I should have researched a bit more, before visiting Bonchon, to discover the differences between Korean fried chicken and Japanese fried chicken. Turns out there are quite a few.
I’d been expecting the delightful soft crunch of a well-breaded Japanese karaage, where a pre-fry bath of non-gluten starch (rice or potato or maybe cornstarch) sticks to the bird’s ribs and to yours, too. I can’t say enough about the wizardry and comfort of that soft crunch when it’s done well, as at Mike Ransom’s SuperCrisp in Detroit. One internet commenter extolled karaage as “giving you the feeling of eating chicken and fries at the same time!”
Of course, recipes are going to differ not just country to country but chef to chef. Whether Japanese or Korean, they’re all going to be twice-fried, once in advance and again when the customer orders — which is brilliant — but is the chicken marinated, what type of starch is used, is there a glaze? At Bonchon, a Korea-based chain with stores in Southeast Asia, France, Australia, and the U.S., there’s no marinade, and the starch is regular white flour. A “Signature Sauce” is “hand-brushed” on at the end — Spicy or Soy Garlic.
That produces a finish that’s flat, sweet, and sticky rather than soft-crunch-starchy. I prefer the latter. The chicken itself, in the drumsticks I ordered, was moist enough, but not squirty-moist as in the best karaage, or in the best Southern-style fried chicken either, for that matter.
But at this bare-bones place — eat off a tray with junior-size plasticware, get your drinks from a dispenser — there’s more on the menu than chicken. (Ignore Bonchon’s ambitious corporate website, where the list includes fried octopus dumplings, bibimbap, and udon soup, and is three times as long as what’s actually offered in Farmington Hills.)
There are two versions of potstickers, stir-fry, and a raft of fried side dishes. Veggie potstickers are crunchier than you expect potstickers to be. To dress them, choose the spicy mayo, ordered separately, rather than the Spicy sauce, which just tastes like hot+vinegar.
Japchae is marinated ribeye with glass noodles and stir-fried vegetables, a rather soft and undistinguished mixture, though the extra-long noodles are good for slurping. The beef is slightly smoky.
The signature chicken sandwich is large and unwieldy; I can’t recommend it for carry-out. Its “toasted brioche” bun is just a regular hamburger bun, and the two fat strips of chicken tend to slip out of the bun as you bite down. Because the whole contraption had more going on than the plain drumsticks, what with the heaping coleslaw, I liked it better. As with all the chicken dishes, choose either Spicy or Soy Garlic sauce.
Other main dishes are fried rice, katsu (panko-breaded boneless chicken on rice), and Korean tacos. I liked the tacos despite the confusion inherent in this attempt at fusion: chicken or ribeye (bulgogi) is topped with lettuce, coleslaw, spicy mayo (an alarming orange), buttermilk ranch, and red onion, on thick flour tortillas. The beef was plentiful and nicely marinated and the three tacos overall a sizable meal.
Korean street corn is a fiery side topped with little scallion rings, more or less like canned corn if you dumped in some chili powder, somewhat creamy, better than I’m making it sound. The small size is large. “Spicy fries” are just normal and numerous, dusted with Parmesan. Other sides are onion rings, coleslaw, kimchi, kimchi coleslaw, and edamame.
For dessert I tried a trio of mochi in strawberry, matcha, and salted caramel, and they were each the Platonic ideal of their flavors. Another night “Korean doughnuts” turned out to be two large cinnamony phalluses — neither doughnut nor hole — with the right balance of semi-crisp exterior and doughy insides and that exquisite fried-dough flavor.
What does it say when at a restaurant that wants to be known for its fried chicken, the reviewer says, “Try the beef tacos?” You tell me.
Bonchon means “My hometown, my roots.” There’s a second location in Troy at 738 East Big Beaver Rd.
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