(Flying Chicken Station has closed; MexiChina now operates within the Marathon)

Located in the Marathon gas station at the corner of Old Fort Parkway and Thompson Lane, a restaurant known as Flying Chicken Station cooks up various Asian selections as well as fried wings, chicken tenders, fish and shrimp, and even burgers, Philly cheesesteaks and more.

Call it elevated gas station food, or perhaps a fusion of traditional Asian and fried ghetto cuisines.

The honeydew boba tea comes out first for a group trying an assortment of offerings from Flying Chicken.

A blue bear floats at the top of the drink. A customer may first think this is some sort of a plastic ornamentation, but the Flying Chicken crew places this custom ice cube, turned blue by natural coloring from a blue flower, atop the teas.

“The ice bears are an adorable touch,” Julie Dickerson said. “My favorite dish is the shrimp fried rice,” she added.

Definitely try the bau: very, very fluffy, soft steamed buns, packed with a meaty filling and served with some sweet chili sauce.

“The steamed bao buns were wonderful,” said Joe LaFerriere, a Murfreesboro diner. “The pork filling moist and tender, and the bun soft and slightly sticky. These were very traditional Chinese steamed bao and I really enjoyed them dipped in a little soy sauce.”

Those wanting some wings may have a tough time choosing a flavor, Flying Chicken offers a large variety of different sauces.

Customers can mix and match sauces with the chicken, fish or shrimp, if they like.

For example, get 20 wings, half tossed in hot sauce, half in sweet pineapple.

Or get an order of six chicken tenders, for $8.49, and Flying Chicken will toss two in sweet chili, two in mango habanero and two in honey lemon pepper sauces, or whichever the customer chooses.

“We really enjoyed the corn nuggets, the chicken lo mein and the chicken tenders tossed in the sweet pineapple sauce,” according to a local customer named Trey. “And the watermelon boba tea is one of the best I’ve ever had!”

Black Panther sauce—a blend of hot teriyaki and Cajun flavors, in a further combination of Asian and American culinary traditions—may be a good choice. Black Panther has some zing with lots of seasonings going on, but it’s not incredibly hot.

The sweet chili sauce tastes just lovely, and would probably work on about anything—shrimp, egg rolls, wings, rice, whatever.

“The sheer variety of sauces is enough to come to this place,” Collin, another local diner, said. “The owners are very nice . . . The shrimp is delicious and incredibly crispy.”

Handmade Asian dumplings contain an interesting blend of sweet and spice in the filling, maybe some cinnamon in there, served with a sriracha type of hot sauce.

Further, find some salty, crispy fried okra at Flying Chicken Station, along with very tasty lo mein, a Chinese noodle dish that is not incredibly fancy, but well seasoned with sesame, soy, onion and garlic flavors. Get a small chicken lo mein for $6, a nice little serving of noodles.

“The noodles had great chew and the flavor was warm, not too sweet or syrupy, and tasted like fresh homemade food,” according to local diner Hayley. “The dumplings were probably our favorite things.”

Da Peng, a military veteran formerly stationed in Fort Campbell, owns the unique restaurant.

His sister, Ann Liu and her husband, Loi, run the Flying Chicken Station kitchen on a day-to-day basis.

Ann is from China, while Loi is from Vietnam. The couple seems proud of their food, and of the selection of teas at Flying Chicken Station.

The spot offers not only flavored milk teas with bubbles—such as mango, Thai, watermelon, honeydew, taro and peach—but also various other teas, like a very floral green passion tea, lavender tea, rose tea or red date tea.

Now, many customers point out that the wings at Flying Chicken, while fried crisp on the outside and remaining juicy on the inside, are quite small. Some even call them “pigeon wings.” But they come highly recommended.

“I got five of the hot lemon pepper and five of the hot honey; every bite of these wings were perfectly crisp and both sauces were amazing,” said Jeffrey, a Smyrna resident.

One customer said she appreciated the smaller wings.

“I don’t mind small wings because my thoughts are they are probably from real chickens not pumped with steroids, antibiotics and other junk,” according to a Yelper named Kavindra.

One traveler who happened upon this Murfreesboro eatery said he would “totally go back to get more sweet chili wings.”

The Philly cheesesteak gets good marks as well.

“I’d go back for the Philly,” Samantha Brown said. “And the shrimp lo mein was good.”

With the extensive variety of choices, hungry patrons can make all sorts of combinations at Flying Chicken Station: a cheeseburger with some fried okra, maybe, or some chicken tenders in various sauces with fried rice and thai tea, or perhaps the steamed bao with lemon pepper tilapia. So many possibilities.

Mike Todd calls it “the best little hidden gem in Murfreesboro. The couple that runs the place are as sweet as can be!”

So try it out sometime when you are in the mood for some Asian fusion / gas station food with bubble tea, and grab a copy of the Pulse while you are there.

Flying Chicken Station
2206 Old Fort Pkwy.
11 a.m.–11 p.m. every day
615-203-3466
5 steam bao: $8.95; Philly cheesesteak, 6 wings, fries and drink: $12.99; Small chicken lo mein: $5.95; Milk tea with boba: $3.75; 6 chicken tenders: $8.49; 12 pieces of shrimp with fries: $10.49
flyingchickenmurfreesboro.kwickmenu.com