Chom Chom Fusion

It seems like this restaurant has been here for many years and I always ignore it. Why? Because I was not a fan of Korean cuisine before, asides for the BBQ meat. Plus, the restaurant is located next to a karaoke joint and I always assumed they were connected…  a karaoke restaurant.

On the evening I had dinner at Sushi & (which I recommend for those in the area!), I took a look at Chom Chom's menu posted outside and was sold. I knew I had to make a visit to try the fried chicken. The restaurant is located in the same plaza as Sushi &, Insadong and Pho 99. Meaning, parking is somewhat annoying since the plaza gets full during prime meal times.

BANCHAN, KOREAN SIDE DISHES.

CABBAGE AND DICED PICKLED RADISH.

The banchan comes with the fried chicken. I passed on the cabbage since it did not look very appealing and the daikon has a light pickled taste. 

FRIED CHICKEN ($13.99).

The chicken is lightly battered, tastefully seasoned and tastes very juicy (not oily). In addition, the skin is perfectly fried and tastes crisp. How is it possible that Dasarang's chicken does not even taste that great and I already found two Korean restaurants with better fried chicken? To compare with another good Korean restaurant that serves fried chicken, Cheer's tastes better because the chicken is not only juicy, but it is dripping juicy. Nevertheless, Chom Chom's chicken tastes pretty good as well. In a way, the chicken here is more KFC while Cheer's is Church's Chicken.

FISH ROE HOT STONE RICE BOWL ($11.99).

The stone bowl has a good amount of fish roe and the restaurant does not cheap out (which they should not do anyways since fish roe is cheap, but some restaurants do). When mixed, the rice has a popping texture from the tobiko and masago, in every bite. Furthermore, both tobiko and masago is used rather than only one or the other, and the red dyed masago makes the dish more appealing. In addition, there are not much vegetables in the stone bowl asides from shredded cabbage as well as pickled daikon, but the rice tastes great.

Also, gochujang (red chilli paste) is provided on the side and does not overwhelm the taste of the albap. Honest to truth I did not think I would enjoy the stone bowl because there is no meat, but I really liked it. Plus, I was starving. Furthermore, the good amount of fish roe is what makes the albap and the restaurant did not cheap out. The little soft crunches in every bite is one of the reasons why the both of us were sold.

GAMJATANG ($11.99).

The gamjatang has a strong dried bok choy flavour, which overpowers the pork broth and tastes unpleasant. In addition, the soup pretty much resembles drinking mint tea which I am not a fan of in general, especially with gamjatang! I mean, I do like dried bok choy… just not too much with Korean soups or when it tastes overwhelming. Unfortunately, the soup was wasted but the gamjatang has a generous amount of three pieces of pork neck with tender tasting meat (which also have the overwhelming funky taste of dried bok choy).

PORK HOCK ($11.99).

The slices of pork hock are sliced thicker compared to Chinese cuisine and tastes a bit more dry. The accompanying compliments are hot pepper paste (gochujang), garlic and jalapeños, and shrimp sauce (saeujeot). Personally, I prefer pork hock on its own rather than with sauce, but these tasted dry and the sauces helped. The only slight "issue"… a bit odd the restaurant did not have lettuce and I would have preferred to wrap these rather than eat as-is.

POSITIVES

- Reasonable prices

- Above average fried chicken

- Restaurant not cheap out on ingredients

- Service was friendly after we ordered

NEGATIVES

- Service is friendly but hard to get

LITTLE THINGS

- Korean drinking place

- I still think Cheer's Chicken and Noodle has the best Korean fried chicken

- Better than Dasarang's chicken 

Food: 2.5/5 (chicken 3/5)

Service: 2.5/5