Belles Hot Chicken Has Brought Chicken Nuggets and Extra Spice to Its First Melbourne CBD Store

Belles Hot Chicken has spread its wings, adding a first Melbourne CBD spot to its ever-growing chook and natural wine empire. The Elizabeth Street digs is the fourth permanent Victorian store and seventh location nation-wide for Morgan McGlone's outfit— and, as well as serving the 'really fucking hot' chicken that Belles is well-known for, it'll be slinging chicken nuggets, too.

Sorry, poultry fiends of Fitzroy, Richmond and Collins Square — if you'd like your chook in bite-sized pieces, you'll need to head to the new 100-seater. Opening at the Galleria on Monday, October 8, the Elizabeth Street store is the only Belles site selling the nuggets, alongside existing favourites such as tenders, drumsticks, wings, chicken sandwiches and chicken sliders.

Like your chook with some extra zing? Spice fiends are able to ramp up the flavour thanks to a sixth heat level: 'sex panther'. After popping up at other stores, it's available permanently at Elizabeth Street — and on a scale that currently slides from the mild 'southern' to the famed 'really fucking hot', it takes the temperature to Homer Simpson eating a chilli level.

Fitted out American diner-style with banquette seating, timber aplenty, mirrors and textured concrete, Belles' latest eatery has also launched with new tipple, dubbed the 'Party Blend'. A collaboration between group beverage director Christian Robertson and minimal intervention winemaker Rob Burley at Unkel Wines, it joins Belles' usual array of natural, organic and low-intervention tipples.

Find Belles Hot Chicken on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Streets, Melbourne.