Hyejin's DD Fried Chicken Hyejin DD Fried Chicken Hyejin's DD Fried Chicken I am lucky to work with a group of very talented chefs that work diligently. Chef Hyejin has been working with us for over a year and I have seen her grow as a person, chef, and teacher in that time. She has an incredible arsenal of techniques and the keen attention to detail that transform food from into an experience. One of our first students, Joseph, has been taking classes with us for one year because he is planning on opening a fried chicken restaurant in his homeland. His family owns a chicken farm there and fell in love with the way Koreans do chicken. Hyejin has developed many recipes and sauces for Joseph and we think we are nearing chicken perfection.  In the pictures you can see the different types of chicken she has come up with. We learned the best way to add crackle to the chicken is to dredge the chicken in a mix of flour and corn starch and then let it sit for at leas...

My diet has hit a wall this week. I mean the week started out good. I went running Monday- Wednesday, but then work and meetings and late night drinking took over. I'll get back on the wagon soon. The other thing that is ruining my diet are all the delivery chicken places around here (Haebangchon). The newest one is BBQ Chicken. I think they make the best batter for the chicken and they fry everything in olive oil, so...it's healthy fried chicken, right? The oil does make it seem less greasy and there is a nice crunch. The spicy one was...spicy. Loved it and the plain was just like the crispy chicken from KFC. Good stuff. 02-1588-9282

The blogging contest over at Koreataste.org has been heating up and there has been a lot of different types of content being shown off on the site. I discovered this the other day: a comic on Kyochon Chicken. It's very cute and I think quite spot on. Please help the contestant by writing a comment or clicking thumbs up. Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

The Frypan: Seoul's Fried Chicken Strips There is a serious backlog of posts that I need to start hammering out, so let's get started with the Frypan. This is a Hongdae University joint that started out as a school project and has now become a nationwide franchise. The place is hip and everything has a youthful vibe going on. I love how everything is made fresh- even the thinly sliced potato chips. You can get boneless chicken strips made from breast meat or you can get chicken legs for those looking for some flavorful dark meat. The dipping sauces are nice as well- I think a Thai chili sauce and a mayonnaise garlic dip. The boat of salad is good as well and pairs nicely with all the greasiness. These kids figured out the game for making money, so you can't order the giant humongoid pictures of Korean beer. They have ice-cold, individual mugs of beer. Oh, and their pickled turnip things have a curry zing to them and come out yellow. Of note: I believe these kids ...

Kyochon Chicken Kyochon Chicken holds a special place in my heart for it was one of the first chicken places that I went to while in Korea. The chicken is crisp and the sauce was flavorful. Also, it was reasonably priced, so I was quite happy to enjoy some chicken with friends over a bucket of beer.  Now the last time I went, I noticed that my favorite "local" chicken house has all "growns up" (sorry...a bad allusion to the movie Swingers). The interior has gotten more posh, they offer Heineken, and the wait times have gotten longer and prices have gone up. Oh, and the chicken? Meh. The chicken still tastes good, but the wings and legs we got were like all bone and they were tiny. And for 17,000 won to get 18 tiny wings and legs is just unacceptable. And we had to wait 30 minutes to get them! Also, the hot sauce on the spicy ones were just so hot they you couldn't enjoy the flavor. I was thinking I might have played it up too much in my mind- maybe, it real...

Cup of Spicy Chicken How about a cup of fried boneless chicken chunks tossed with tater tots and fried rice cake? at Hong Cup in Hongdae,  Kim Ji-yeon is doing just that. The sauces are homemade, the beer is cold, and the cozy place is great for a quick late night snack with friends. Oh, and the price? It’s only 2,000 won for the small cup of chicken and beer is also 2,000- you can add a shot of soju to make so-maek for only 1,000 more. She even has a cheddar cheese chicken up on the menu (3,000 won)- I’m going to have to get that next time. Hong Cup Mapo-gu Seogyodong 365-16 070-8777-9158 Go out Hongdae Station Exit 9 (formerly 5) and make a left. At the main road make a right and walk to the road. Cross to the other side and make a left at Tony Moly down the little alley. It’ll be 2 minutes up on the left. 2,000-4,000 per person

I love the Frypan. I love the style of the restaurant, the crisp chicken that is well seasoned and the freshly grilled potato chips they serve the chicken on. The only think I don't like is that I can't get pitchers of beer and it is a tad expensive. The chicken is crisp and well seasoned- like awesome KFC before the colonel sold out and added MSG to his secret original recipe. The chicken is also crisp and the breading is more southern than the crackling Korean style chicken you often fine. It's good chicken. the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer: Cool Style, but when I was in there they were ready for Christmas the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer's Fleet of Chips topped with Crisp Chicken But I'll tell you what, it's a place that I love to go to because often its like the 3rd round or something and you don't want to have a lot of food, but since you have to order food with your drinks in Korea, shouldn't you...

YK Nothing Special Here, just beer, snacks and turnip About a week ago I went to Madak over by Nambu Terminal for some fried chicken and smoked chicken topped with YK. The place is pretty new (they just opened in 2009) and they are known for their finely minced garlic that they serve with their chicken. Besides the garlic, it's your typical chicken place that has beer, radish cubes, and puffed snack balls. It's not overly expensive either. The Minced Garlic You might think that the garlic is a gimmick, but I must say that it is not. The garlic has been minced super fine and they put something on it (I haven't figured out what it is, but I figure it must be a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice that they mix into the garlic and then rinse off). Whatever the process for making the garlic is, I must say that it works. It's not pungent and pepperminty (the garlic in Korea tends to pack quite a punch). I could have eaten the garlic just by itself, but it went very ...

Spring Onion Chicken at Korean Mania Chicken.  Fried Chicken and Beer is a magical combination that I think all people can agree with. The crisp, greasy chicken is washed down with the sparkling bitter slosh of brew. Now a stronger microbrew probably would be too strong for the crisp, light taste of Korean chicken, but the light Korean beers are a great pairing. A week ago, I went to Shinchon for a good-bye party for a couple of my friends. For the first round we went to Korean Mania Chicken. This is another chicken franchise located in Korea like BBQ, Kyochon, Hotsun, and TwoTwo. The thing about Korean Mania is that they are at a lower pricepoint than most of the other restaurants (You can get an order of chicken for 10,000) and I think they have very crisp chicken with a light batter. Friends A close up of the spring onion chicken with tangy sauce. We started out with the Spring Onion Chicken (파닭). This was boneless chicken- mainly skin- that is fried and served with green ...

A person I know named raves about Raggae Chicken and was greatly offended when I didn't include it in my Korean Fried Chicken Story.  Now I don't exactly know how I ended up there one night, but I stumbled over there with a few of my friends. So where is it? Hmmmm...I know it's on the opposite side of exit five. You go up on that side of the street and make a left down a side street. I'll try and get better directions later. It's a hippie looking chicken house and the people who work there all have that rasta thing going on. Oh, btw, I recommend you use the bathroom before you head there- it's a little closet that's pretty rancid. The disco balls are quite nice. Here is an interior shot. My friends. The one on the bottom is Sosun. I'm surprised I was able to take the picture. It was a long night of drinking before we arrived at Reggae Chicken. I believe we arrived around 2am or so. We started the evening with soju bombs (beer with shots of soju) an...

Here's a video from my Foodie Friend Tamar on how to cook Chuncheon chicken wings (춘천 닭 날개). You can see more of her foodie posts at http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/

This Cute Little Shop always has a huge line. In English it is Mamae Cup Chicken. It's 1000 for a small cup and 2000 for a large cup. I believe they recently changed the name to Lee' cup of Chicken. They mix pieces of crisp chicken and fried rice cakes in a sweet and spicy chili sauce and then layer in tater tots and top this with honey mustard. Here are the ladies hard at work assembling the Spicy Cup O' Chicken. Here is the finished cup. Just grab a toothpick and go for a walk. Location: Right down from the main entrance from Sookmyeong Woman's University.

Here is Hot Sun's Garlic Baked Chicken Kevin with some new Korean friends. Damn...Kevin is Pretty Popular. Close up of the garlic chicken from Hotsun. Kyochon's half original and half spicy chicken. They are like little nuggets of gold. And here is Two Two's Original Chicken. We also got some salt grilled chicken just to see the difference. Here is the salt grilled chicken. It was not bad. It was juicy and well seasoned. And below is a close up of Two Two's Original. Kevin's ranking 1. Kyochon's original 2. Kyochon's spicy 3. Two Two's Salt Grilled My Ranking 1. Two Two's Salt Grilled 2. Hotsun's Garlic Baked 3. Kyochon's original Dan

I write up one little Facebook Status Report and I get tons of opinions and threats on my life about which place has the best chicken in Seoul, Korea. Here's the Back Story. My friend Kevin came to Seoul for the weekend and he wanted to go eat Korean fried chicken. I decided that we should go to - not one but- 3 chicken places. We went to Kyochon, Two Two, and Hotsun. All of these places were near the Kyobo building. I'll post the video we made later. Here is my facebook status update Daniel Gray ate at 3 Korean chicken places with Kevin in order to find the best Chicken in Korea. The verdict: Kyochon is the best. By the way, enter the Rice cake contest! http://www.seouleats.com/2009/04/rice-cake-tteok-or-duk-or-dduk-making.html 7:27am · Comment · Like A ND HERE ARE ALL THE COMMENTS. Last names have been omitted to protect the guilty. Therese at 7:31am April 2 REALLY i hate kyochon did you try na na ? Therese at 7:32am April 2 oh and wish I was here for the competition Mich...