i. Biography
Copenhagen sets the working conditions for fried chicken that has to land cleanly: casual format, sharp standards, and a counter at Poulette CPH where the form is the point rather than the side note. In Martin Ho’s hands, the route to that counter runs through Danish upbringing, Taiwanese background, Paris dining rooms, wine service, and room management before returning to Denmark as a more compressed kind of hospitality.
The Estate
Fried chicken at Poulette CPH is a tight brief: hot fat, timing, seasoning, texture, and service with little cover for error. Martin Ho serves it in Copenhagen, Denmark, from a biography formed in Denmark and informed by Taiwanese background, but the craft is judged in the hand and on the first bite. The form rewards immediacy; crust, heat, and tenderness have to arrive together. A signature built around fried chicken leaves few places to hide. At Poulette CPH, Ho’s current work is measured by variables that announce themselves fast: snap, moisture, seasoning, rhythm, and control. The dish is familiar enough that any lapse is legible, which makes precision more visible rather than less. Casual service in Copenhagen can still demand exact execution. Poulette CPH gives Ho’s present cooking a clear address and a narrow proposition: fried chicken, served without diffusion, repeated enough to carry the identity of the place.
In the Cellar
Wine service and room management sit inside the same craft record as the fryer. Before Poulette CPH, Ho worked in Paris as sommelier and general manager at Roseval. He also worked as sommelier and general manager at Tondo. Those roles trained attention on pacing, bottles, guests, and the mechanics of service. Natural wine is one of Ho’s specialties, and its discipline shares ground with frying: selection, timing, editing, and judgment under pressure. In the cellar, small decisions collect in the glass and in the feel of the table. At the fryer, small decisions show in minutes, sometimes seconds, in crust color and the way heat carries through the food. Selection, for Ho, is stated without hedging: "ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS PERSONAL TASTE. PERIOD." As a working rule, it applies across bottles and chicken alike. Taste is not a slogan here; it is the tool used to accept, reject, and refine. Copenhagen’s wine context includes Pompette, described as a very casual wine bar with a painstakingly curated archive of radical natural wine. That pairing of ease and strict selection mirrors the useful tension in Ho’s work: an informal room, rigorous choices, and no need to over-explain the product once it is served.
The Bottlings
The primary release is fried chicken at Poulette CPH. the lane is narrow, but the work is not small: repetition, control, and the restraint to let a familiar form carry the load without adding unnecessary decoration. The Paris roles add service architecture to the cooking. A sommelier and general manager reads guests, pacing, bottles, and the shape of an evening; a chef serving fried chicken compresses that reading into a shorter exchange. In both registers, the standard is the same: choose well, serve clearly, and know when the moment is ready.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Martin
What is Martin Ho's current role?
Martin Ho is Chef serving fried chicken.
What is Martin Ho known for?
Fried chicken at Poulette CPH.
