Award-winning chicken restaurant opens new Toronto location

An award-winning Toronto chicken joint that claims to serve the "juciest, crispiest chicken" in the city has closed their original location — but this is far from the end for them.

Purveyors of the best fried chicken in Toronto, Ding-a-Wing, shocked their many devoted locals last month by announcing they'd be shutting down their original Roncesvalles restaurant.

Having started as a side hustle project during the pandemic for founder, Mike Tan, the old Ding-a-Wing location had been home to an earlier project of Mike's, Tuk Tuk Canteen, prior to being wholly devoted to Ding-a-Wing.

The chicken burger at Ding-a-Wing.

According to a recent Instagram post, Mike had been operating out of the space for seven years total — both as Tuk Tuk Canteen and Ding-a-Wing — before selling the location to a "dear friend."

Fans of Ding-a-Wing's crispy, juicy delights needn't worry, though — because, along with selling the original location, they've also signed two new leases to open up shop in two new areas of the city.

Ding-a-Wing's new location at 171 College Street is already up and running.

The chicken shop is already up and running at 171 College, operating in conjunction with The Smith House Bar at UofT, and is set to open up a space at STACKT Market in mid-May.

While residents of Roncesvalles are certainly losing out with the closure of the original location, Mike is already putting calls out to see if any other restaurants on the west side of the city would like to become home to a Ding-a-Wing location.