Bonchon Chicken

There will always be a special place in our hearts for Bonchon, one of the first two chains that introduced Korean Fried Chicken to the United States. We still remember our first visits to their NYC, LA, and Costa Mesa locations, the excitement of comparing them with rival Kyochon, and the special taste/texture sensations of their ultra crispy soy and spicy wings, which at their peak were just spectacular – equivalent to but different from the best Buffalo-style wings we’ve found anywhere. (And we say that with Buffalo roots.)

The world’s changed a lot since then. Bonchon’s Costa Mesa store stopped delivering chicken at that peak level of quality years ago, and never really recovered. Almost all of the area’s numerous franchised locations of both Bonchon and Kyochon evaporated, and various smaller chains popped up with their own Korean fried chicken recipes – more batter, heavier sauces, and less cooking time. Consequently, though there’s no shortage of Korean fried chicken these days, it’s hard to replicate the classic, awesome Bonchon experience.

Bonchon’s newer Fountain Valley shop is as close as OC gets to the original formula – and still compelling. On several visits, we’ve found their wings to be consistently nice and big, and although not quite as crispy as before, much faster at getting food on the table than years ago, when the wait was always 20 or 30 minutes from order to service. Bonchon says that it still double-fries its wings, which combined with rice powder batter to create the innovative extra-crispy texture.