bbq Chicken: Korean fried chicken in Port Coquitlam

bbq Chicken is a fried chicken chain from Korea. Since 2003, they have expanded to over 57 countries. We were invited to their Port Coquitlam location to try some of their signature fried chicken items.

I was very excited to taste their menu because this chain was recently featured in the Korean drama Crash Landing on You.

Interior

The interior is quite trendy with brick walls and neon lights. Seating is comfortable and they are following covid protocols by having a max. occupancy of 6 people spaced out in different tables/booths. All the staff are wearing masks.

I can see it being a fun place to eat chicken and beer, the golden combo.

Appetizers

Aside from fried chicken, bbq Chicken also offers a variety of appetizers like spicy rice cakes, fries, and other items.

Cheese balls ($7)

These cheese balls are more than what meets the eye. The batter is made of rice cakes and then it is deep fried. This gives it a nice chewy texture on the inside after a nice crunch on the outside.

The inside is filled with cream cheese so it’s not an overly salty snack. It’s actually kind of sweet – a great pairing for spicy flavoured chicken.

Cheesling fries ($7)

These are french fries with cheese powder sprinkled on top. They definitely are generous with their cheese powder.

The cheese powder, again, is not too salty or “cheesy”. It tastes slightly sweet and go really well with the thick-cut french fries. I find this to be the perfect snack food with beer.

They use the same cheese powder on their cheesling chicken. To be honest, I think anything with this powder on will taste good.

Korean fried chicken

We taste 3 flavours of their Korean fried chicken.

Golden fried chicken ($12 for 8 pieces)

This is their original fried chicken. If you order their half and half combo (which has 20+ pieces!), half of it will be this original flavour.

They have both bone-in and boneless option. We tried their bone-in option and the chicken meat is super juicy inside and moist. The skin is not thickly battered as you will find in a lot of western fried chicken joints, so if you like really thick battered and crunchy fried chicken, this will be a different experience for you.

Secret sauce chicken ($13 for 8 pieces)

If you order the classic half & half, this will be the second half – secret sauce! This secret sauce is a classic Korean sauce and it has a sweet taste to it. It includes 20 different ingredients such as chili paste, onion and garlic. It is not spicy at all.

Please note that what I have ordered is not their actual half & half. Their actual half and half comes with 20+ pieces. I only ordered 8 of both flavours to try out their flavours.

Honey garlic chicken ($13 for 8 pieces)

This is one of their most popular flavours – the honey garlic. It is a mixed sweet and garlic flavour on top of their original fried chicken.

If you have ever been to Zabu downtown, it tastes a lot like their honey garlic chicken. I would say it is almost the same but you can’t get Zabu in Port Coquitlam and not at the same price.

Final thoughts

We really enjoyed the fried chicken at bbq Chicken in Port Coquitlam. Our favourite out of the 3 flavours we tried is the honey garlic, but the half and half is still their most popular dish.

The cheesling fries and the cheese balls surprised me because I’m not a big fan of cheese but I really did like these two cheese appetizers.

Compared to other competitors in the area, bbq Chicken is definitely one of the more authentic Korean chicken restaurants.

bbq Chicken’s biggest selling point aside from the juicy chicken (which is fresh and whole daily) is the in-dining experience. Their menu and environment provides the perfect place to unwind, eat and drink with friends.

Sincerely, Loewe