A favourite of Aussie A-list chefs, the Melbourne fried chicken shop’s Sydney pop-up is well and truly into the swing of things down at Bangaroo’s Wulugul pop-up, where chefs will be slinging bird until mid-2016.

Belle’s set chins wagging after rating (at 79) in the Australian Financial Review’s chef-voted top 100 restaurants list. A finger-licking, five-napkin fried chicken joint (know equally for its natural wine selection) outranking the likes of Sydney’s ACME and 4Fourteen, among others? Quelle horreur.

The Sydney pop-up, at least, is the antithesis of fine dining. You queue to order, wait for your food, and then scramble to find a free table. It’s not licensed (but you can pop next door to Gin & It for, erm, gin) but the just-spiced cardamom lemonade, served in a super-sized plastic cup with loads of ice, is almost tasty enough to make up for it. Almost.

A decade ago our main point of reference for fried chicken had a “K” in front of it. Now, we’re debating wet versus dry brines, and know our kaarage from our dakgangjeong (Korean fried chicken). Belle’s will transport you to America’s deep south, staining your fingers chilli-red and leaving your lips numb on the way there.

The menu is pretty straightforward – fried oyster and chicken ribs for snacks, a single sandwich, three cuts of chicken (wings, tenders, drumsticks) and Portobello mushrooms, for your poultry-averse mate.

Once you pick your cut, you choose your heat – from southern, medium, hot to really hot or really f**king hot.

The main difference? The really hot is laden with house-dried, smoked, blitzed seed-less habaneros that pack serious punch. As in, make your eyes water, lips swell and up render your taste buds useless for a good few minutes after eating. Really f**king hot is habaneros with seeds. Nope, too much for me.

Hot, by comparison, is a cake-walk. Over seasoned? Without a doubt, but still supremely tasty and on par with any other fried bird offering we’ve tried before. And, if you’ve already schlepped down to Barangaroo, you may as well go all out and get a good slew of sides (all $5 a pop). Crinkle-cut fries give me frozen-bag oven fries flashbacks (and not in a good way) but these perfectly crisp babies, liberally seasoned with Old Bay spice, make a good case for their kind. Simmer-till-soft ham hock loaded Almost Arnold’s beans are excellent, and while the mixed pickles lacked any punchiness, they make good foil for the grease.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that three drummies and a single side ($16) won’t make a meal. I don’t know where chef Morgan McGlone is sourcing his poultry, but these beasts are of Jurassic proportions. Two of us shared a serve of wings and drumsticks, and found ourselves tapping out after just one each. Unless you’re rolling four deep, don’t even attempt the baller bucket (16 wings, four sides and sauces).

McGlone is already scouting a permanent Sydney site for Belle’s, when the pop-up closes in August. Keep an eye on our latest news section to find out where.