Roost Festival 2026

Posted on September 4th, 2026

Created by WingJam founder Alex and food creator Eating with Tod, ROOST is the evolution of the much-loved WingJam competition, taking things beyond wings to celebrate chicken in all its forms.

Over three days, chefs and traders showcased chicken traditions from across the globe, from South Carolina deep-fried chicken to buttery schnitzels. Every trader brought their own style, technique and story, with one-off dishes created exclusively for ROOST.

It wasn’t just about the chicken. With live competitions, chef demos, music, DJs and a carnival atmosphere, ROOST was a celebration of global food culture.

First up was Ruben’s Reubens – dishes served with a smile! Our marketing team are big-time fans of Ruben, so we were excited to see his concepts live up to the hype.

 

Chicken Crack – crisp chicken skin with a brilliant savoury crunch, finished with a creamy richness that made it seriously moreish.

Chicken Keema Sausage – a clever way to serve chicken, packed with warm curry flavour and lifted by fresh, tangy onions. Visually, it looked just as good as it tasted.

 

Peking House 

Nashville hot chicken meets Sichuan heat. Eric Huang and his team travelled from their Chinatown restaurant in New York to London, for good reason too, winning the 2nd place award for Critics’ Choice at Roost. Bold, vibrant orange and coated in a light, crisp batter, the Sichuan chilli fried chicken delivered that unmistakable mouth-numbing mala spice. The tenders offered sweetness, spice, and tang with a crispy, vinegary finish from the batter.

Chicken Baptiser

This guy knows a thing or two about foodie theatre! The Chicken Baptiser, aka South Carolina chef Bernard Hardison, owner of BS Dining Experiences, is famous for his dramatic technique of lowering massive batches of heavily seasoned raw chicken into hot oil in the largest fryer in Europe. The wings were fresh from the fryer, tender and had crispy batter. We opted for peach cobbler sauce, which added a sweet cinnamon pairing.

INYUN

Set up by three friends from Brentford, INYUN is a Korean fried chicken, matcha and speciality coffee spot by Kew Bridge in west London.
There’s a lot more to INYUN’s Korean fried chicken than meets the eye. The chicken is given a full 24-hour brine, allowing the seasoning to work deep into the meat. Each piece is fried three times in beer batter, with the heat increasing with every pass. This helps blister the skin, drive out moisture and create the crunch.

The coating is used just for texture purposes: corn starch creates a thin, shattering shell, while vodka helps the batter set quickly without becoming bready. Beer then adds an airy, lacy finish.

Snow Cheese Tenders – the batter was uniquely sweet, with a delicate cheese flavour from the snow cheese. Hands down the best crunch of the day.

House INYUN Wing – deeply savoury with a smoky, slow-building flavour that left a lasting punch of heat.

 

Coqfighters

Australian-born, London-bred, chicken enthusiasts. With four locations across London, it’s easy to see why they’ve taken off.

Croissant Au Poivre – 10/10 concept! Sandwich filling innovation has long overshadowed the carrier, but things are changing within the market. The croissant concept was buttery and rich from the creamy sauce pairing. The chicken was moreish and perfectly cooked.

Chicken Caesar Wings – the Caesar trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon! Visually vibrant with a delicious fresh aroma, these wings were a nice break from some of the spicier bites we’d had earlier.

 

Poor Boys

One of the favourites of the day. Poor Boys is a local independent restaurant started by two brothers who were inspired by the city of New Orleans.The chicken came coated in a glossy, buttery buffalo sauce, with a drizzle of cooling blue cheese mayo that balanced the heat perfectly. The batter was crispy, with a delicious savoury depth and umami hit from the beef tallow.

 

Ginger Wings

By this point, we had consumed a lot of chicken, so the perfect finisher for the day had to be doughnuts. The definition of swavoury, these doughnuts were a unique take on the chicken theme. Oozing with richness from the chicken caramel sauce, the chicken skin topper added a great texture layer and visual. Sweet doughnuts usually get all the attention, but our marketing team are seeing savoury styles cropping up more from social media creatives.

If you are looking for culinary trends, insights or inspiration based on the above blog, please get in touch: npdmarkerting@dalziel.co.uk