Tag: gochujang

A Satisfying Meal at Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi
Location: 605 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.hancookcanada.com/

It’s always nice when you go to restaurant and know exactly what to order.  In the case of Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi, that’s an extremely easy decision: it’s gotta be the Hancook cheese dakgalbi.

Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi

Dakgalbi is a Korean dish that consists of stir-fried chicken, rice cakes, and veggies in a sweet, gochujang-infused sauce.  You can get it without cheese, but why would you?  The richness of the cheese actually complements the zingy dish quite well.

Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi

It’s seriously tasty.  It’s kind of like an amped-up version of tteokbokki, with the tender chicken being a great addition to the sweet/spicy sauce and the chewy rice cakes.

Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi

You can order it at a spice level from one to four; I went with three, and it was pleasantly spicy but not overwhelmingly so.  I’d probably get four next time, but it certainly wasn’t lacking in spice.

Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi

I also got an order of the fried vegetable dumplings.  Nothing about these particularly blew me away, but they’re nicely crispy on the outside and come with a creamy dipping sauce that’s thoroughly delicious and surprisingly fiery.

Tasty Fried Chicken Sandwiches at Knuckle Sandwich

Published on by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Knuckle Sandwich
Location: 969 Coxwell Avenue, East York
Website: https://knucklesandwich.ca/

Though Knuckle Sandwich has a variety of sandwiches on the menu, their specialty seems to be fried chicken — it comes first on the menu, and they offer three different varieties (classic, Buffalo, and Korean).

Knuckle Sandwich

(You’d think there would be a titular “Knuckle Sandwich,” but there is not, which strikes me as a bit odd.  You’re really going to name your restaurant Knuckle Sandwich and not have a knuckle sandwich on the menu?  Come on.)

Knuckle Sandwich

I went with the Korean fried chicken (“Gochujang Glaze, Miso Kimchi Slaw, House Pickles”), and I enjoyed it.  The sauce was nice and zippy, though the level of crunch wasn’t quite where it should be, the spice level was basically nonexistent, and the chicken itself was a bit dry.

Still, those aren’t huge complaints; the fact that I’m even nitpicking this sandwich is more indicative of how spoiled we are for great fried chicken sandwiches in the GTA than of the actual quality level of this particular one.  A few years ago, I would have been blown away by this sandwich, but the current bar for fried chicken sandwiches is impossibly high.