The Other KFC: Korean Fried Chicken at Seoul Street

Fried chicken is probably one of my favorite food groups. Even when it’s not good, it’s delicious. Normally, I’d go for the typical American-style fried chicken with its crackling, crunchy seasoned coating, like you’d find at KFC or Popeye’s. Korean fried chicken, on the other hand, has a crispy paper-thin shell encompassing a super juicy wing. With the Red Wings starting their series against the Blackhawks, a very pregnant Mrs. T suggested wings would be appropriate for dinner and I obliged with a trip to Seoul Street up on north campus in Ann Arbor. 

There really isn’t much to add, the chicken is about as delicious as it looks there. The chicken at Seoul Street is lightly glazed after frying – soy garlic or hot & spicy. The obvious call here is to go half & half. The wings are good size, is there anything worse that getting yourself pumped up and being served with B-dubs sized wings? Not a problem at Seoul Street, the wings are big & meaty. You could go all out with the drumsticks or thighs if you wanted. I’m not an expert on Korean fried chicken, but the only complaint I can come up with is that the batter might have been a tad too thick, not quite as eggshell-thin as I would have preferred. I should also mention that the chicken is fried to order – this is a good thing, but it means that your order will take 20-25 minutes, so plan accordingly. 

Although the chicken is my highlight of the menu, there are other more traditional Korean dishes like bibimbop and fusion things like Korean tacos and kimchee fries. We got an order of bibimbop with bulgogi (had to get the beef, Mrs. T needs her iron). The bulgogi was great, plenty tender and good flavor from the marinade. Bibimbop is another piece of evidence supporting the hypothesis that everything is better with a fried egg on top.

Seoul Street

1771 Plymouth Rd.

Ann Arbor, MI

http://www.eatseoulstreet.com/