The Kodiak Club Bears a Visit

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Posted on April 5, 2013

We have finally been able to review this Kodiak Club, and it has been a long time coming. Whenever Hollywood mentioned The Chicken Scene and how we are trying to put a spotlight on Melbourne Fried Chicken options, someone would always say “You need to try The Kodiak Club” or “the best wings you can find are at the Kodiak Club” would float about. So it was with high expectations that we set out for the Kodiak Club.

Where Grizzly’s go to unwind with a good cocktail.

Kodiak Club sits on bustling Brunswick St in Fitzroy and is named for the iconic Alaskan Grizzly bear, which are known to enjoy a good chunk of fatty meat, but they are not nearly so picky about the breading as we are.

A quick perusal of the American comfort food inspired menu (where is the Mac n Cheese? The Chick wondered) concluded with the following order: Jalapeño Bottlecaps, 3 Deviled Eggs, a half dozen of the Kodiak’s famous buffalo wings, a Kodiak burger, and an order of Chicken and Waffles. The Kodiak also boasts a good range of drinks and we chose to stick with the American theme; The Chick got a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Hollywood smashed a Brooklyn Lager. Christina ended up with the ‘house white’ when they were out of her preferred wine.

: Fun Fact: Kodiak Bears do not live in the Sierra Nevada

The menu advertised the fried chicken as buttermilk fried chicken served on top of a buttery waffle with real Canadian maple syrup on the side; but Hollywood was worried it wouldn’t be enough. The Chick assured him we could always order more wings or chicken if the portion size was not American inspired.

Entrees: A new take on Jalepaño Poppers and a posh Deviled Egg

The Deviled Eggs and Jalapeño Bottlecaps arrived first and delighted from the first bite. The Chick remembers Deviled Eggs from simpler times growing up on the West Coast of the US, The Kodiak take was a bit more sophisticated with pickled onions and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. The bottlecaps were fresh from the fryer, and accordingly hot. Unlike the Jalapeño Poppers The Chick was expecting, these little bites had just a slice of jalapeño and the rest was gooey cream cheese, held together by a light and crispy breading. She ate 4 of the 8 pieces.

Before finishing the entrees the burger, the fried chicken and last but not least the buffalo wings arrived. The burger was very juicy and saucy in just the right way.

We love saucy burgers. If it doesn’t drip, it isn’t worth the calories.

The fried chicken was hot and had a crispy fluffy breading. It was a boneless thigh piece resting elegantly on a thin, slightly sweet waffle. It was very well spiced and superbly done. This one was a winner, and definitely more on the greasy than most of our reviewed places. Mixing it with the waffle and the maple syrup gave a good blend of spicy and sweet that made us crave more.

Not American Sized – but full of the right flavors

Three pieces of greasing delight. One down.

The whole point of the Chicken and Waffle scenario is the sweet, greasy, savory combo.

Hollywood turned his cravings to the buffalo wings, which also didn’t disappoint. Hollywood found they had a really good hot sauce, but The Chick felt they lacked a bit of heat, clearly for those who do not see hot wings as a test of will. They were cooked well and as advertised made him contemplate ordering more.

We finished up with an order of brown betty for dessert that had a good mix of crumbled buttery sweetness on top, cooked nectarines and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not the best of the dishes, but a pleasant ending.

Kodiak Club is a good choice for burgers, fried chicken and buffalo wings that definitely stands out. Go there now!

Hollywood’s rating: 9/10 Clucks (extra points for good music – Express Yourself by NWA always welcome)

The Chick’s rating: 9/10 Clucks (loved the nostalgia kick of all these American treats)

UPDATE: In Hollywood’s recent visit he sadly found out that the Kodiak Club is no longer doing their Fried Chicken dish. They do still have the wings which are still amazing. The wall of clucks shall be updated accordingly

Mamak Needs More Spices

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Posted on March 29, 2013

We had been here a few times before and tried various Malaysian dishes. We noticed many people ordering the fried chicken and it looked pretty appealing. So we decided to add Mamak to the list of Melbourne Fried Chicken places.

Mamak is a busy venue that does not take reservations. We have been amazed by how quickly a long queue can form that spills out into the street. The display window demonstrates how they make their roti; distracting you from the long wait and impressing you with their dough handling skills.

We had our sight and taste buds set for Mamak before heading to an Iggy Pop gig and what better way than to enjoy a rock concert than with a belly full of spicy Melbourne Fried Chicken.

We ordered the Roti Telur (classic egg roti), Kangkung Belacan (Stir fried water spinach with chillies and shrimp paste), and the Ayam Goren (Malaysian style fried chicken, which the menu boasted to be marinated with herbs and spices and full of flavor). The deal was to get 4 pieces of fried chicken for $14 and you can order single pieces for $4 a piece. So we took the deal and got 4.

The Roti Telur and spinach arrived first and we dug into them straight away. We were no strangers to theses dishes and they continued to please. Mamak has really good roti that must be tried and the spinach was spicy and very yummy (if you like the slightly fishy taste of shrimp paste).

The chicken had a wait time of 15 minutes. It arrived shortly after we were done with our first two dishes. It was very hot and golden which made us happy. However it lacked of the spices we were expecting. All the pieces were thighs and not spiced at all. They had a basic chicken taste which was ok, but not the best meat we’ve had. Extra points were earned for it being freshly made. The Chick was sad the roti dipping sauces had been taken away and ended up dipping the chicken in the spinach sauce to get some extra spice. A bit of chili sauce would have hit the spot. Being the dark meat, the thighs made us feel a bit heavy and we longed for some variety of chicken pieces, perhaps the table nearby got all breasts?

The chicken seems to be what many people order at Mamak, however we dont feel it was the star dish of Mamak and we definitely wouldn’t consider Mamak as our source of heavenly fried chicken. On the other hand, Mamak’s roti is really good and so are many of its other Malaysian dishes. We will be back to try out more.

Hollywood’s rating: 5.5/10 clucks

The Chick’s rating: 6/10 clucks

Say Hey Joe’s Bar and Dining Hall

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Posted on March 19, 2013

We were directed here by a post on our Facebook page recommending the famous Joes’ Bar and Dining Hall which featured Melbourne Fried Chicken. The recommendation came from their executive chef: Katrina Higham. So we put it up on our Wall Of Clucks, waited for the right night and got ready to fly.

The Chick had just arrived from a long trip to the US and was ready to get her fingers greasy with some Melbourne Fried Chicken. We decided to cycle down to Joe’s to build up an appetite. We figured since their menu had the fried chicken as a snack we could have it as a light meal before the Chick passed out from Jetlag.

Right on the corner of Acland and Carlisle in St Kilda, Joe’s is a cross between a bar and a diner with both indoor and outdoor seating.

Upon looking at the menu it became clear our light meal plans were pointless since we had to try both the chicken and the burgers. The waiter told us that the chicken serve consisted of 3 pieces and could be sufficient as a meal on its own. So we decided on ordering the Southern Fried Chicken with chipotle sauce and lime, the beef sliders and onion rings and a good Victorian brewed pale lager for Hollywood and Daylesford ginger beer for the Chick.

The food arrived and we sunk our teeth into the hot chicken. The skin seemed moist and fluffy which was to Hollywood’s liking and the meat was cooked perfectly, tender and hot. All the chicken pieces were breast pieces, no bones about it. The true star feature of Joe’ southern fried chicken was the spice mix. The skin had a great spicy taste that made it very flavorful and just spicy hot to the right level that made us drooling for more and more. Now factor in the chiptole side sauce and the lime and you’ve got a dish that will make you say “Hey” . To give credit where it’s due, Joe’s Bar has mastered a southern fried chicken dish that is not to be overlooked. Thank You Joe! We’ll be back for sure, however Hollywood felt we might be needing more than just 3 pieces next time.

The beef sliders and onion rings were good, but not the stars. We finished off with dessert: chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie for Hollywood, peanut butter ice cream cup that the Chick had the hots for and thought was incredible. But really, how can you go wrong with ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter!

Overall, Joe’s Bar and Dining Hall has really good chicken and atmosphere and we are keen on going to get some more. Hopefully we will get a chance to try the much raved about burgers. Go There Now!

Holywood Rating: 8.5/10 Clucks (Extra pointsfor the cool hip hop vibes – Q-Tip and Wu-Tang, keep ’em coming)

The Chick Rating: 8.5/10 Cluck (extra points for good use of social media and spices!)

KFC (featuring The Guns)

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Posted on March 11, 2013

It was a Friday night and Hollywood and the Guns were sinking a few cold ones in the hot Melbourne weather. There it was across the street, they were eyeing it, then eyeing each other, and in a weird way they knew it was eyeing them back. Yes, it was the big cluck monster of Melbourne Fried Chicken: KFC!

The Guns dropped it in mid conversation “We should have some food after these drinks and it’s about time you reviewed KFC”. There was a frequent argument presented by Melbourne Fried Chicken fans that we needed to review KFC because it could be considered as a baseline . KFC’s wicked wings were also being talked up largely. Hollywood knew The Chick wasn’t too keen on sampling KFC so considering she was out of town, this seemed like a good opportunity. So we downed our beers and headed over to KFC.

From looking at the menu we noticed that KFC were trying to promote their chicken burgers more than anything else, but we weren’t to be distracted. After a long discussion we decided on getting 2 orders of wicked wings (3 pieces) and 2 orders of 3 piece dinner boxes. We placed our orders and Hollywood tried being smart by asking for the chicken to be cooked fresh but was given rejection and odd looks instead. Must’ve been because of the tipsiness.

We were given our big tray of orders and parked ourselves at a table and started eating like no tomorrow.

The chicken was hot, cooked through and greasy. The thigh pieces, as always, were very greasy. The wicked wings on the other hand consisted of wings and drummettes that had a thick crispy spicy skin that was very tasty.

The accompanying sides were, if anything, less than average. They consisted of a white dinner roll, just OK fries, and very bad mashed potatoes and gravy.

Both Hollywood and The Guns enjoyed KFC and thought that it was just the right meal for the moment. The Guns did state that KFC is a hit and miss kind of venue for Melbourne Fried Chicken, but this time it was closer to a hit.

Overall, it’s not a bad option but be selective and try to find a good well known branch with plenty of action to guarantee a more fresh taste.

Hollywood’s Rating: 6/10 Clucks

The Guns’ Rating: 7.5/10 Clucks

Home Brew – Vol. 1

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Posted on February 10, 2013

The Chick had her hopes set on the magic of a home fried chook. As luck would have it, their kitchen came equipped with a deep fryer. So they dubbed the kitchen, The Chook Lab, suited up and got to work in hope of producing their own Melbourne Fried Chicken.

Take #1

Chook:
Lilydale free range whole chicken, size 15 – sourced from Prahran market

Cut whole chicken into 10 friable pieces:
4 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 drumsticks

The rib cage we held out for stock, which Hollywood made into a delicious dish, but that’s another blog for another time.

Breading:
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Crumbs
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh ground cardamom

Dredging:
2 free range eggs

Oil: canola, used 2x before, but strained before reuse.

Magic:

Heated oil to 160 degrees C

Mixed the breading ingredients in a bowl.
Whisked the eggs on a plate.
Covered the chicken pieces in the egg and then placed in a seal-able sandwich bag along with plenty of the breading mixture and tossed repeatedly to achieve even coating for each piece at a time. Repeated the process for each piece to get double coating effect.

We placed the breaded chicken into the hot oil and shaked the chicken the frying basket for the first half minute to ensure it doesnt stick. Th temperature of the oil was reduced to 140 degrees C after 5 minutes because the breading was starting to crisp. drumsticks cooked in 8 minutes while the thigh took 9 minutes and the breast took 10 minutes.

Afterwards the pieces were kept in a heated oven (heated to 150 degrees C and then turned off) for 5 minutes.

Verdict
Skin slightly burnt with hints of the spices in the crust that was falling off of the skin taste. The chicken was warm and cooked through with tastes of the spices to be experienced as we were eating. The cardamom added a good taste to the chicken

Take #2

Chook:
Lilydale free range whole chicken, size 15 – sourced from Prahran market

2 pieces were used (drumstick and a wing)

Breading:
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Crumbs
No Spices

Dredging:
2 free range eggs

Oil: canola oil

Magic:

Heated oil to 140 degrees C

The drumstick and the wing were cooked in 8 minutes

Verdict:
Chicken was a bit sweet and tasting like breading for a fish fillet. Not what we were looking for. And one of the drumsticks didn’t cook all the way through. Clearly we needed a meat thermometer.

Take #3

Chook:
Lilydale free range whole chicken, size 15 – sourced from Prahran market

1 chicken breast was used

Breading:
1/4 cup polenta
1/2 cup flour

Dredging:
2 free range eggs

Oil: canola oil

Magic:

Heated oil to 140 degrees C

The breast was cooked in 10 minutes

Verdict:
Coloring was soft golden. The chicken flavor dominated however more spices would give better results. Possibly, cayenne pepper, tobasco, or pepper flakes? Time to take it up a notch were the chick’s thoughts

Take #4

Ingredients:
Cup of cornmeal/polenta
full container of Oasis KFC spices mixed with flour to have the total mix of 2 cups
Joe’s stuff peppered seasoning added to the KFC spices/flour mix

Ingredients:

Breading mixture:
Cup of cornmeal/polenta
full container of Oasis KFC spices mixed with flour to have the total mix of 2 cups
Joe’s stuff peppered seasoning added to the KFC spices/flour mix

Dredging mixture:
Dairy farmers buttermilk (600ml)
Devondale cream (300ml)
half tbsp “sea spot in heat” AKA hot sauce
pinch of salt
few dashes of cayenne pepper – extra hot

Magic:
The chicken was soaked into the dredging for a few minutes

Coated pieces by tossing in seal-able bags with the breading mixture. Only the a full breast piece was double coated this time

Heated Canola oil to 170 degrees C and dropped 2 drumsticks and then lowered temperature to 150 degrees C.

This time the bird thermometer was used to test the heat of the pieces. The ideal temperature should be 82 degrees C. The chicken reached 60 after 8 minutes. After 10 minutes the chicken still didnt reach the required temperature and the pieces were taken out anyway

The oil was put back to 160 degrees C. The thigh and half chicken breast were dropped in for 9 minutes and the heat was turned down to 150 degrees C towards the end. Finally, the wings and long double coated breast were put in to the 150 degrees C heated oil for 9 minutes. The thermometer showed the right temperature for all remaining pieces.

Verdict
The drumsticks were cooked through and all the pieces had crispy skin. There was a slight heat that slowly creeps up on you with this recipe. Most of the pieces were cooked except the thighs.

Clearly, we have more work to do to compete with the professionals. Perhaps more sampling will be required. Next up ….

Colonel Tan’s

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Posted on January 20, 2013

We just got back from our long break where we encountered various deadly Aussie wildlife from Great White Sharks in the chilly Southern Ocean to the crocs in balmy Queensland, both in person and on our plates (except the sharks!). But after all those exotic flavors we had a massive craving for some good ol’ fashioned crispy Melbourne fried chicken.

Colonel Tan’s was recommended by a friend and since we were still in our holiday haze, we chose it as the most convenient fried chook place. This time we invited our friends, Jason and Yasmin, to help us review the greasy, golden, crispy goodness.

On our way South on Chapel, we missed the entrance, but found it on the way back North. In the same building as Revolver. We pondered what a place known for late night into early morning shenanigans would serve up for dinner. Up the stairs through the various doorways we found a big, laid back joint with a DJ in a caged area (are we that dangerous?), some arcade games (extra points for bringing back the old days with Street Fighter) and kitschy tables and chairs (especially the overly cheerful table clothes).

The menu boasts a wide range of dishes that seem Thai inspired with the fried chicken tucked well at the bottom of the menu; titled “Colonel Tan’s Five Spice Chicken with Sweet Chilli”. We asked the waitress about the number of pieces that the order would have and she said at least 8 pieces and that they were substantial. So we decided to go with one order for the four of us – the rest of the meal from the entree menu: corn and coriander fritters with sweet chilli sauce, sweet potato dumplings, mushroom and tofu spring rolls with chilli plum sauce and betel leaf salad with snapper, peanuts, ginger, chilli, and lime. sounds amazing! Bring it on…

Loved the ads on the table

…And they did! The food came all out at once, entrees and fried chicken main. We dug right into the basket of chicken which was small pieces cut up similar to Korean fried chicken style. The pieces were well more then 8, closer to 15, but smaller than expected. The chicken was salty, lightly breaded, and greasy but Hollywood felt there was something not quite right about it; the chicken wasn’t hot and steamy, just warm, which confirmed Hollywood’s theory that the chicken was pre-cooked and reheated. With a name that long, we expected them to put more time into the preparation. All in all, the chicken was salty (where were the other five spices?) and reheated; average at best. The Chick was comforted by her favorite Aussie dipping sauce: Sweet Chili. But felt that wedges would have worked just as well for dipping.

going for it

Not fresh and juicy! 😦

The other dishes were all average. The fritters were dry, the spring rolls were a weird flavor and also not fresh. The only real winner was the betel salad which was fresh and flavorful.

The winning dish of the evening

Because we were taught to clear our plates, we finished the food but this Colonel’s chicken didn’t really do it for us. We were left yearning for good fried chicken. So we did the only reasonable thing given the neighborhood: we headed to the Parlour Diner.

If you’re in the area, and if you’re feeling the fried chicken, do yourself a favour: Skip Colonel Tan’s and head to the Parlour Diner. But get there early, they sold us the last Fried Chicken order that night, and we wouldn’t want you to be left craving.

Maybe their other dishes are worth going for. But not the Five? Spice Chicken.

Hollywood’s rating: 4/10 clucks
The Chick’s rating: 5/10 clucks

The Parlor Diner

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Posted on December 6, 2012

The Parlor Diner is a small, down to earth diner-style restaurant at the Windsor side of Chapel street. This venue was not on our original list, but was recommended by chickenwe-keen friends since its menu boasts crispy buttermilk fried chicken and a wide range of American comfort food: burgers, hot dogs, ribs and many more tasty delights. Parlor diner is a no fuss, Americana decorated diner that adds needed character to the area.

We had previously tried checking this place out on Melbourne Cup day, but despite being American style, it still has Aussie hours. But on a random Friday night we decided to give the place another shot. With our lovely friend Christina with us, we scored a table and were all hyped up and excited to get our fingers all greased up with some Melbourne fried chicken.

We ordered 6 pieces of crispy buttermilk fried chicken, ribs, mac-n-cheese, and a halloumi salad. The food took a while to arrive but being able to watch the homey decor of the place and watch (and smell) our food being cooked was an enjoyable way to kill time. First up: a salad piled with halloumi, mushrooms and avocados (big win there). Shortly afterwards with the mascarpone mac-n-cheese which was a bit light and creamy with a slight hint of sweetness. The Chick thought that deserved extra points.

Then, the moment we had been craving, the fried chicken arrived. It was all the buttermilk crispy chicken goodness we were promised. The skin was crunchy and seemed to have been coated evenly with corn flake crumbs. The pieces were white breast strips and were steaming hot. They were too hot to the point that Hollywood had a hard time attacking the chops by hand. But he endured, blistered hands and all because the chicken was great! It had that proper balance of crispy coating and moist melt in your mouth meat that was tender but not greasy at all!

!!Hooooooorrrraaaaaaaayyyyy!!!

Our half order of baby back ribs arrived a while afterwards and was a good hearty portion of tender sweat meat covered in a smokey hickory sauce. The meat was so tender and hot, it fell right off the bones and melted easily. The hot sauce was a good side sauce for both meats.

The Parlor Diner and staff have character and the food has the desired comfort favors. We will be back, many, many more times. The hot dogs and the burgers smelled amazing as well. Plus the true American style breakfast options may compete for our brunch attention next weekend. See you soon Parlor Diner!

Hollywood Rating: 8/10 clucks

The Chick Rating: 8.5/10 clucks

Good Times on Tap at Merrywell

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Posted on November 17, 2012

Next up, The Merrywell! We picked the establishing shot in honor of Movember, support your friends if they are growing a Mo this November!

This place was not part of the initial list but was added as a Melbourne Fried Chicken place while Hollywood was reviewing an amazing burger blog. The Merrywell burger was highly recommended and it did indeed meet Hollywood’s burger expectations. Merrywell is a giant fusion of a Southbank bar/diner-restaurant venue that has loads of goodness to offer at the far end of the Crowne. Its menu boasts having fried chicken and waffles, mac-n-cheese, and mashed potatoes that seemed guaranteed to set the scene for a good Melbourne fried chicken feast. We were pretty excited to review our first Melbourne Southern-style fried chicken.

We arrived at the Merrywell on a Friday to find it catering to the after work drinks crowds. The place was busy with many reserved tables but still had room to accommodate Hollywood and the Chick outside on the 1st floor deck overlooking the Yarra. It took us a while to grab a waiter’s attention and placed our order of fried chicken with waffles, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes, and steamed asparagus (The Chick believes food that involves something green is automatically healthier).

The food arrived quickly given the crowds! The chicken order consisted of 4 chicken pieces topped with a decorative bit of honey comb accompanied with chocolate waffles covered in a lemon cream and with a honey dipping sauce.

Hollywood attacked the fried chicken with a big bite and confusion sunk in. “How am I going to review this!”. His confusion stemmed from his concept of fried chicken. Fried chicken to Hollywood was all about crispy savory mountains of fried chicken that challenge a man to eat like no tomorrow, Neanderthal style. By contrast the Merrywell’s honey covered chicken gave a rather sweet chicken that Hollywood and the Chick weren’t accustomed to. The Chick had seen honey as a side sauce, but never integrated into the breading.

The chicken pieces were bigger than Korean style fried chicken and more closer to southern style size. It was moderately hot but not steamy, a bit fatty and pan (rather than deep) fried. The skin didn’t seem to be double coated and likely with honey in the mix. The Chick found the bigger pieces dry, solved quickly by a dip in the potatoes. While this seemed like a recipe catering to its own unique palate, there were no leftovers!

One of the other reasons why the Merrywell was considered was the mac-n-cheese.

The Chick has an undying love for mac-n-cheese and considers it the creme de la creme of comfort foods. One of her most famous quotes on the topic of mac-n-cheese is, “It is the only food that I will eat even if it comes from a box.” The Merrywell version was creamy with large shells but the Chick preferred it with a bit more spices, nevertheless, there was nothing left but the skillet.

The mashed potatoes were good, creamy and had a peppery flavor which sat well with Hollywood especially as a sauce to dip the chicken in. The steamed asparagus was nice and added a fine healthy balance as long as you ignore the buttery sauce over it.

In conclusion, the fried chicken had a sweet flavor which isnt what Hollywood and The Chick crave when having Melbourne Fried Chicken thoughts. Don’t consider this place for an authentic Southern-style fried chicken but it is still a good venue for after work drinks, good food and its Merrywell burger is the real reason to make the trip.

As you might expect from a Southbank venue, it would not qualify for cheap eats, but at least they were honest about that when they brought the bill.

Hollywood chicken rating: 4.5/10 clucks (and 8 cow bells for the burgers)
The Chick gave 3 clucks for the chicken, 8 for the place in general.

Hallah if you’re in the ‘hood

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Posted on October 29, 2012

The latest adventure was Hallah. Located in North Melbourne; Hollywood had high hopes for Melbourne fried chicken at Hallah. He called to book and was asked if we wanted the restaurant or BBQ area. Our answer was “fried chicken” and that did the trick, only to find out that we didn’t really need a reservation for an early Friday night as the place was half empty when we arrived at 7. It did fill in as the meal progressed. Perhaps they were lured in by the Korean Teen pop.

The menu is varied, and most of the patrons were there for Korean BBQ. The chicken was prominent on the left, so our choice was quickly made. We were intrigued by the Dragon Chicken with Cheese, but were determined to stay focused, maybe next time.

We decided to start off with the kimchi pancake which was large and tasty. Fried but not too heavy containing big chunks of onions and a nice sesame dipping sauce. It was also accompanied with the thrill of ripping up your food to eat it with chopsticks as your only weapon.

Our main order of fried chicken was a half-half of original and spicy chicken. The waitress told us it comes out to 17 pieces but it was more like 14, but good sized pieces. Some were all meat and others had hardly any meat, like the wings tips.

After digging in to the chooks we agreed that it was greasy and fast food like. The chicken was inconsistently cooked; pieces were either dry, juicy, or undercooked. Thankfully most of the pieces were juicy.

The skin was tougher to bite through so it came off in bigger chunks. The breading was the good ol Korean crispy style breading. It wasnt flavorful but evenly coated. The spicy pieces were cooked the same as the original style but were covered with a spicy sweet sticky sauce that the chick thought was heavenly.

The main had two side sauces. One was a pleasantly surprising creamy mustard sauce (Mustard wins points with the Chick) while the other sauce had the consistency of condensed milk but had little flavor, which was disappointing.

Hallah has a comfortable setting but the Korean Hite beer was $8, a bit expensive for the quality in the Chick’s opinion. Hallah has a comprehensive Korean menu focusing more on its BBQ dishes which made us feel it’s Melbourne fried chickens weren’t the star of the show.

In conclusion it’s a good Melbourne fried chicken choice if you’re in that neighborhood.

Rating: 6/10 clucks from Hollywood and 5/10 from the Chick

GaMi deserves it’s common praise

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Posted on October 8, 2012

To begin our exploration of the Melbourne Fried Chicken Scene we headed to Gami since it topped our list and was the most raved about in the Melbourne fried chicken world of reviews. It turned out that reservations were key, but through a lucky fluke, a friendly Gami manager directed us to their second location.

The main location is easy to find, but the secondary one is well hidden in a laneway amidst other Korean restaurants.

Main Location: 100 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne‎ VIC‎ 3000

Second Location: 535 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne‎ VIC‎ 3000

We ordered a half/half dish of original and sweet chili fried chicken with a side of corn and cheese and two Gami brewed beers. Hollywood was overjoyed to discover that the dish consisted of 19, yes, 19 Chicken pieces! The Chick was hoping the quality didn’t suffer based on the quantity.

The beers came quickly with some start snacks that were shortly followed by the corn and cheese dish. This was a skillet of corn kernels drenched in melted cheese. This was a great cheesy dish that is highly recommended, but a bit filling! The Chick was disappointed at the extra sweetness of the canned corn but had a hard time stopping her chopsticks from bringing globs of cheesy corn to her mouth.

……The Chicken!!

When the star of the night arrived, we gazed at the huge platter of 19 pieces of chicken and Hollywood exclaimed “I’m in heaven”. The chicken was piping hot, with nicely crispy skin and tender steamy meat. Being Korean fried chicken, the batter was thinner than southern fried chicken, almost like a beer batter, but not as fluffy. After more examination it turns out that the chicken was cut up into some odd shapes, to help with the cooking we guessed, or perhaps in a bid to use the entire chicken.

Some pieces had hardly any bones, like popcorn chicken! while othes had little meat.

The sweet chili chicken was very saucy and not that spicey, but it had a lovely sweetness and was a bit more chewy than the original. The Original was not seasoned heavily and let the chicken flavor and crispy skin shine through.

The coleslaw side was a nice fresh touch, with a squirt of thousand island sauce. Beer was light and simple, not thrilling, but a good pairing with the chicken and a good price at 3.50/350 mL.

Overall Gami is a very good fried chicken place and so far it is our Melburnian go-to fried chicken place. We must return to try the soy garlic and spicy fried chicken, but this time with more friends since we left 3 pieces un-eaten, which was a small food tragedy.

Chicken Rating: 7.5/10 Clucks

Extra points for the really friendly manager who met us at both locations. Too bad we missed his name!