The Philippines not only seems to be crazy about Korean Pop songs or Koreanovelas but also with their chicken. The past year have seen a wave of Korean Chicken restaurants and it is still growing. It’s no surprise now that Korea’s popular fried chicken brand, Kyochon will find its way in our shores. With more than 1,000 stores in South Korea alone since they opened and expanding worldwide, KyoChon is not afraid to be late in the Philippines korean chicken market. Like their superstar endorser Lee Min Ho who loves their chicken, they are banking in the natural honest to goodness flavor that Filipinos would also love like the koreanovelas the restaurant has appeared at. Happyfoodies got to try out Kyochon chicken just a week after they opened to see (and taste) what sets their Korean chicken apart.
A Good Sit-down Restaurant
Kyochon‘s first branch is at SM Megamall. The restaurant has and eco-friendly design making use of wood and metal. The lighting is balanced and warm and the music was (thankfully) unobtrusive. Unlike the other Korean chicken restaurants, Kyochon is not fast food. Guest would be be led to their tables and given a menu to order. That is when the staff would start cooking their food and would take about 10-15 minutes. I like that the place feels unhurried and encourages good conversation with friends or family.
Korean Fried Chicken
Kyochon makes three promises: “First, we won’t make fast food. Second, we only use natural ingredients. Third, we only make healthy chicken with honesty.” While the idea of having “fried” and “healthy” going together seemed a little incongruent, Kyochon does assure their chicken are fried differently in canola oil and utilizes natural spices for the flavors.
We got to try four types of chicken and I could say they were generally scrumptious to the bone. They don’t feel greasy and I don’t feel bloated after. It’s just a matter of preference whether you try the original series (soy and garlic), red series (spicy), honey series (sweet honey choice) and soonsal series (boneless, rice-battered served with mustard and jambalaya sauce). My personal favorites were the original series that goes well with their Kimchi Fried Rice and the red series with that distinct Korean spice I was looking for goes well with their Garlic Buttered Rice.
The prices for their chicken remains competitive. The wing parts are priced at Php 149 for the small (5 pieces), Php 290 for the medium (10 pieces) and Php 540 for the large (20 pieces). The drumsticks have the same price but different quantities for small (2 pieces), medium (4 pieces) and large (8 pieces)
Side Dishes
Aside from the fried chicken, there are interesting side dishes worthy to try. I especially liked the pickled radish to start of with. It was tangy and sweet. The Green Salad has a good mix of five kinds of fresh veggies and a choice of blueberry or orange dressing. The Wedge Potatoes, one of the recent additions to their menu were crispy and tasty.
Beverages
Kyochon also special iced tea in their menu. We tried the Barley and Corn tea which were true to their natural tea flavors. Don’t expect the sugar-coated flavors of commercial teas, this one is good to freshen up the palate. There’s also the usual sodas in their menu.
Kyochon
Megamall Mega-B, Ground Level
Follow @KyochonPH and their FB Page www.facebook.com/kyochonph
