TL;DR: It's fried chicken. Fried chicken is always fantastic, especially with how the Koreans have gotten their creative minds into it. Each time I have left with a smile on my face. Korean Burger is no exception and might have started the ball rolling all that time back.
Could it have set the trend years back before any of us locals knew it? Korean Burger takes the quiet achiever of the Asian cuisines and takes a spin on it. Korean cuisine has adapted to the familiarity of fast food uniquely. It has its spin on things, where time and again I have been left suitably impressed.
The little place takes a mere pocket not too far from the Gabba stadium, and I have seen it out of the corner of my eye all this time. Thoughts about going there may have materialised, but never come to fruition. That was until one night, all by falling into place.
It had been a chaotic week, and I was behind in the wrestling. Especially more so with the SummerSlam weekend, that like with any self-respecting Big Four weekend started with an NXT TakeOver event. Nevertheless, late or not, I ensure the routine goes as such - go onto the WWE Network, put on the game, then plug in some food to eat while watching said event.
For the chosen food this time, I mostly went with the usual route. MenuLog stepped up to the plate for the outing. There was one initial place I had in mind, which fell through on the night. Nevertheless, everything has a plan in the end, which led us to the next choice. That was "Korean Burger".
NXT TakeOver XXX - no, get your mind out of the gutter, those are Roman numerals - had already started playing, so I was thinking on my feet. That is why you have a shortlist on hand, and right on without missing a beat, I went. Within about half an hour, the rider was parking his motorbike at the foot of the driveway. There is not a better way to get your food delivered than by motorbike, especially when the food was still piping hot from the kitchen.
Everything is kept simple with their menu. There is the namesake of the place, which is burgers. These are relatively cheap in comparing to what is around, and rice replaces the standard bread bun. On the other end is KFC - that being from Korea. Five different options for flavour and you can throw fries in on the side to make a full meal. Drinks are available; the range is the usual lot from the fridge.
I found it to be a decent deal going half-and-half. Plus, boneless did not cost anything extra either, so it was that much better. The two flavours were crispy (a.k.a. the original salted flavour), and soy (swimming in a sweet soy sauce). To beef up the meal, I got two lots of beer-battered fries and some pickled radish. One bonus extra that came as a surprise was a hashbrown each. These were alright as hashbrowns go, but an alright free extra will always be that mark better.
In addition to the order, to possibly honour the namesake on top of it, I threw in a rice burger. The choice was beef bulgogi. Accompanying the much-beloved marinated beef recipe was some lettuce and red onion, finished off with a squirt of mayonnaise. Also on the burger, I got kimchi and cheese as extras.
Going around to the hashbrown again, I don't reckon these were the usual lot. Sometimes you know the kitchen has a mass volume in the freezer, this time the hashbrown did not have that uniform texture feel. So a plus to that.
Without any question, beer-battered fries are the way to go. Every single time they prove to be upmost crispy, and that was no exception for this time around. The seasoning was a little on the light end, yet each other aspect was present. An oddity in the ordering process caused there to be both a large and small fries thrown into the mix. That is more on MenuLog's side, making an oddity which this time worked for the better - do you think I would complain about extra fries? The long and short is the side dish is just as tasty.
I was surprised about the portion of the radish than anything. Like with many vegetables on the side - e.g. the celery with chicken wings - I have no strong opinions about it. It is nice and refreshing on the side, giving a palate cleanse to the full-on flavour and gastronomy that Korean Fried Chicken is known for having. Let's say the Colonel's spin on it looks like kids gloves.
In which that brings us to the main event of this evening, the fried chicken itself. It possibly has been both times that when going large, these Korean places allow for the chance to give two different flavours a go. As previously mentioned, the choices were soy and crispy. For which one will is getting preference, both of them are as good as the other - it is about what others tend to prefer. What got at me at first, though, had to be the size of the platter. You could bring an order of it into catering, maybe to your next office party - there was that much to go around. Since these were boneless, there was no illusion about the quantity.
Original recipe or whatever the chosen moniker is, that stigma exists - it will be bland, or considerably under-flavoured in comparison. The short answer is "not at all". There was quite the marsala of spices thrown into the batter, which was crispy and covered every piece of chicken effectively. These morsels were irresistible, as I could not stop eating them. Two big stomachs here polished them off. Let's not forget, however, the soy flavour. Drenched in a sticky soy sauce, they were a tad on the sweet side. Much like the other flavour, these pieces of chicken were just as crispy and piping hot from the fryer. Not to forget, the chicken meat was succulent, juicy, and tender. Let's face the universal fact - fried chicken is heaven-sent.
It has been every single time that Korean Fried Chicken has been the choice, that has not let me down. Said streak continues for the night, bringing something different each time. The rice burgers are something that can efficiently work when done right, plus fried chicken will always please a crowd. Whether Korean Burger was the first in town that I saw this version of fried chicken be so portable or not, it has still been an excellent precedent in Brisbane's gastronomy.
There were no bells and whistles, and nothing up the sleeve with this outing. None of those bells and whistles was necessary either, which is testament enough to the quality brought forth. This dinner showcases Korean Burger as a reliable old place, that is a high mark in quality and value.
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