Korean Fried Chicken: A Local's Guide to Kyochon Chicken
If you are visiting Korea and want to try Korean fried chicken, Kyochon Chicken is a name worth knowing. Its Original soy garlic chicken is the order I keep coming back to. I usually choose a half-and-half order of Original and spicy Red, but this time I went for a whole chicken in the Original flavor. The brand began in 1991 as Kyochon Tongdak, a small chicken shop in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Its first premises were only about 33 square meters, or 355 square feet, a modest start for what would become a nationwide chain. The name Kyochon refers to a village with a hyanggyo, a traditional Confucian school. Soy sauce and garlic were central to its early menu, and Kyochon Original grew out of that signature combination. According to the brand's official history , its franchise network passed 100 stores in 1999 and 500 in 2002. The company also adopted the name Kyochon F&B in 2002. That journey from a neighborhood chicken shop to a national brand helps explain why its s...