Saturday, March 9, 2013

A taste of Korea - BBQ Chicken Singapore

Lunch on weekdays is usually simple fare for me but once in a while, a little treat is needed to keep the engine going for the rest of the work day. My first encounter with BBQ Chicken was when it first opened at Downtown East and I remember being impressed with what I ate then. In recent years, the franchise has expanded to other parts of the island so it's been much easier to get access to Korean chicken cuisine nowadays.

Since it was during the lunchtime promotion when I visited the outlet, I got the 1-for-1 offer which allows you to order a main dish and another salad/soup/side dish/pasta etc. This is the smoked duck salad with citrus sauce which I got that day as part of the offer. It was good that the vegetables were scrunchy while the citrus sauce didn't seem overly sweet and could take away a little bit of the saltiness in the smoked duck slices. Overall, this was a pretty good salad which met my expectations.

And this is the main dish i.e. jerk chicken with two sides. I chose mashed potato and coleslaw to go with the chicken. The coleslaw's quality can vary at times so it was a relief that this visit happened to be one of those where the coleslaw was up to standard. I usually order jerk chicken since I like it for its moist and flavourful meat. Once in a while, I would order the Korean fried chicken which somehow differs from the fast-food versions from chains like KFC, Popeyes or Texas. Maybe it was the spices used or the cooking method should be different. I've not tried the Korean fried chicken at places like Kko Kko Nara so I can't really tell if the fried chicken here is indeed authentic or has been modified to fit the local tastebud.

Something odd this time was that instead of the usual drumstick, it was a piece of chicken cutlet. I wonder if that had to do with the fact that I ordered an offer set compared to ordering it ala-carte. I think the texture of the meat does differ depending on the part used so I do pay attention to this when ordering meat dishes. Despite this hiccup, the dish still lived up to its usual standard and did not fail to disappoint in terms of flavour.

Upon leaving the restaurant, I was a bit surprised to see Cha Tae-hyun appearing in the promotional ads. Since when did he become the personality for BBQ Chicken? ^__^ I haven't been to any BBQ Chicken restaurant for a short while and I remember not seeing him during my last visit. The 1n2d exposure must have brought some new ads or jobs to the boys so it's a good thing after all to see Tae-hyun's ad outside of Korea. It's interesting to see his myriad of expressions on these ads just as what he shows in 1n2d. If you are a Cha Tae-hyun fan, you should head to any BBQ Chicken outlet and look at him for all you want while munching on Korean fried chicken.

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