As a continuation to my recent
post on my disappointment encountered with Choo Choo Chicken in Greentown Ipoh,
let me share how a proper Korean Fried Chicken should taste like. There are
many jumping into the Korean themed bandwagon for a quick buck, with the
lacklustre Choo Choo Chicken which I tried and two other new initiatives identified
in Ipoh Garden East area, namely the B&L chain on some “Korean fusion” dining
and also another Ko.Ko.Chix which I doubt both will be good. How I wish Kyochon
would open in Ipoh and give these half-passionate imposters a deadly blow to
their start-up capital.
Firstly, let me bring to your
attention the few key basic rules to follow in serving good fried chicken,
regardless whether its Korean or not. The basic rule is to have it freshly
fried. Yes! Made upon ordering! It doesn’t matter if its Korean Fried Chicken
or not, if you are running specialty restaurant and charging a premium, RULE
NUMBER 1 – THIS IS NOT A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT! Though the waiting in Kyochon
might quite long, 15 to 20 minutes. But at least I am assured of freshly fried
chicken, which is piping hot all the way from the crispy skin deep to the core
of the scraps of meat from the bone! Coming to its second and third promises, I
could taste the difference when non-frozen chicken are used. Chicken should be
fresh and only maintained chilled at the whole supply chain. Since I am paying
a premium for their fried chicken, I am expecting it to be on a league of its
own, not comparable with those of mamak/chap fan quality.
During my first visit, I had a light dinner at their Sky Avenue outlet. I
was amazed that they serve beer in this outlet. At first I thought they
design it in a way that one side of the restaurant which the bar
counter top section is located is meant for "non-halal" patronage. Only I
realized later that during my second visit in G-Hotel, Gurney, beer is a
staple in the menu across all outlets. They serve Hoegaarden, Carlsberg and Somersby only if I remembered correctly. While waiting for my food, which took around 15 minutes, I shamelessly requested the staff standing at the entrance for a portion of free samples. Yes, the one inside the box contain a garlic soya sauce flavoured wingette. Yup, it tasted good although no longer hot.
As I was still quite heavy from my late lunch at around 4pm, I just had the cheapest item from the menu, which is two pieces of drumstick. I was a bit adventurous and went for the Red Pepper series which is a hot flavour. The one I had in Genting seems to lightly lip and tongue numbing but during my return trip to their outlet in G-Hotel Gurney sidewalk, the spiciness seems to be a little toned down.
The portion is quite small though. The drumstick is almost like an oversized drummete from the chicken wing portion. You can estimate the size from the photo above. Oh by the way, they provide a set of wet towel tissue and one sided piece of glove so you can keep your hand cleans throughout the meal. RM12.50 for two drumsticks (available in only soya garlic or red pepper series) in most outlets except for Genting Skyavenue whereby they are charging RM16 if I remembered correctly
On my second visit, we tried the soya garlic wingette and drummete (8 pieces for RM19.50 which is actually just 4 chicken wings portion). When I tasted the sample of this flavour in Genting, it was already good despite being not piping hot. But when it was served fresh and hot in front of me now, it was even better! Frankly speaking, the selling point of Korean Fried Chicken should be their crispy skin and their light coating of sauce. The meat inside, despite being juicy and fresh, was not really marinaded. Hence the flavours on the exterior play a vital role, be it Soya Garlic, Red Pepper or Honey series.
They do serve half chicken and full chicken portion but I strongly recommend you to keep with the wingettes. Oh yeah, if you have any senior citizens in your dining group, please claim this offer of a complimentary pot of either corn tea or barley/wheat tea (worth RM7). Else, just binge on the crispy wingettes and cool yourself down with a pint or two of booze. Signing off, happy Winter Solstice in advance to my dear readers :)
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