Further to my KFC (Korean fried chicken) adventures at Gami, I recently revisited Hallah Korean restaurant in North Melbourne with fellow food-thusiasts Claire and Kate. We’d all been here once before, and ordered a serve of the fried chicken as half original, half soy. The original was polished off, while the soy remained largely untouched due to a combination of the corn syrup-esque sweetness of the sauce and it’s effect on crispness of the batter.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, this wasn’t our first rodeo and we knew just what to order.
Noticeably, Hallah now have a whole page dedicated to their fried chicken – ride that gravy train!
We started with the kimchi pancake, because it just makes sense to precede a fried main course with a fried appetizer. The pancake was wonderfully crisp and technically qualified as a serve of vegetables. Which is more than can be said about the recent US pizza debacle.
original fried chicken
This plate is a full serve – demolished in under 15 minutes by three women. It’s a matter of time before they start serving it from a bucket.
The most noticeable difference between this chicken and Gami’s is the coating. Hallah use far less seasoning in their batter, and also somehow manage to make the actual chicken skin fry up rather than just remain beneath the coating. It’s like eating the poultry version of fried pork rinds – chickarrones!
Most importantly, the chicken inside was spectacularly juicy and moist. And don’t we all just want our chicken to be moist and crispy at the same time? Is that really asking for so much? Would that not help create world peace?
Lemme leave y’all with two handy tips:
- Hallah are open late and thus are especially convenient for late night cravings.
- Wear your stretchy pants.
It was, as they say, finger lickin’ good.
omg omg omg
I LOVE fried chicken and since Mopho I’ve been trying to find something else to set my taste buds on fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire
Totally going to give this place a go!!!
Hey Jess – My $100 Question – is which do you think is better? I have my heart at Hallah as I have been a few times and as it is so good (especially the chilli sauce one) so haven’t felt the need to cheat on them….
But you may lead me into temptation…
I personally prefer Hallah. I like the neutral batter and the chicken is juicier. For what its worth, i also think its a more comfortable dining environment, warmer and less stark.
Ahhh hallah… Went there the other day for the first time but actually had everything else but the fried chicken. Mainly the BBQ meats which were really good. I liked the 3 Korean restaurants that are next to each other on that street, actually… Hallah, WooGa and Don Woori, they’re all good in their own right, which makes it fun to visit whenever I’m in the area =]
Next port of call on next Melbourne trip
good call!
Wow this looks great, i just wanted to leave a comment here because i just discovered your site and its everything that i love! Being from Melbourne i will be checking back on this page quite often, thanks BurgerMary!
you got it! Thanks for reading -hope the posts from outside of Melbs don’t induce too much drooling!