Gami Chicken & Beer, Central Park Sydney

Break out the soju. Korean fried chicken has landed at Central Park. Gami, the famed Korean fried chicken king of Melbourne with 13 outlets across the city, has finally spread its wings to Sydney. They've taken over the site that was once Doughnut Time (and before that, Autolyse), and already drawing a crowd.

It's a family-friendly space with brightly coloured walls and a good amount of room between tables. Outdoor seating is also available.


Kimchi pancake $14

The menu is larger than you'd expect, with one page devoted to fried chicken; the other to "gami delights", a list of 13 dishes ranging from mandu deep fried dumplings to spicy seafood soup.

Our food takes a little while to arrive, despite the restaurant only being about a third full. The kimchi pancake, or kimchijeon, takes about 15min to land at our table.


Upskirt shot

Kimchijeon is a huddle of kimchi, onion and shallots enrobed in pancake batter. Although there's a deep golden hue to the panfried disc, it's not particularly crunchy - always a difficult feat when kimchi juice is involved. We relish the piping hot triangles regardless, dipping them into the accompanying soy and rice vinegar dressing.


Korean fried half chicken $18 
with spicy sauce on the side

When it comes to the fried chicken, you can choose between whole ($34) or half ($18) chickens on-the-bone, boneless mix of breast and thigh fillets ($34), mix of wingettes and drumettes ($12 for 8 pieces/ $16 for 12 pieces), and chicken spare ribs ($12).

And vegetarians don't miss out either. They even have vegetarian fried chicken made from soy meat.


Crunchalicious

We go with half a chicken, opting for spicy sauce (it's more sweet than spicy) on the side. It's a mini mountain of crunch, the pieces cut small so there's plenty of rubbly batter for each mouthful.

The chicken is juicy. The batter is well seasoned. And yes, you can have beer with it too. Their drinks list includes Hite and Asahi Super Dry as well as Gun:Bae Lager and Murray's Whale Ale on tap. Tap beers come in 300ml glasses ($5.5), jugs ($18.50) and party-sized oak kegs ($59). And yes, there's soju. Plus Korean juices like bonbon grape, sec sec orange and grated pear for non-alcoholic kicks.


Cabbage coleslaw (and pickled radish) free with the fried chicken

Complimentary pickled daikon radish is essential for cleansing the palate (and relieving the arteries) in between bites of fried chicken. The cabbage coleslaw provides some welcome crunch too, but I'd probably prefer mine with just mayonnaise and no tomato sauce - it's tangy sweetness is a little too overpowering.


Tteok bok ki $14

Sure we might be a table of two but why would that stop us from ordering tteok bok ki? It's just the kinda dish you'd craving in wintery weather, a mix of two minute noodles, chewy rice cakes and fish cake slices in a spicy red pepper broth.


Noodles and rice cakes

Next time I'd definitely add cheese ($2) on top, an extra I didn't notice until too late. I also have my eye on the corn cheese ($9.80), fried rice cakes ($5.50 for three) and deep fried cheese sticks ($7 for three) for my next visit. I'll definitely be back.

And if you haven't already seen it, the story of the four uni students behind the business is a pretty impressive read too.








Gami Chicken & Beer
Central Park Mall 
Lower ground floor
28 Broadway, Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8067 0304


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