Newsflash: KFC is the next big thing.
I know what you’re thinking: I’ve come a bit late to the party, considering Kentucky Fried Chicken commenced operations in 1930, however the ‘K’ I’m referring to is Korean. In the past few years, Korean fried chicken has rapidly been appearing on menus all over Sydney and Melbourne.
Following the recommendation of the Melbourne Urban Walkabout Guide, I headed down a laneway close to Southern Cross Station in search of a tiny Korean restaurant by the name of Chick-In, for a quick snack before an AFL game. Having only finished our meal at Bistro Vue a few short hours ago, my boyfriend and I were not hugely hungry, however the exorbitant prices at Etihad Stadium do encourage you to fill up before you make it to the game.
Chick-In
As might be deduced from their name, chicken is the main draw, so we went for the gang jung (crispy breast and thighs) and wingettes + drumettes; and to avoid a fried chicken overload, we also ordered some dumplings. We were stunned by the size of the chicken dishes when they arrived. The gang jung turned out to be a mountain of fried chicken pieces, potato wedges and rice cake rolls. The waitress then presented us with a wooden board piled high with sticky wing and mini drumsticks. Bear in mind that we only ordered small sizes of both, for a very reasonable price of $30 in total!
GANG JUNG – Boneless Crispy Breast and Thigh with Potato and Rice Cake
WING and DRUM – Wingette + Drummette, Choice of Seasoned, Soy or Spicy
The chicken was juicy and tasty, however I would have preferred if the sauce was served on the side, rather than coated with it, as it doesn’t allow for the super crisp texture that you want in fried chicken. The fact that there was any crunch at all was quite impressive, considering the amount of sauce on both dishes. Despite the gang jung having soy flavoured sauce and the wingettes + drumettes chili, they both tasted sweet, with the only difference being some very faint heat with the latter.
The pan-fried prawn dumplings were full of flavour, and cooked well, with the wrapper soft and crisp in all the right places. However, the texture of the filling was too mushy for my liking; I like to be able to bite into chunks of prawns in my dumplings.
Fried Prawn Dumplings
TL;DR
- The taste and concept is there, just requires a few tweaks to bring the food to amazing
- Interesting Korean-Western fusion items on the menu; would like to go back and try some of the other dishes!
Chick-In
G23/620 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
T: (03) 9973 6244
W: Chick-In
wanderluxelife 