Tag: korean fried chicken

9 Best Korean Chicken Joints
Chicken and beer have become serious institutions in South Korea. Korean style fried chicken started showing up around 1970, when cooking oil became more affordable. In the 1980s and 1990s, chicken “hofs” that served deep fried chicken and beer popped up everywhere. This was likely due to early forced retirement for mid-level managers in Korea Inc.’s chaebol conglomerates. Chicken hofs were sold as turnkey business solutions. Since so many opened on every corner, Koreans started going to them because they were there. These days, there are more chicken franchise locations in Korea than there are McDonald’s in the entire world.
The chicken hof has gone through phases. I’m a personal fan of the 1990s style. Small free range birds with papery breading and strong Asian aromatic flavors. Or as one chef I shared chicken with said, smelled like a cinnamon doughnut. The more modern style is closer to American fried chicken, dipped in a flour breading with all the nooks and crannies. There are a few franchises I like from this vein as well.
To sauce or not to sauce?
People debate whether Korean fried chicken needs sauce. I like to just get plain fried with some Yangnyeom Sauce on the side. “Yangnyeom” just means “seasoned” or “flavored.” In the Korean chicken realm it’s a sweet, garlicky, sticky, slightly spicy sauce.
Other popular flavors are soy sauce, buldalk “fire chicken,” and my other favorite, garlic chicken. This was invented in 1997 in the blue collar neighborhood near Daerim Station. Chopped garlic is stewed all day. After frying the chicken it’s baptized in this garlic mixture. Pure heaven!
How to know if it’s good
My rule of thumb is this. To tell a good chicken place, look at the people inside. If it’s full of beautiful young women taking selfies, likely isn’t good chicken. If it’s full of middle-aged men who look like life has kicked them in the teeth–GREAT CHICKEN!
Here are some consistently good chicken franchises and spots. Add your favorites in the comments.
How to use this list
Chicken places come and go quickly. Most of the places on this list are franchises. To find a location near you, copy the Korean name and paste it into Google Maps, Naver Map, or Kakao Map.
The Authentic Chicken & Beer Pub Crawl
Don’t take the risk. Join us for a fun immersive romp for loads of chicken and lots of beer. Click to check the dates and prices.
The List
Ddobagi Chicken 또바기치킨
Two-Two Fried Chicken 둘둘치킨
BHC
Kyochon
BBQ Chicken
Chicken Baengi 치킨뱅이
Gyerimwon 계림원
Hanchoo 한추
Goobne Chicken 굽네치킨
Dishonorable Mentions
Saenghwal Maekju (Daily Beer) 생활맥주
Mexicana
Ddobagi Chicken 또바기치킨
This classic style chicken has been around since 1986. They are brined for 24 hours before being coated in a spicy powder, breaded, and fried. You can get their mild version. You can also get their spicy version with spicy sauce. It’s a good satisfying challenge.
The Authentic Chicken & Beer Experience includes a stop here. Check it out here.
Two-Two Fried Chicken 둘둘치킨
Style: Classic
Everyone knows my love for Two-Two. It’s one of the oldest franchises and the first taste I had of Korean fried chicken. The birds they use are bony, but that means they aren’t factory raised. They actually have flavor. The crust is thin, delicate, and has that Chinese five spice and cinnamon scent that I always associate with Korean chicken hofs. This chicken screams for beer.
BHC
Style: Modern
Big Hit Chicken. Actually, they keep changing what the acronym stands for. This is the old standby and the typical family-style chicken joint.
Acronym for a name?
Check.
K-pop group as spokespeople?
Check.
It’s reliable, predictable, but satisfying.
Kyochon
Style: Battered
This is the one most Americans think of when talking about Korean fried chicken. The thing is, Kyochon is the only franchise I know of that does it this way–batter dipped rather than rolled in flour or starch. The batter is garlicky with a slight sweetness. The crust shatters and stays crispy a long time. If you order it “yangnyeom” style, they meticulously paint the sauce on each piece individually. Caution–the breading really seals the contents inside. Expect a hot geyser of chicken juice to burst out in your first bite.
BBQ Chicken
Credit: Formalin81 on Flickr (cc)
Style: Modern
Pronounced Bee-bee-kyoo. It’s the king of chicken franchises in Korea. They follow the American style of frying, but their flavor is unique. Claiming to fry their chicken in olive oil, they obviously feel like they have to chase KFC. They boast over 20 herbs and spices. BBQ’s flavor is unique and hasn’t been copied. You can smell a BBQ a block away.
Chicken Baengi 치킨뱅이
Style: Classic
They specialize in classic style, but they also make a mean pa dalk, boneless fried chicken thighs served in a sweetish peanut sauce and shredded leeks. The other half of their name refers to golbaengi, sea snails. For some reason they think that chilled spicy sea snail noodle salad goes well with fried chicken.
It sorta does, TBH. Reminds me of trips to the beach in my earlier times in Korea.
It’s been going through a re-branding to appeal to a younger crowd (note the two logos).
Gyerimwon 계림원
I have been so excited about this. It’s been my new favorite, and I can’t get enough of it.
Chickens are spit roasted over wood. Then they’re served on a sizzling platter of crispy rice. Usually it’s served with this sweet hot mustard and radish stem kimchi. Every time I take anyone to one of these places, the chicken is gone like velociraptors entered the building.
This style of chicken is called nureungji tongdalk 누릉지통닭, literally “scorched rice fried chicken.” It comes from Gangwon Province and has been growing in the Seoul Metro area. Gyerimwon is but one chain. Most all the places that serve this that I’ve been to have been outstanding. You’ll know it by the rotisserie chickens in the window, the ream of oak logs out front, and this heavenly smoked chicken smell.
Always start off with the original nureungji tongdalk. Then play with other variations, usually smothered in cheese, curry, or some other sauce. This will be your new favorite chicken and beer pairing.
Hanchoo 한추
Style: Batter
Not really a franchise. It’s a popular spot in Gangnam. It’s popular for being popular, but it has its fans. They serve fried chili peppers with their chicken, which is their schtick. I’m putting it here because people I respect like it. I personally had bad ju-ju with the owners when we were arranging a TV show to shoot there. One of them said they didn’t want more foreigners in their restaurant. I know where I’m not welcome.
Goobne Chicken 굽네치킨
Style: Oven
Going into oven chicken territory, Goobne (GOOB-nay) has been getting popular lately. And it’s good. Even though Korea’s gone through many “well-being” food fads, for some reason chicken hasn’t registered. A Korean co-worker of a friend of mine said that since the fried chicken she was eating was Korean, it was healthy.
Goobne has promoted itself as a healthy alternative to fried. All I know lately is that when we order it, it’s stripped to the bone like those Winged Devourers did on “Beastmaster.”

Dishonorable Mentions
Just to shake up the anthill, there are a couple fried chicken chains I’m not too fond of.
Saenghwal Maekju (Daily Beer) 생활맥주
Style: Modern
The modern style of Korean fried chicken just has no flavor, no soul. It is not much different than bland versions of American style fried chicken. The only thing that makes it Korean is that you can get it tossed in sauce.
Basic rule: avoid chicken places with gimmicks. Miniature tongs, finger condoms, beer served in Pyrex measuring cups.
Saenghwal Maekju appears as one of the newer chains capitalizing on the popularity of craft beer. Don’t expect much from the craft beer itself. It’s mediocre. The chicken is even worse. The other menu items–worser worser worser!
Seriously. Gelato on stale tortilla chips. I ordered this thinking, “If they have it on the menu, maybe they’re on to something. You know, like dipping salty fries into a Wendy’s Frosty.”
Nnnnope. It’s as if a five-year-old took over as menu consultant.
Mexicana
Style: WTF
They actually thought chicken flavored with banana, strawberry, and melon was what the world needed.
Nope.
BUT I’M WRONG…What are your favorite and least favorite Korean chicken restaurants?
February 22, 2026
Review: Dick Blomster's Korean Diner, Guerneville, Calif.
Finding California wine country’s hottest new 한식 hanshik (Korean food) can be as challengingly fun as discovering next pinot noir wine sensation, but it’s equally well worth the effort.
Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner, formerly known as Hi Five Korean/American Diner, began pleasantly piquing the palates of locals and visitors to the Russian River Valley winegrape-growing region of western Sonoma County an hour north of San Francisco late last year.
You’ll find the diner on Main Street of the riverside community of Guerneville. Yet you won’t spot a large neon “Blomster’s Korean” sign. That’s because this Korean hot spot is a popup restaurant in Pat’s Diner, a fixture of downtown Guerneville since 1945. And it shows in the decor of the 70-seat diner, which shares space with the bar next door.
The name change is only a a month old, but the birth of Blomster’s came in December 2012. According to a waiter who served us at the counter, the owner plans to purchase the building. That’s a sign of success and future job security.
The owner, David Blomster, and chef Eugene Birdsall are alumni of Boon Eat + Drink, which is located next door to the current restaurant. Chef Birdsall was blessed with a Korean mama who taught him how to make traditional Korean cuisine.
The best description of Blomster and Birdsall’s take on Korean cuisine is fusion diner food. It’s American diner food with Korean ingenuity.
The menu was a bit confusing for Hubby and I to navigate. We couldn’t tell for a while whether many of the items were separate or part of a combo.
I normally don’t buy appetizers at a restaurant, because the main course usually is more than enough. Yet this appetizer menu was intriguing enough to warrant ordering more than one.
Hubby really wanted to try “Hand-cut Seoul Fries” ($5). The homestyle fries were smothered with minced garlic and topped with toasted Korean chilies, green onions, thin strips of roasted seaweed, and black and white sesame seeds.
Accompanying the basket of fries was a small dish of kimchi-topped aoli for dipping. As someone who loves to dip French fries in mayo, this aoli was a fun kick in the pants.
The minced garlic on the fries had been massaged with 고추가루 gochugaru (spicy red pepper powder), doubling the lip-tingling fire. I liked the savory saltiness brought by the the seaweed rather than just salt.
Shortly after we put in the order for the Seoul Fries, the entire restaurant smelled like garlic. I wouldn’t be surprised if our clothes smelled of garlic when we walked out. Our breath certainly did and the diet coke and water I drank with my meal did not put a dent in that breath.
Korean pickling is something I’ve come to love in the past decade and a half, but traditional Euro-American cucumber pickles are my comfort food of yesteryear. So I really wanted to try “Fried Sonoma Brinery Pickles with Sausalito Springs watercress” ($5). The batter was delicate and crisp, and the pickle slices were not soggy or greasy.
With more kimchi aoli for dipping, this was not a low-calorie start to our meal.
For the main course, I ordered “LA Kalbi Mac & cheese” ($10). Instead of the typical yellow cheddar macaroni sauce — or otherworldly neon orange-yellow of box-based preparations — this dish topped the hollow pasta elbows with with white cheese sauce.
Topping the noodles were Los Angeles-style 갈비 kalbi (barbecued beef ribs), generous garnish of fresh 고수 gosu (cilantro or coriander), sliced green onion, buttered toast. The onion and cilantro thankfully provided extra character to what can be a bland noodle dish.
The kalbi was grilled — with the smokey char marks to prove it — yet the meat was still tender and succulent, while still being cooked completely. A hint of fruitiness, particularly cherry, in the marinade makes me think it contained Dr. Pepper or a similar soft drink. That certainly would match the diner theme of the decor and the menu.
Hubby ordered Blomster’s–Hi Five’s signature dish, “KFC (Korean Fried Chicken/Crack)” ($15). The teriyaki-style barbecue sauce on the crisp-breaded leg and wing was thankfully more honey-like in flavor and texture, rather than overly sweet.
Accompanying the chicken was a soy, ginger and vanilla coleslaw, garnished with sliced radish.
Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner
16236 Main St., Guerneville, Calif.
707-869-8006
Hours: Sunday–Thursday, 5–10 p.m., Friday–Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
October 26, 2013
Sorry about that Chicken Festival
The one festival I had been looking forward to this season had been the first ever Chicken Festival in Korea. At least, it was billed as that. I think it’s safe to say that the two biggest international draws to Korean food lately have been barbecue and fried chicken. We have a ddeok festival and a kimchi festival (yawn). We still don’t have a barbecue festival, but I was hoping this chicken festival would be going in the right direction.
Sorry.
Chicken, chicken everywhere, but not a drop of beer to drink!
I shoulda known better. It was more of a trade show. A very sad trade show. Only two or three fried chicken restaurants showed at this, and they didn’t supply any alcoholic refreshments, which complete the Korean fried chicken experience. Instead it was a lot of supermarket chicken products festering away in refrigerator cases that obviously weren’t cold enough.
Ewww!
I did spend a good bit of time there, hoping something interesting would occur. It was a great place if anyone wanted to do a study on the social tendencies of Koreans and lines. In Seoul, particularly, I have observed that lines are like velcro. If people see a line, be it at a shoe store or an overrated restaurant, they’ll join in. Sometimes, I’d go to a food cart or something that has no people, get something, and find that a line had instantly formed behind me. I have always wondered if they were standing in line for a desired product or just standing in line for the sake of it, not knowing what was in store.
In this case, there was a line a half a kilometer long for a paper cup of a few chicken nuggets from BBQ Chicken. I’ve had BBQ Chicken. I know what it tastes like. I like it. But I’m not standing in line thirty minutes for two chicken nuggets–free or not. In fact, the booth across from BBQ started putting fried chicken on its counter, and people looked puzzled. They didn’t see anyone already standing in line for the rival chicken nuggets, so they didn’t know what to do.
“Should I go snag some of those chicken nuggets? No one is standing in line for them. But then again, no one is standing in line for them.”
So, while I was there taking pictures of the line, I reached out with my left hand and got a cup of chicken nuggets. No wait.
But it gets even weirder.
There was a sign for something called a “Chicken Party” starting in 45 minutes. Three people stood and read the sign. Instantly a line formed behind them. I guess the people in line eventually figured out they were waiting for no reason, and the line disappeared ten minutes later.
Other noteworthy bits about the Chicken Festival Trade Show.
Turkish kebab joints made a strong showing.
Chicken on a stick was not so popular.
The coolest thing I found were these finger condoms for eating messy foods–like fried chicken. Of course, there was a big line at the booth, and I just was interested in taking pictures of the product. Then a lady came by and handed me some free samples.
Score!

So, I know none of the organizers aren’t reading and don’t care. But let me get this out for catharsis.
A chicken festival should be a chicken FESTIVAL. I understand that this was planned more as a trade show. But using the word “festival” was a bait-and-switch, not just for me but for the general public. That’s why we had these lines of ordinary Korean consumers there, but the deal making booth for buyers and suppliers was pathetically empty.
A real Korean fried chicken festival would have great international appeal, much more so than the Chewy Glutinous Play-doh Ddeok Festival. I’ve actually had a group from overseas contact me–ME–to connect them with fried chicken franchises here. There’s a freakin’ market out there that the ajosshis-in-charge are again ignoring blissfully. So, let’s go whole chicken on this and make it a real festival. Let’s have more fried chicken booths with beer on tap. Let’s have games, real games, for the kids and young couples. Let’s have music and events (not that weird Chicken Party) and contests and raffles and pony rides…
I want pony rides!
Next time, guys, really, really, do it!
I don’t have many photos, but you can find them on the Flickr account.
June 1, 2010
The Great Korean Fried Chicken Recipe (Experiment)
The most common recipe question I get and the most common request I find on forums, “How do you make Korean fried chicken?”
It’s a great mystery, even in Korea. With my cultural background and family history, along with a lot of experimentation, I’ve become pretty good in the fried chicken arts–at least in the Southern fried chicken territory. In the past, I have also succeeded in mimicking the flavor of my favorite Korean chicken brand, Two Two Chicken, which is the classic fried chicken hof style. The hard part is getting the texture right.
The real Two Two Chicken
Eun Jeong and I went on the internet. We also checked out a TV program that quickly went behind the scenes of a chicken joint but didn’t divulge the secrets. I found a few recipes for Korean fried chicken, like this one in The New York Times from the cookbook Quick and Easy Korean Cooking (Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee), but none of them sounded like what we have in Korea. Eun Jeong checked Korean sites, and none of them sounded definitive. We then had a little pow wow about what we’ve heard over the years in Korean fried chicken techniques.
We decided to try three different approaches from our research to mimic the Two Two style.
Starch Only
Starch and Flour (3:2 ratio)
Starch and Water (thick slurry)
We used potato starch, but corn starch is more available in American kitchens. To each of them, I added the flavorings.
- 2 tsp. Chinese Five Spice
- 1 tsp. Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Ginger Powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
Two Two has a distinctive Chinese five spice scent, particularly star anise, with a touch of cinnamon. You can smell it whenever you’re in the vicinity of a chicken hof.
For an added bonus, I also experimented with making the Kyochon Chicken style. Kyochon is batter-based and has a deep garlic flavor with a little sweetness.
- 1/4 c. Starch
- 1/4 c. Flour
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
- 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 2 tsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Ginger Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- Water (enough to make a thick batter)
Since my primary goal was hitting the right texture, I didn’t bother to marinate the chicken. You can do that step if you want to. A diluted solution of raspberry vinegar is my preferred choice, but use any acidic marinade you want.
Chicken in this part of the world isn’t cut on the joints like western chicken. It’s hacked into bite-sized pieces with a Chinese cleaver or shears. It turns it into a challenge when trying to distinguish white and dark meat. But keeping it small helps it fry more quickly and evenly and works well for group eating. I should also note that a lot of restaurants fry chicken halves or quarters and hack them up after frying.
Breaking out my candy thermometer, I heated some vegetable oil between 300 to 350 degrees F. I had two or three pieces for each style and fried them separately for around five minutes each, draining them in a colander before putting them in their own little bowls. Here we go.
When they had all finished, I pumped up the oil to 375 degrees F. I then fried them a second time for around 2-3 minutes.
FINISHED. Now for judging.
Starch Only
This one looked very close to the Two Two style. The skin was papery and crinkled. The breading was light. Eun Jeong and I tasted it. Our conclusion–it was light but not crispy enough. In fact, it was a little rubbery and powdery. But it was close.
Starch and Flour
This looked heavier than what we got at the restaurants. Eun Jeong thought it looked the same. When we bit into them, we felt they were just about right. Just needed a little more salt.
Starch and Water
Scary looking. Eun Jeong liked this a little bit. I spit it out into the sink.
Kyochon Batter
We hit this one on the target. Glassy shatter on the crust. The inside exploded with juice. The taste was strong in garlic with a hint of sweet. In hindsight, I don’t think double frying was necessary.
So the winners were the Kyochon Batter and the Starch-and-Flour mixture. Here are the formal recipes.
Two Two Chicken (TTC)
INGREDIENTS
- Chicken, cut up
- 2/3 cup Corn Starch (or Potato Starch)
- 1/3 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 Tbsp. Chinese Five Spice
- 2 tsp. Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp. Ginger Powder
- 1 Tbsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. Black Pepper
- Oil, for frying
METHOD
1. Rinse and dry the chicken.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients. Heat the oil to 300 degrees F, not going over 350 degrees F.
3. Dredge the chicken pieces in the dry mixture and dust off so that there is just a light dusting on the chicken.
4. Fry just a few pieces at a time for around 5 minutes.
5. Drain the chicken and increase the oil temperature to 375 degrees F.
6. Fry the chicken a second time for 2-3 minutes to get a crispy texture.
7. Drain and serve immediately.
Kyochon Fried Chicken
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Chicken, cut up
- 1/4 c. Starch
- 1/4 c. Flour
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
- 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 2 tsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Ginger Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- Water (enough to make a thick batter)
- Oil, for frying
1. Rinse and dry the chicken.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients. Add water a little at a time until it becomes a thick batter, like pancake batter.
3. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F.
4. Dip the chicken pieces, one at a time, in the batter. Let the excess drip off and fry them in the oil for around five minutes. Don’t overcrowd. Fry just a few at a time.
5. Drain and serve immediately.
BONUS: Yangnyeom Sauce
The reason a lot of people love Korean fried chicken is the garlicky pepper sauce. You can glaze the chicken with this or use it as a dipping sauce. I’ve seen many versions of this on the internet, and I’ve broken it down to its essential components. You can add anything extra you want, such as pureed pineapple, apple or kiwi, which some restaurants do. Replace the corn syrup with honey. My version is very peppery. What you’re trying to accomplish is a shimmering glaze that’s fruity, garlicky, slightly salty and smooth with a good pepper kick. I’ve seen recipes that dilute it with ketchup, but no ketchup dares go near my fried chicken, bubba.
Yangnyeom Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
- 1/4 cup Corn Syrup
- 1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
- 4 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
- 2 tsp. Rice Vinegar
METHOD
1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan.
2. Heat slowly until it bubbles and the garlic has time to soften and steep. Be careful not to burn.
3. Drench the chicken in the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds.
So here we finally have Korean fried chicken recipes on the internet from Korea itself, based on the flavors of real Korean chicken hofs. Try this at home and add any techniques, observations or critiques in the comments. Like all restaurant copycat recipes, these aren’t exact but pretty close.
January 4, 2010
Intro to Korean Fried Chicken

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)
I have been meaning to tackle this subject for a while. I had my first taste of Korean fried chicken during my first week here in February 2004. Two Two Fried Chicken. I was instantly hooked.What makes Korean fried chicken so different?
That’s not an easy question to answer. There’s not some monolithic Korean chicken recipe. There are many styles. I shall concentrate on the big three styles coming from the big three chicken chains, Two Two, BBQ, and Kyochon.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)
Two Two style has the most Asian exotic flavor. There’s a little anise, black pepper, and cinnamon flavor to it. It’s similar to Chinese five spice but not exactly. On the Two Two web site, they say that they use traditional Korean medicine in the preparation. This follows a Sino-Korean approach to food and medicine. They are one and the same.
In fact, that is a major selling point in a lot of Korean foods, even fried chicken. The health benefits are advertised on the same level or more than the actual flavors.
Eun Jeong says that Koreans don’t like greasy foods. This is evident in the Two Two style of cooking the chicken. There is not much breading on the chicken pieces. They’re pre-fried and placed aside.
Pre-fried?
It’s strange, but there’s a method to this madness. In restaurants I’ve worked in, we pre-fried the french fries. We called this blanching. We then put the fries aside for later. When we fried them again in hotter oil, the results were fries that were crispy on the outside with a mashed potato consistency inside.
Yeah, yeah, you don’t get a mashed potato consistency in twice fried chicken. But you do get a crispier skin. Also, pre-frying lets the restaurant quickly prepare fresh chicken to order. Otherwise, you’d have a long wait for your chicken, or, like many American chains, you get chicken that has been sitting under a heat lamp, soaking in all its grease.
Fried chicken at Two Two comes with a salt, pepper, and sesame seed mixture and a spicy sweet garlicky dipping sauce. You can ask for your chicken yang-nyeom 양념 style, where they smother the whole chicken in the sauce. I sometimes like this. Brant can’t stand it. He calls it “yang-yuck” chicken (“It’s too too sweet”).
Most all the fried chicken establishments serve their chicken with the yang-nyeom sauce on the side or smothered all over.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)
My only complaint with Korean fried chicken is the sides. If there were biscuits or a decent coleslaw, it would be perfect. Instead, we usually get a pack of pickled radish, which even Koreans I know say isn’t that good. We also tend to get shredded cabbage drizzled in lines of ketchup and mayonnaise. Some establishments mix the ketchup and mayonnaise first. That’s the closest we get to coleslaw. Barbecued chicken restaurants do this too, but that’s another post. We eat these sides because they’re all that’s available, and they help cleanse the palate when the mouth becomes too overwhelmed.
That’s the Two Two style. It’s safe for me to claim that most chicken hofs use this style. And that’s another good thing about chicken hofs. They’re hofs. You can have beer with your chicken. In fact, yes, fried chicken is considered a drinking food–well, at least a party food. It’s not dinner. It’s something you eat after dinner or at a birthday party. You can even order draft beer to go.
There are Two-Two chains in Japan, Russia, Vietnam, and Australia. There don’t seem to be any in North America yet.

Now for the other styles.

BBQ (pronounced Bee-Bee-Cue) is the largest fried chicken chain in Korea. They have a thicker breading on their chicken and don’t use the twice frying method. It’s closer in style to American fried chicken. Yet the spices they use are different. I can’t put my finger on it. They brag on their web site that they use a lot of ’em.
BBQ also follows the trend of advertising its health benefits. When I first came to Korea, it was plugging its Calcium Fried Chicken.
I’m serious.
I don’t know still how they put the calcium in the fried chicken. Do they soak it in milk?
Now they advertise that they fry their chicken in 100% olive oil. They have big cans of olive oil sitting outside their stores.
Nonetheless, they put out some really good chicken. The flavor is addictive. If they ever set foot on American soil, they would expand as quickly as Krispy Kreme has expanded in Korea (there’s now a Krispy Kreme within walking distance to me… my poor waistline). So far, they have expanded into China and Spain.

This past summer, BBQ came out with what they called an African chicken. It’s a barbecued chicken that tastes very close to Jamaican jerk chicken. Another hit from those guys.
BBQ is not usually a chicken and beer place. Yet they have recently started opening “BBQ Chicken & Beer” hofs. I’d like to check that out sometime.
The third main style is Kyochon. Kyochon boasts that its chicken stays crispier longer. Their method is to dip their chicken in a sweet garlicky batter before frying. They also don’t pre-fry, and each time I’ve gone to Kyochon, it has been a long wait to get my order. They are also the greasiest of the three styles.
Nonetheless, they are good. I know some people who swear by Kyochon chicken. And the people I have introduced this to have been surprised by the flavor. It’s one of those chickens that causes, hmm, less than refined behavior in people–sucking on chicken parts, licking fingers, making Cro-magnon grunts.
Kyochon also promotes itself as “better-being.” I don’t know specifically what its health benefits are, but they do have a new walnut fried chicken that I haven’t tried yet. I think they’ve also resolved to stop using trans fats.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)
All Korean fried chicken places cut their chicken in the Asian style. Rather than cut them based on the joints between bones, they hack them with cleavers or scissors into mysterious pieces. This makes the dark meat almost indistinguishable from the white meat.
One thing I like about many of these chicken places is that these are great mom and pop operations. Last week, I got some chicken from a place close by that I hadn’t tried yet. They were a Two Two style hof. It was a wife, a husband, and two children in hapkido uniforms. The husband was very chatty and asked me lots of questions in Korean and English. He made me feel like they were cooking me a home cooked meal.
One of my first Korean friends outside of my workplace was the guy who owned the BBQ near my place. He always greeted me when I passed by and sometimes gave me discounts on the food.
One evening, I got stood up on a date, and took the long subway ride back home. I walked forlornly through my neighborhood to my apartment. The BBQ guy saw me pass and noticed I didn’t look like my usual happy self. He opened his cooler, tossed me a canned soda, and patted me on the back.
That, my friends, is Korean hospitality.
Update: Kyochon has opened its first store in New York.
KYOCHON CHICKEN This Korean 1,050-restaurant chain, said to be the inspiration for the wave of Korean fried chicken spots in New York and on the West Coast, has opened its first New York outpost. Two more will open in Bayside, Queens, in a few weeks: 156-50 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, Queens, (718) 939-9292.
February 3, 2007