Arisun / Sun’s Chicken Beer House

The other day we had KFC. However, not the kind you get from a fast food chain heralding it’s finger-licking goodness with a mascot consisting of a two dimensional line drawing of a certain colonel. What we’re talking about here is a double-fried version of a Korean origin – a.k.a Korean Fried Chicken.

With a bit of recommendation scouting about where we could satisfy our deep-fried food cravings courtesy of our Korean friends, we settle on Arisun – a Korean restaurant/beer garden located in Chinatown. Years ago, this location on one end of Dixon Street was barren, empty and put simply a thoroughfare where the only memorable feature was a debilitated cinema that never seemed to be open. Compared to the constant busyness of the main section of Chinatown on the other end of Dixon Street just a road-crossing away, it was a complete contrast. Nowadays, there’s a plethora of restaurants sporting all sorts of cuisines dominating the shop fronts along this laneway.

The menu for Arisun gives a large variety of both Chinese and Korean dishes – both for sharing with the table and individual rice-and-meat combinations. The specialty fried goodies here are however provided by the other half of the eatery collaboration called Sun’s Chicken Beer House. You can tell that this is primarily what this eatery is known for – incorporated in the joint menu on one of the first few pages is a large feature page advertising “Sun’s Chicken Best 5″. As the name suggests, there are a variety of top five fried chicken flavours for you to choose from. Luckily for us, we have a big group gathered for this feast and we choose three of these and a number of other Korean favourites.

Seafood Pancake

Fluffy and just that little bit doughy batter interspersed with seafood and shallots. I love having this with a piece of kimchi to give it a little bit of a hot and sour bite.

Seafood Black Bean Noodles

A bit of a variation on the traditional Korean jajangmyeon black bean noodles. The thick, glossy sauce and the noodles were the same, but in place of the usual minced meat was an assortment of seafood.

Japchae

Made from cellophane noodles, sliced vegetables and slivers of beef – this is a favourite simple dish of mine. I love the slight stickiness of the noodles, but the semi-raw chunks of onions in this was a bit overpowering for me.

Sun’s Fried Chicken with Soy Sauce

Now onto the dishes we all came here for. For $30 each regardless of flavour, you got a big bowl of fried chicken. First off the bat was the fried chicken with soy sauce. I was half expecting this to have a honey-soy type dressing which when done poorly I’m not a fan of. Instead, I was quite pleased to find out that the soy sauce component of the sauce was very slight in this one and not overpowering at all.

Sun’s Original Fried Chicken

The pick of the lot in my eyes and apparently the same for the rest of my dining companions – this was the only fried chicken bowl left completely empty when everybody had had their fill. The crisp, crunchy, skin with tender chicken underneath was simply perfect and didn’t disappoint.

Sun’s Sweet & Spicy Fried Chicken

The last of the lot – this was a sweet, sticky mess and required all fingers to keep hold of the chicken pieces courtesy of the slippery sauce liberally drizzled all over it. At first taste, the spiciness wasn’t immediately present, but the heat built up over a few extra bites. A bit on the sweet side for my liking though, but delicious nonetheless.

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