As fried chicken continues to grow in popularity by leaps and bounds here in South Korea, there are of course a number of new companies trying to get a piece of the action and make a name for themselves.
One of the newer contenders for the fried chicken throne is Puradak. The name of the franchise is a portmanteau of Pure and dalk (닭), the Korean word for chicken. The company has also styled itself as a fancy version of chicken, and is borrowing themes from Prada. I’ve been meaning to try it for a while as there is a shop near my place, and recently I stopped by on the way home to pick up some of their (hopefully) luxurious chicken!
The location near my home was very nicely decorated, with lots of clean hard wooden tables and a dark interior. It contrasted with the warm, sunny, afternoon that I was enjoying, but it didn’t feel unwelcoming.
After taking a look at their menu, I decided to order a half-and-half set (Ban-ban) of their Puradak fried chicken and their Mad Garlic fried chicken.
I took a look around the shop at some their slogans and decorations, and noted the picture of what now seems to be everywhere K-Pop spokesperson. I think that every major chain that is not headquartered overseas has a famous K-Pop star as their model.
After about 15 minutes, my order was ready and I went to the counter to pick it up. The chicken comes in a very fancy bag, not the usual plastic bag that most chains here will use. I was already impressed at the extra mile that Puradak goes to for the image of luxury.
Arriving home, I opened up the vinyl bag and found a Prada-styled box, a bottle of cola, some pickled radishes, and two different dipping sauces. This seemed like a pretty good haul for only 15,900 won! (The regular price is 17,900, but I received a 2,000 won discount for picking it up!)
The chicken did smell very good, and I was very happy to dig in and try a few pieces of the crispy goodness.
The first one I tried was their Puradak Fried Chicken. It was very hot, and the coating tasted very fresh which meant that the oil was not old and dirty. I was very impressed with the coating. The meat inside was hot and juicy, and contrasted well with the coating. The battered coating itself wasn’t overwhelming with flavor and didn’t taste like it had a very big spice mixture in it.
Next I tried the Mad Garlic fried chicken. This one was a little disappointing. The sauce that they used to coat the fried chicken was very watery, and there was a huge pool of it in the bottom of the little box that the chicken came in. As a result, the chicken was a little bit soggy. Also, the garlic flavor was not very strong, despite having a fair number of pieces of garlic on the exterior of each piece of chicken.
The pickled radishes were pretty standard in their taste, although they were a bright yellow color which is unusually as many companies will have white pickled radishes.
The dipping sauces were satisfactory. The yang-num sauce, a red pepper and garlic based dipping sauce was fine, and the creamy pepper mayonnaise sauce was tasty, although not very spicy given the scary ghost that is on the outside of the lid.
Overall, Puradak chicken was fine. It wasn’t mind-blowing, although I give a lot of credit for the fancy packaging, the cleanliness of the location, and the fresh flavor of the ingredients. I just think that the chicken could use a little more flavor or seasoning to put it over the top.
To visit Puradak’s website please click the link below: