There are few restaurants in Albuquerque that provide you with a pair of disposable gloves with your meal. That is a practice generally exclusive to seafood boils here in the United States, but in South Korea, it’s a common courtesy for restaurants serving messy hand food. On a lazy evening last week, I happened by Chicky Chicky Seoul, the new Korean fried chicken restaurant on Central.
Before any actual signage, the first thing I could see was a printed note by the entrance explaining a recent shift: the restaurant has rebranded from a sushi restaurant (Korean BBQ House Sushi & Sake, RIP) to an “authentic” Korean chicken shop. The note struck a vaguely defensive tone, as if preemptively answering questions from regulars who might still be recalibrating.
Inside, the dining area was light and roomy, with a relaxed atmosphere that made it easy to settle in. I ordered an 8-piece dakgangjeong (fried chicken in a sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce) and a starter of kimchi.
The kimchi came with a side of macaroni gwaja, a light, fried bar snack that added a degree of authenticity to the whole experience. The chicken itself came with fries and the (much-appreciated) polyethylene gloves, though it took several minutes and some intervention from my server to actually open the gloves up without tearing them. The half-chicken ran $17, with the kimchi at $4.50.
The dakgangjeong was tender and richly spiced, though the sauce was particularly sweet: closer to a sugary glaze than a Western barbecue sauce. The kimchi and fries were both perfectly serviceable but not particularly worthy of note. Still, the overall experience felt straightforward and welcoming: a valuable addition to Nob Hill’s food scene. By my count, Chicky Chicky Seoul is one of four restaurants in Albuquerque to serve Korean fried chicken, but considering how much K-food has been exploding in popularity all around the world, it likely isn’t the last.
Under its old concept, Korean BBQ House accrued over 550 reviews on Google with an average of 4.2 stars out of 5. Since the rework into Chicky Chicky Seoul, it has garnered just five reviews, all but one of them being five stars (the other one being disappointed by the loss of Sushi & Sake). It’s a promising start…