The Swan

The Swan

7 Cosmo Place

WC1N 3AP

Russell Square

London, England

I am going to get right down to it on this one, the Spicy Wings were spicy, but small, soggy and definitely not worth the exchange rate (which was almost 2:1 in January, so £7 wings cost around $12-$13). There were 8 wings in the order and 2 were far from edible and quite tiny. Lets just say that if I did not order the bowl of chips (side of fries in America), I would have spent close to $12-$13 on an empty stomach. They had a decent flavor, but nothing to write home about (although I did, in a postcard to my fiancée... who is now my wife). England does not equal good wings.

Assessment... don't come to London for the wings. In fact, don't come to London for food in general. There is nothing special here to eat. Fish and Chips are just big fish sticks and french fries.

The Swan did have a number of good local beers on tap and is definitely worth a visit if you stay near Russell Square. Order something other than the wings to eat.

Thursday is "Wings and Bud Night" and for £18 you get a bucket of wings (any flavor... BBQ, Hot BBQ, Honey and Soy, Spicy or Sweet Chili Sauce) and 4 bottles of Budweiser. That is over $30 for a bucket and 4 beers, so depending on the number of wings in the bucket (it didn't say on the advertisement), it can be a decent deal. They also had a really interesting idea connected to the bucket of wings. The sign said, "Feeling Brave? Ask for our Roulette Chicken Wings." I asked the bar tender what that meant and she told me that in the bucket, they have 1 super spicy wing. As you and your chaps (friends) eat, one person will pull the extra hot wing and sweat out the taste. It is kind of like chicken wing Russian Roulette. Pretty cool.