Famous South Korean chain – NeNe Chicken – is opening their first North American location today. NeNe Chicken was founded in 1999 and has chains worldwide including in Singapore, Australia and Japan. NeNe Chicken’s claim to fame is their juicy and crispy chicken. Unlike other Korean fried chicken spots they have specially made takeout boxes that keep your chicken hot and crispy. These boxes couldn’t have come at a better time, because they’re perfect for bringing to a picnic. The boxes even have a section for your drink. Keep reading to see if the new NeNe Chicken Vancouver location is worth checking out!
There are so many options to choose from – boneless, wing, or drumstick. I personally love boneless because it is so easy to eat and no hassle of bone clean up. Additionally, they have a lot of flavours to pick from – Original, Swicy (sweet and spicy), Freaking Hot, Snowing Cheese, Snowing Chili, Soy Garlic, and Green Onion. On this visit, I tried Freaking Hot and Soy Garlic. Unfortunately on our visit they had run out of pickled radish cubes, which in my opinion is essential to the Korean fried chicken eating experience.
If you’re an avid Korean drama watcher like me, you will have seen these ‘two finger’ gloves to eat with. They were so satisfying to use to eat my fried chicken with! However, they don’t protect you from how hot the chicken is, so be careful when you’re picking up pieces!
I pride myself on my spice tolerance, but they weren’t kidding with the ‘Freaking Hot’ flavour. This one packed a punch. I was definitely sweating a little while eating this! I found that this chicken was a little over sauced which resulted in the batter becoming a bit soggy.
The Soy Garlic was our second flavour and it was good! It had a nice crisp texture on the outside with a slightly sweet soy coating. It was my favourite of the two.
Both had extremely juicy chicken, and the take out boxes are definitely unique. However, I don’t think NeNe Chicken will be replacing my favourite Korean fried chicken spots any time soon.
