who doesn’t love a cheesy carb?
We couldn’t hack dessert because we were so full, but I really want to try their baked tahini cookie next time.
All in all, it was loud, a bit messy, slightly chaotic — but pretty fun and vibey. That said, I did feel bad for KK, who was traumatised twice: first when her mocktail turned out to be a cocktail (she’s allergic to alcohol), and second with the raw potato incident. The staff were apologetic, took it off our bill, and the general manager even came over for a chat, which was really nice.
They were genuinely kind and accommodating — they even opened the rotisserie doors so we could take photos and videos of the very slowly rotating chickens.
Was everything we had perfect? No. Was it fun, vibey, and did it satisfy my rotisserie chicken curiosity? Absolutely.
Good food doesn’t have to be flawless; it just has to make you feel something, and this night did exactly that.
Toum - 18a Maddox St, London W1S 1PL