Chungchun Rice Dog: Korean hot dogs in Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond

Chung Chun Rice Dog is a large chain from Seoul that specialize in Korean hot dogs. They have over 200 locations across the world with 3 locations in the Lower Mainland – South Burnaby, downtown Vancouver and Richmond.

At first glance, it looks like American-style corn dogs but instead of using traditional flour-based batter, the flour Chung Chun uses is actually from glutinous rice and the batter is fermented for 2 hours. This makes their hot dogs more chewy!

I was invited to try 2 hot dogs of my choice, plus some of their non-hot dog options. Here is everything we got to try.

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The vibe

We dropped by the Burnaby location, which is conveniently located walking distance from the Metrotown skytrain station.

The shop itself is quite small, with basically a counter where you can go up and order. There is no spot for you to sit down and eat, or to stand and eat either so it is more of a grab & go type of place.

The inside is very colourful with the Chung Chun red walls and the signage is also very cute when you order. They clearly tell you what kind of sausages are used and whether or not there is cheese inside for your cheese pull.

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Food and drinks review

Here is everything we shared between 2 people. Prices are rounded to the nearest dollar.

Pineapple ade ($4)

Aside from water and pop, you can also order a house coffee or pineapple ade. We chose something fruity because we came late at night and didn’t want to stay up from the caffeine.

The pineapple ade was fruity and had a strong pineapple flavour to it! We actually spilled it by accident after receiving it and was sad 😢 but the manager/owner was kind enough to give us a second one for free – thank you!

Squid ink cheese ($7) + Sweet potato ($7)

For our two hot dogs, my partner chose the squid ink and I chose the sweet potato – both were $7.49.

The squid ink cheese hot dog was quite cute. The exterior of it is actually a darker gray colour compared to my sweet potato one, which looked quite orange/red. I also thought the little sausage octopus legs at the bottom was quite cute. The first half of the sausage was cheese so my partner had quite a cheese pull when he took his first bite. The sausage inside is all beef.

I really liked my sweet potato one because I love sweet potato! It was added on top and all around to give it more texture and I could still taste the sweetness of the potato along with my beef and chicken sausage.

For our sauces, we got what the worker recommended, which was double sweet (sweet mayo + sweet chili + honey butter) for the squid ink and chili mayo (spicy mayo + sweet chili + hot sauce) for my sweet potato hot dog.

I liked the sauce combination I chose, but I think the worker was a little too generous with the sauce because it kept dripping down my hand and it was a little bit too spicy for me. I think if she just drizzled a little less, it would have been perfect.

Mac and cheese bites ($5)

We also got to try the mac & cheese bites, which were like little triangles of cheese and macaroni, battered and fried. For the sauce, we chose regular ketchup and sugar (also recommended by the worker).

I’m not a big fan of mac & cheese so I can’t say I will order this again, but I can see kids enjoying this for sure.

Soy garlic wings ($18)

Also on Chung Chun’s menu are wings! I love fried chicken and chose to try the soy garlic flavour, but they also have sweet & spicy and snow cheddar options.

I was pleasantly surprised to see they threw in some waffle fries in the box because I expected it to be chicken only. I did think the portion for this menu item is small since it’s $18, so I was also expecting more chicken. The flavour is not bad but I didn’t think the wings were exceptionally good. Seemed like something you can find at your local pub.

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Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐

We had the dream dinner of our 8-year-old-selves – hot dogs, fries, mac & cheese bites and fried chicken for dinner 😝. I was super happy to find Chung Chun now has locations outside of downtown Vancouver. This is because when they first came to Vancouver and opened their downtown location, I really wanted to try it because I love corn dogs, but I found that every time I went downtown, I would end up eating somewhere else because I came all the way downtown. Now, the Burnaby and Richmond locations make it more easy to drop by and grab a quick bite.

The only thing is I wished they installed some sort of bar counter-top against one of the walls so I could at least stand and eat inside. It’s best to eat the hot dogs while they are hot! But their takeout packaging is quite sturdy at least.

If I was reviewing Chung Chun on their rice dogs alone, I would give them 4 stars because they taste so delicious and way better than those frozen ones you can get from H-mart. The rice dogs are huge and filling (“girl dinner”) and the batter they use does indeed make them more chewy and soft to eat. I love all the different options they have from different sausages, to toppings, to your sauce combinations. You can really customize your order.

Prices are also very reasonable for a hot dog. Their original Chung Chun rice dog (just a beef sausage) is only $6 and it tastes great with just ketchup and sugar (their most basic sauce combination).

As for the other items we tried like the mac & cheese bites and the wings, I wouldn’t rate them as highly as their hot dogs. The hot dogs are certainly the star of the show and the best value for your money (I suppose it is what they are known for!).

Disclaimer: Everything we tried in this review was given to us for free.

Sincerely, Loewe