Thursday, October 20, 2005

Top Five Fried Chicken in Vancouver

Do you love fried chicken like I love fried chicken? Here's my top five list of fried chicken dishes found in the city.

5. KFC's Original Recipe chicken (many locations) - It's just a classic. If only they would serve buttermilk biscuits and gravy, corn on the cob, and wedge fries with them like they do in the southern U.S. KFC's.

4. Nu's Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Wings, espelette chili gastrique (under the Granville St. Bridge)- frenching drummettes, stuffing them with goat cheese, and deep frying them...what a good idea!

3. Hon's Deep Fried Chicken Wings with Spicy Salt (Robson at Broughton) - A big plate of wings deep fried without a batter, then tossed in the wok with sliced fresh chilies, garlic and five spice salt. Spicy, salty goodness, Cantonese style.

2. House of Dosas' Chicken 65 (Kingsway at Knight St.)- South Indian, spicy, little juicy chunks of chicken, served with a great dipping sauce.

1. Yuji's Wasabi Tempura Chicken (West 4th at Maple) - delicate, crispy tempura batter surrounds tasty, juicy dark meat with a nice hit of wasabi embedded in the chicken. Served simply with a wedge of lemon. This dish easily takes the number one spot.

9 comments:

LotusRapper said...

Of course I had to check on your page right before lunch and now all I can think about is fried chicken. It IS one of my favorite foods, and here are my own top 5 spots, in random order:

1) Church's (chain)
The best chain F.C.. To me they're way better than the "other" chain - crisper skin, juicier and more tender meat, not as salty.

2) Uncle Willy's (Metrotown)
Last time I ate there abut two years ago their F.C. was still as good as I remember from the 80s/90s when the chain thrived. Somewhere between KFC and Church's in texture and taste.

3) Gyoza King (Robson)
Chicken Karaage is unbelievably moist and plump. Always come hot off the oil and with mayo dip on the side, in case you need more fat than what the chicken provides.

4) Guu (Robson, Thurlow, Gastown)
Similar to Gyoza King's and just as good too !

5) Congee Noodle House (E. Broadway)
Fantastic deep fried chicken wings, especially with spicy salt (pepper, salt, jalepeno). Perfect accompaniment to congee on a cold wet Vancouver night.

PS: leftover F.C. skin is best next day inside a simple sandwich with dijon mayo and fresh tomato slices !

Dumpling-girl said...

Heh, who has leftover skin the next day?! I got myself fixating on fried chicken after writing that post, and then reading it later too. Hee hee!

ebin said...

L.A. Chicken in richmond (near 5rd and cambie) has by far the best fast food fried chicken in the lower mainland. KFC is disgusting comparatively. Crispy, spicy, intensely flavorful right to the bone. I look forward to the start of each month because I let myself eat it only that often.

Dumpling-girl said...

Thanks, ebin. I will have to try that place sometime. Hmmm...maybe I should have a fried chicken ritual. Then I will look forward to the start of each month...

Dumpling-girl said...

Just an update. Shortly after I made the post about Hon's chicken wings, they started changing the way they do it (at least the one on Robson). They used to just fry it with a light coating - I'm guessing just a dusting of flour on the skin, which results in a lovely crispy skin, but now they put a thick batter on, which I definitely don't like. I do realize that some people like that. Probably the same people who like that mysterious food "chicken balls."

An easy substitue to keep it a top five? Phnom Penh's Pepper wings served with a lemon juice dip. A Chinatown classic. Yum!

Unknown said...

Seconding Phnom Penh's Pepper wings

so good.

try the frog leggs with the same batter/seasoning for a more adventurous protein.

Signal sixteen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Signal sixteen said...

We had KFC chicken from the Kingsway franchise and it was awful: dry, tasteless and nothing like I remember. BTW I realized there are no longer any KFCs west of Main Street.

Dumpling-girl said...

There is a KFC on Davie St. downtown (West End) that is west of Main. I've never had dry chicken there.