Expect those numbers to increase again.There’s a new chicken dinner in town and while Kookoo Korean Bistro literally does things by halves, I guarantee you’ll be back for the whole bird.
The new restaurant - licensed and freshly fitted with blonde wood tables and dark green paint - was in just its second week of operation on Auckland’s Dominion Rd (next to vegetarian must-visit Forest) when we visited. It claims to serve the city’s best fried chicken. I can’t confirm this, because it also does roast chicken, seafood pancakes, deep-fried noodle-stuffed seaweed rolls, kimchi fried rice and I am only human with the single-stomached anatomy to match.
The menu focuses on a category of Korean cuisine called “anju” - food to eat while you drink; dishes that will line your stomach and (so the theory goes) slow the absorption of alcohol. I stuck to grapefruit soda throughout and, at the end of way too much food, caught an Uber home to the couch where the thought of a beer made me weep. Mission accomplished?
Let’s start with that fried sushi-style seaweed roll. I recall that I once ate battered sushi rice “fries”. Kookoo’s twist was 10 times tastier and just made so much more textural sense. The loose glass noodle filling truly accented the crispy batter coating. What could have been a stodgy gimmick was a light and contemporary take on the fat, round spring rolls my dad bought with his fish and chips in the 1980s. Plus it cost just $9. I will be thinking about that next time I order a $22 single-serve restaurant “snack”.
The best value starter in town? A double serve of the deep-fried seaweed roll with radish pickles at Kookoo Korean Bistro on Auckland's Dominion Rd. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Two of Kookoo’s three food menu pages are devoted to chicken.
The fried selection is served bone in or out with a variety of flavourings. Think sweet chilli, BBQ, honey or garlic mustard, corn or rose cream and “snow avalanche” which is the powdered cheese of poets.
Koreans have been frying chicken since the 15th century (Wikipedia) and also the late 1960s (The Korea Herald). One statistic claims there are now 50,000 fried chicken places in the country that didn’t get its first KFC until 1984 (New Zealand’s was in 1971). Fried chicken is now synonymous with Korea and any number of Auckland restaurants offer its non-greasy yet crunchy perfection. But, on page two of Kookoo’s menu, its point of difference - whole or half butterflied and roasted chickens on a bed of rice on a cast iron sizzling plate.
Some people make a great deal of the “socarrat” or crispy layer that forms on the bottom of a properly cooked paella. Kookoo goes next level with chicken skin-dripping and green onion-infused genius. Scrape and enjoy the greatest carb-loading experience since sliced bread and/or deep-fried seaweed rolls.
The chicken was incredibly moist and easily pulled apart. If your tableside butchery skills are lacking, ask a scissor-wielding waitperson for help (they’ll also provide a little bucket for the bones). We ordered our $22 half-portion with bulgogi sauce which the menu accurately described as “Korean sweet BBQ”. Next time, I want cheese buldak. More smoke, more heat, more corn, more mozzarella. My English forebears enjoyed a roast but I suspect this version would have them quaking under an overboiled cabbage leaf.
There was salad and I didn’t order it. Our waitperson steered us towards the kimchi rice which was pure comfort umami and I wasn’t going home without sampling the seafood pancake ($24).
How many times have I used the word “crispy” in this review? I don’t care. Its edges were crispy and the centre was a thick mat of garlic chives. Is it a pancake? Is it a side of vegetables? It was the best of both worlds with a tonne of tender squid and just-cooked prawns. Winner, winner, chicken (and seafood pancake) dinner.
Kookoo Korean Bistro, 245 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland, ph 0274 408 589. We spent $87 (including a soft drink and beer) for two.
Kim Knight has been a restaurant critic for the Weekend Herald’s Canvas magazine since 2016. She holds a master’s degree in gastronomy and in 2023 was named one of New Zealand’s top 50 most influential and inspiring women in food and drink.
When Kim suggested she’d need to go back to KooKoo “because there’s only so much chicken two people can eat!” I felt she really should spend more time with me and my husband. We’ve been looked upon with awe and wonder — and occasionally disgust — at many a fried chicken joint on this fair planet. Yet I did feel a twang of intimidation when observing the innumerable options for fried and roasted Gallus gallus domesticus when perusing the plethora of poultry possibilities for feasting on our feathered friends. There was a lot to choose from, basically. Thankfully the KooKoo drinks list is compact AF. According to therock.net.nz, the cheapest 1lt jug of beer in New Zealand can be acquired a 10-minute walk from my house, at the Elbow Room in Hastings ($6). At KooKoo you’ll be paying $23, but it is Orion beer, and you are in Auckland. But why not have a crack at sipping a cold Somaek, which is a mix of Korean beer (maekju) and soju (a strong Korean vodka-like spirit). There’s a lot of soju on the menu including Korean Favoured [sic] peach, green grape, yoghurt and apple styles. Wine fans will find just seven examples on the list — all available at good by-the-glass prices (Framingham sauvignon, Kumeu River pinot gris, Craggy syrah, Greenhough pinot noir, Miraval rosé and a perky prosecco will keep you happy at between $11 and $14 a glass. But why not pull your adventure pants on and give the Korean wines a go. Bokbunja is a black raspberry wine and Maksa is Korean rice wine mixed with Sprite. There’s also something about crispy, spicy, crunchy morsels of chicken which bring on a very special kind of thirst in me. The kind of thirst that extends to cocktails and that’s why I’m all for leaping into a Jeju Island Yula Highball or a White Grape Mojito. Geonbae Kookoo. Geonbae!
