Features / Stokes Croft
Slix and Rita’s: two constants among a changing Stokes Croft
“Chicken, do dee do dee do,” went the improvised ditty soon before 1.30am on a recent Sunday morning.
Eight pieces of chicken costs £9.80 at Slix on Stokes Croft, the most expensive order on the menu, and the chicken singer requested that after he and a couple of mates worked out that it was his round next.
“He is serious about his chicken,” one of his friends told the man behind the counter.
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“Chicken, do dee do dee do,” he sung for good measure.
Pieces of chicken were most definitely the most popular order here in the early hours of this chilly November morning, with customers in various states of inebriation wandering in and out, one woman knocking on the glass to wave wildly to one of the staff inside who gave a polite raise of his hand in return.
Chicken fans wait for their fix at Slix
“I have walked home many a time from this kebab shop,” one woman wrapped up in a patterned scarf told her friend proudly. (There is actually not a kebab in site here, with burgers and hot wings joining the pieces of chicken on the menu)
“What, to Filton?” her friend said in surprise before being regaled with tales of the 51 bus.
As the sounds of police sirens mingled with the music of passing cars, there was barely any let-up for the team at Slix, giving a lesson in patience as punters unfamiliar with their menu asked for everything from hummus to alcohol.
The only small piece of aggravation tonight came from one customer swearing loudly when told that it was cash only in here, and a well-spoken chap in a sheep-skin coat arguing that 50p for ketchup and mayo was extortionate.
Over the road in Rita’s, it was a hive of activity soon before 2am with music from Bob Marley to Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa.
It’s a squeeze in Rita’s on their busy nights
The menu at Rita’s is far more extensive than at Slix, with doner kebabs and doner burgers, wraps, burgers, pies, and ‘chip shop fayre’ encompassing the likes of battered sausage and fried cod. There is even a blue Rita’s Takeaway t-shirt for sale in the window.
“My friend, you want kebab?” a member of staff wearing a backwards cap that could have been designed by Jackson Pollock shouted to one customer over the skipping sound of reggae.
Nearby, two friends in the far corner under a framed page from Venue magazine of Bristol’s best kebab houses from a decade ago began dancing as a drum’n’bass track came on the stereo.
As more kebabs were ordered, it was time to go home, and Taste by US rapper Tyga was being played from a speaker outside Rita’s to customers eating their food on the street: “Chicken with a taste, do you love a taste?”
Read more: Just Chips – takeaway review
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