Korean fried chicken at Beschico, Epping

So you think you know fried chicken? Stop. You don’t know diddly squat until you’ve eaten fried chicken, Korean-style. It’s a revelatory moment when you first sink your teeth into this stuff: fried chicken that makes an ear-splintering shatter with every bite and stays crunchy until you reach the last lonely piece on the platter. The secret? Korean fried chicken uses double frying, a process that renders the fat out of the skin until it’s a brittle parchment, while keeping the flesh moist and juicy. Forget the cutlery. This is food for fingers only.


Fried chicken drumettes $16 for 9 pieces

Get your deep-fried fix at Beschico in Epping, the sole Australian outpost of this popular Korean restaurant chain. It sits opposite the train station, the large dining room split up into an odd combination of hidden booths, wooden dining chairs and formal sitting chairs. Customers are mostly families with kids or small groups of young men nursing beers, and there’s a steady stream of takeaway customers picking up telephoned orders of fried chicken.


Garlic soy fried chicken drumettes $18 for 9 pieces

The fried chicken can be ordered as a whole bird ($30) chopped into pieces, but we prefer the ease of drumettes, the mini drumstick part of the chicken wing. Original flavour is the crispiest but you can also get them smothered in garlic soy sauce or a hot sauce that is more sweet than spicy.


Spicy fried chicken drumettes $16 for 9 pieces

Nine pieces costs $16-$18; 18 pieces will set you back $29-$32. Dipping sauces of sweet mustard and sweet chilli provide extra punch, and a bowl of pickled daikon white radish cubes helps cut through the grease.


Orion Japanese beer

There’s only one thing that makes fried chicken taste even better, and that’s beer. There are two beers on tap – Orion and Max – served in varying pours from 300ml up to a 1.8L jug.


Bossam kimchi $35

The fried chicken is the main highlight here, but if you need some palate relief, dive into the bossam kimchi ($35), a DIY affair. Use the cooked Chinese cabbage leaves to wrap up bundles of cold pork belly slices with spicy kimchi – it’s messy but delicious. Add extra raw garlic and green chilli if you dare. And if your date promises to let you into the car back home.






View Larger Map


Beschico
41 Beecroft Road, Epping, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9869 8188

Opening hours:
Monday and Wednesday 5pm-10pm
Thursday to Sunday 12pm-3pm and 5pm-10pm
Closed Tuesdays

This article appeared in the August 2012 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This! [Read online] 

More Time Out Sydney reviews:
Akash Pacific Cuisine, Liverpool (Fiji Indian cuisine) 
ATL Marantha, Kensington (Indonesian fried chicken with edible bones)
Balkan Oven, Rockdale (Macedonian burek)
Bamiyan, Five Dock (Afghani cuisine)
Battambang, Cabramatta (Deep fried pork intestines)
Cyprus Community Club Aphrodite Restaurant (Roast baby goat) 
Dos Senoritas, Gladesville (Mexican street-style tacos) 
Durban Dish, Baulkham Hills (South African cuisine)
Everest Kitchen, Marrickville (Nepali cuisine)
Good Kitchen, Hurstville (Hong Kong cafe)
Hai Au Lang Nuong, Canley Vale (Vietnamese banana leaf charcoal chicken)
Hijazi's Falafel, Arncliffe (Lebanese breakfast)

Island Dreams Cafe, Lakemba (Christmas Islands cuisine)
La Paula, Fairfield (Chilean empanadas, lomitos and sweets)
Mario Tokyo Pizza, Strathfield (Bulgogi Korean pizza)
Misky Cravings, Fairfield (Peruvian cuisine)
Olka Polka Bakery & Deli, Campbelltown (Polish cheesecake and rye bread)
Rhinedorf German Restaurant, Beverly Hills (German pork knuckle)
Sea Sweet, Parramatta (Lebanese sweet kashta cheese burger)
Sizzling Fillo, Lidcombe (Filipino pork hock crackling)
Taipei Chef, Artarmon (Taiwanese smoked chicken)
Tuong Lai, Cabramatta (Vietnamese sugar cane prawns)
Via Napoli, Lane Cove (1m woodfired pizza)