Sick Chirpse asked me if I would eat the new KFC Zinger Double Down King. Perhaps because they know I’m a bit of a self-confessed burger connoisseur or maybe because I’m the only person they know who lives in Korea right now. Either way I accepted the challenge and here’s what I have to say about it.
Firstly, a little badly informed Korean food insight:
Korea is famous for its food, inexpensive, convenient and for the most part really good (dog, live octopus, silk worms and dried squid aside) it’s also absolutely ahead of the game in terms of delivery. With the likes of McDonalds, Burger King, and every other conceivable cuisine just an awkward broken English phone call away. An absolute god send for when the Soju hangover has rendered you unable to move.
One of the most popular types of food to have delivered by Koreans and waygooks (foreigners) alike is fried chicken. Korean fried chicken is absolutely on point. As is their delivery of it. You can get cheap and ridiculously good chicken delivered to wherever you are, be it the park, the beach, or even the street. They’ll find you. I’m also a big fan of street stalls selling chicken in a cup, which is where you can get some amazing chicken served up in a cup for around £1.
As I mentioned, I love a burger, who doesn’t? Vegetarians maybe? Well they’re going to be shit out of luck if they live in Korea because Koreans love meat almost as much as they love fermented cabbage. Which is loads. Every street is awash with BBQ spots ideal for drinking, chatting with the locals and grilling the shit out of some quality meat.
So in a meat obsessed country where chicken is infinitely better than KFC and half the price how do you compete? I guess you go straight for the meat lover’s flabby jugular and create the ultimate meat party gimmick. No salad, no bread, just meat and some unknown sauce. Heaven.
So the day of reckoning came and I managed to rope in a friend to share the experience with me. I shunned the aforementioned delivery option because I wanted to experience the true ambience and atmosphere of my local KFC. We were both pretty hungry and hungover and it seemed like the perfect time to divulge in such a monstrous creation.
The burger took a little while to make as you can imagine which gave us just enough time to discuss how much Colonel Sanders looks like Rolf Harris. Something absolutely everyone does when they go near a KFC but somehow seems more prominent now due to recent ‘events’.
In what now is a meat induced blur it arrived, inevitably looking nothing like the picture and more like something someone’s slapped together at a stoned BBQ. It flooded me with memories of my walking-through-the-drive-through days in Manchester and filled me with nostalgia upon recalling my own super-burger creation, the ‘filet-o-big mac’. However unconventional it may look I can assure you it was glorious: chicken, bacon, beef burger, BBQ sauce, some still unknown sauce and of course more chicken.
It was actually a lot nicer than I had expected, for a fleeting moment I thought it might be a bit ‘too meaty’ but thankfully managed to quickly erase such ridiculous thoughts. I wolfed it down and with every bite I could feel the grease dilute the hangover, it was really great.
Try as they might even the limp, cold chips couldn’t detract from what was overall a great meaty experience. Yes, it’s bad for your health, yes, it costs more than arguably better chicken you can get elsewhere, but who’s the real winner here? I’ve tried something that 99% of my friends won’t get to try; I’ve embodied what living abroad is all about. I’ve truly embraced Korean culture, I’ve had a once in a lifetime experience that will stay with me for until my dying day which thanks to KFC will now be significantly closer.
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