Joy Fried Chicken, Chippendale

Joy Fried Chicken is a fried chicken eatery on Abercrombie Street in Chippendale. It is known for one thing: fantastic Korean fried chicken whether it be boneless, bone in or Korean fried chicken burgers. Come along and see what makes this modest eatery so special (hint: it's the fine dining chef at the helm!).

Kay Hwang arrived in Sydney 21 years ago from South Korea. "I was born in small village in Korea but moved to Seoul when I was kid and raised in Seoul. Food culture in Korea is just so amazing. There were so many small shops selling only one or two thing on the menu. Food wasn’t just food when I was growing up. My father has 4 brothers and sisters and my mom has 10 brothers and sisters. It was massive feast when there was a gathering, imagine 40 plus people sat down on massive table and have a lunch or dinner, it was just unbelievable, a feast indeed!" explains Kay.

In 2003 Kay arrived in Australia and started to work as kitchen hand. "Back then, being a chef was very low class job in Korea but here it was so fancy and luxurious, oh I loved it so much. I enrolled Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, then started work at hatted restaurants, I just wanted have experience of the best, I did work for very short periods at 2 hatted and 3 hatted restaurants around 15 years ago," says Kay.

It wasn't until a year and a half ago that he decided to open up his very own Korean fried chicken restaurant in Sydney's Chippendale area. "During COVID, I changed my mind, or perhaps opened my eyes a bit and decided to do something Korean. I found a little shop in Chippendale that was on lease, and I spontaneously took it, then I decided to cook fried chicken," says Kay.

Kay chose the name Joy because, "I wanted to give people joy. I actually don’t believe in “healthy food” and “bad food”. I think most important is you must balance what you are eating. I actually lost 15kg/2.3stone since I open KFC shop and I eat 5 or 6 pieces of fried chicken every day," says Kay. He made the logo himself of a girl in a chicken hat.

Kay's fried chicken is a beauty. It starts with bone in pieces (or boneless if that's what you prefer). The chicken is sold per piece for $5.90 (minimum of 2 pieces). So not only is it delicious, it is a bargain dinner too. " It took a while to create all the recipes I am using right now. Korean fried chicken is double fried chicken, normally. I am doing triple, but at different temperatures. There was a lot of experiments," explains Kay. The hardest to perfect were the batter and marinade spice mix.

Tonight I've brought along my fellow fried chicken fan Laura who loves fried chicken as much as I do. Kay lets us order 1 piece of each just because we want to try one of everything. He's out of lemon and parsley today but we try all other 5 flavours.

They call my name and I get up to grab the trays from the counter. The restaurant is small and cozy with an open kitchen and it's Kay cooking and two people serving. We start on the least spicy to the most spicy. The original crispy is a bone-in thigh piece with a thin carapace of super crispy skin and breading. This one, unadorned of sauce shows the chicken in all of its glory. The seasoning is on point, simple and not overwhelming. This is for people who like the flavour of chicken.

The honey soy is next. It's a bone-in breast piece and the sauce is made of honey and soy sauce. I know that people prize the breast but for me, I prefer other pieces. Still, it's got a great flavour to it and a glossy honey soy glaze and is moist. Kay tells me that he uses halal certified chicken that are size 13 or 14 which is nearly double the size compared to others. He buys whole chicken and cuts them in-house. Kay explains, "Most Korean shops are buying in already processed, cut and marinated. There are only handful of shops are cutting their own chicken. We marinate chicken for minimum 3 days, if I run out, I close shop."

I waver from saucy to unsaucy in my commitment to Korean Fried Chicken but here at Joy, I am all about that sauce. The saucy bulgogi is another favourite made with soy sauce, garlic and sesame seeds. Bulgogi is traditionally beef dish made with a soy sauce base with ginger, onion, garlic and pear juice. I bite gleefully into each piece savouring the crunch and the drips of sweet and salty glaze.

Then we segue into the sweet and spicy, their most popular chicken and we are trying a boneless sweet and spicy with tteokbokki, those delicious, chewy rice cakes that have a wonderful moreishness to them. The sweet and spicy is made with a Korean chilli paste base with spices, ketchup and spicy chilli powder and corn syrup. The spicy in the spicy is mild but present and the lacquered quality of the coating is impressive.

Then we come to the last fried chicken flavour and it's my favourite. The maple chilli chicken. I haven't seen this flavour much at Korean fried chciken restaurants and Kay's version is spectacular. If you love chicken and waffles then this is for you. It's sweet from the real Canadian maple syrup used and the house-made chilli oil with two different chilli flakes, Szechuan pepper, spices and corn syrup to thicken it up. You can see the Szechuan peppercorns hiding in little crevices of the jagged fried chicken. The bone-in thigh chicken meat underneath the coating is so juicy and perfectly cooked.

For a bit of freshness each serve of Joy fried chicken comes with pickled daikon and coleslaw just to cleanse the palate between bites (or between sampling each type of chicken haha). And there's also the option for two sauces: a fire sauce made with gochujang and a spicy mayonnaise.

Also for these financially challenging times Kay also has a bonus for you: if you pay with cash then you can get 6% discount!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like saucy or un-saucy Korean Fried Chicken?

Joy Fried Chicken

67 Abercrombie St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Phone: 0431 237 884

Tuesday to Thursday 12–2:30 pm, 5:30–8:30 pm

Friday 12–2:30 pm, 5:30–9 pm

Saturday 5:30–9 pm

Sunday & Monday closed

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