Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) is an essential South Korean staple. It is usually consumed in diners and pubs with a good amount of beer (in Korean they even have a word to indicate chicken and beer, chi-maek).
KFC (the Korean one) can be a great dish, even without beer. Here’s three examples from Seoul.
KFC from a non-descript diner
My first encounter with KFC on Korean soil took place in what I believe was a family-run diner. No English name, the picture shows the store-front. It was located near Sinchon railway station.
As customary, I was served some pickled Korean radish cubes. This particular establishment also added some popcorn.
I had half fried chicken and half with spicy sauce. The chicken was tasty and fried on the spot. The sauce was a lightly spicy tomato sauce that did not add much.
As it happens, the dish was only available as a whole chicken… The cost for my dish was 16,000 WON (around 14 USD) and it could have been shared between two people.
KFC from a famous chain: Kyochon
Kyochon was founded in 1991 and is one of the big players of KFC. They have stores nationwide and even one in Shanghai and some in the continental US.
I visited their branch in Dongdaemun Market (ironically, above a KFC outlet), easy to reach from exit 6 of Dongdaemun metro station. It is a spacious casual restaurant with a menu rich of fried chicken options and open 24/7. The big difference from the previous entry is that the special flavors are embedded into the batter, so the spicy chicken does not come covered in sauce, but it is the batter itself that conveys the flavor.
I opted for the “half half” option, with half regular fried chicken with garlic seasoning and half spicy. You can choose whether to have a whole chicken or only drumsticks or sticks and wings,. I went for the all drumsticks option.
It is worth noting (and the staff will tell you) that the chicken will take 30 minutes to arrive. They make it on the spot. It actually took 20 minutes, but it was not peak time.
The chicken alone was 19,000 WON (around 17 USD) and it was totally worth. I am usually skeptical of chains, but they did deliver a great fried chicken. The spicy one was glorious (but you will need the pickles to contrast the spicy after-effect).
KFC from a popular pub in Hongdae
The final specimen came from a pub in an area very popular with young people called Hongdae. In this district you can find pubs offering fried chicken and beer every 10 meters.
I ended up in Oksang Dalbit (옥상달빛) to try their garlic pepper fried chicken.
Located on the second floor of a small building, this was a very casual pub filled with students.
Their thing is that the chicken arrives in flames (I believe they use vodka and fire it up).
This was a portion of boneless chicken. A bit sloppy, but still enjoyable.
The chicken cost me the usual, in this case 17,000 WON (around 14.8 USD).
In the end, the one offered by Kyochon was the better in my books, but I enjoyed the KFC experience in all of the above places.