Chicken tikka is quietly one of the best training foods in London: high protein, grilled not fried, and genuinely enjoyable enough to repeat. Here's the arithmetic.
The headline numbers
Cooked chicken thigh delivers roughly 23–26g of protein per 100g. A typical Tikkas bowl carries a generous portion of grilled chicken tikka, comfortably the protein target of a serious meal, before counting anything from the rice or paneer alternatives.
That's the protein target of a serious post-training meal, from food that doesn't feel like a chore.
Thigh vs breast: why we grill thigh
Breast is slightly leaner on paper; thigh survives real cooking. Grilling dries breast into cardboard unless it's pumped with retention additives. Thigh keeps its juice naturally, tastes better, and the fat difference in a marinated, grilled portion is modest. We choose flavour + consistency: fresh British thigh, HMC certified.
Grilled vs fried: the quiet difference
Fried chicken's protein comes wrapped in a batter of refined carbs cooked in seed oil, often doubling the calories for the same protein. Grilled tikka's marinade (yoghurt, ginger, garlic, lemon, spices) adds flavour, not a calorie jacket. No MSG or colouring needed either. Spice does that work.
Building the bowl to your goal
- Cutting: Salad Bowl, with a full tikka portion on cos & red cabbage and sauces on the side.
- Maintaining: Rice Bowl, with zeera basmati carbs alongside.
- Bulking: either bowl +£3 extra tikkas, dessert if you've earned it.
- Vegetarian: paneer matches the portion weight; being dairy, it brings its own protein (roughly 18g/100g) plus calcium.
Numbers are typical cooked values; exact macros vary by flavour and portion. Written July 2026 by the team that grills it, at 1 Great Titchfield Street, Oxford Circus.