The wife and I were having a craving for Korean Fried Chicken, and I heard about this place in Worcester that served it before the city finally got a Bonchon.
Situated inside the Worcester Public Market, which is right at Kelley Sq, parking can be a little hectic. Of the several times I've parked in this area, I've managed to find street parking by driving up either Green St. or Harding St.
The interior is a bar countertop that wraps around the central kitchen area and bar stools. No traditional seating if you're hoping for a traditional restaurant experience.
The server was very friendly and the whole place had a great young, kinda rebellious vibe going on.
We ordered two things and were quite disappointed with the quality of the food and the immense wait time.
Da Wangs ; we came here precisely for Korean Fried Chicken which is especially known for being double-fried. The cook pulled them out of the heating drawer - already fried as expected - and dropped them in the fryer... and then proceeded to disappear for several minutes. Oh no. The plating of the dish looks delicious, but biting into it... the worst fried chicken we've ever had. The skin was so hard and crunchy and the burnt taste was unavoidable. The only redeemable flavor was the very paltry glaze of hot honey on the wings.
Gnocch Bokki ; we love tteokbokki and this seemed like a really interesting take on it. we watched the chef fry up the aromatic ingredients and mushrooms for what seemed like forever. AND he disappeared multiple times. We don't appreciate waiting 40-50 minutes for food for no damn reason. The rice cakes had a delightful crisp to them, but the duck was utterly dry and unenjoyable despite the sous vide description. The sauce was unpleasantly cloying after the first few bites. I don't know what I'm suppose to take from the flavor profile, but IMO it just tasted like a plate of hoisin sauce.
The bartender/waitress talked about how she had past career experience as a food safety (or health?) inspector and it was interesting to listen to... and shortly after that she grabbed a bite off of a large sauced-up plate near the burners... and then the chef proceeded to use that same plate to glaze our wings.
We will not be returning. read more