It was really cold a couple of days ago. We were craving hot soupy food when the spicy Zeng’s Restaurant came to mind. We drove over and found out the original Zheng’s location has a new Korean Chicken place opened. Todak Todak Korean Cuisine has been opened for less than a month in September 2019. We are glad to try this restaurant when they’re still new and trying their best. It is very good a proper Korean Fried Chicken location in Vancouver East. Todak Todak Korean Cuisine is located on Kingsway near Joyce in Vancouver.
Strength: Crispy, Tender Juicy Fried Chicken that’s done really well
Weakness: No Alcohol
Other Korean Restaurants
- Kook Korean BBQ Restaurant (3.5 Stars)
- Bukjang Korean Cuisine (3.5 Stars)
- Potters Garden (3.5 Stars)
Black background with yellow font
The restaurant spans over two storefronts. On the left side, we have the Korean version of their store name. There are lots of cars parked in the open lot in front. It’s almost impossible to find a spot to park, so I go straight to their underground parking lot.
A white chicken and a yellow chicken
On the right storefront, we have the English version of their store name. We can also see their logo consist of two chickens. It’s very easy to see what this restaurant specialize in.
Pictures of the food at the storefront
The staff was working on the Christmas lights. It would be good to see them remove the cheesy year-round Christmas decoration. There are black films at the bottom portion of the storefront windows. This is good for privacy.
Cashier counter
The black tiled background with red letters seems like the majority of the alterations from the old restaurant. They are framed by a white marble-like material. The counter looked alot busier than before with all the display items.
Not much decoration changes.
The majority of the interior decorations was unchanged. These white panels with red dots have been there when the location was occupied by Cattle Cafe, way before SzeChuan Zheng’s Restaurant.
Christmas lights survived
The Christmas light above the storefront window are still there. They have been there for at least 2 restaurants. It was interesting to see that they survived the business transition.
Korean restaurant standard practice Water bottle for every table
Todak Todak Korean Cuisine also followed Korean restaurant tradition by providing customers with a large water bottle.
Trash bin with multiple layers of plastic bag
On every table, we can see this odd looking pile of plastic. A closer inspection revealed they are trash bin with multiple layers of plastic bags. I understand this must be quite convenient for the staff, but it is quite unappealing for the look of the restaurant.
Plates were not fully dried
We were given black deep plates with metal fork as utensil. There was 1 napkin per customer. The plate was still wet when they got to my table. This is probably the result from the dishwasher.
Pending liquor license in a Korean restaurant is almost unacceptable
How can you have a Korean restaurant without liquor? It’s something I could not imagine, but actually saw in person today. Koreans are big on drinking, so I understand they are trying hard to obtain a liquor license. Since this is only the first month of Todak’s operation, we will wait and see. We need that alcohol with the fried chicken.
The seafood pancake was fried on both sides
The seafood pancake was a little different from what I am used to. There are lots of flour that are somewhat crispy on both sides. The toppings include oyster bits, shrimps, and octopus with lots of green onion. The sauce in the middle was also somewhat different. It has a lot more ingredients inside.
Seafood Pancake is very doughy
There was really quite a bit of starch within the pancake. It has a good chewy dough, but the amount of starch inside made my mouth really dry. This is when the bottle of water came in handy.
Original flavour is crispy with a good seasoning
We ordered the bone-in Half and half chicken which includes half of the original fried chicken and half of the fried chicken dish prepared in Korean style. These are the two flavour we cannot modify.
This is a very large portioned dish. You have an entire chicken in the basket. The original fried chicken was fluffy and crispy on the outside. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but the original fried chicken has a lot of packed in the batter. It is mouthwatering without additional sauce.
Korean Style is less crispy but with more flavour
The Korean style portion is less crispy on the exterior. I suggest everyone finish the chicken in the restaurant. We took some leftovers home and they were very hard to chew through. The taste lean heavy on the sweet side of the scale with just a tiny bit of spicy. The rich taste gets tiresome quickly, so it is good to alternate between this and the original flavour.
Chicken thigh is juicy
To my surprise, the interior was very tender and juicy. The chicken was fully cooked with no bloody parts. It’s perfectly cooked.
Chicken Breasts are tender
I was really surprised to feel how tender the chicken breasts were. Towards the end of our meal, I looked at our plate of bone only to realize these chicken were partially de-boned for our convenience. It was done very thoughtfully and skillfully where you still have some support from the bone, but no bones in the way when I take a big bite of the meat.
Sliced drumstick to serve fully cook food
The chicken breasts or thighs are cut into smaller pieces. Thick locations such as the drumsticks have also been sliced to make sure the chicken is fully cooked. I didn’t see any bloody parts and that makes the dining experience more pleasant.
Cabbage Salad with Thousand Island dressing
These thinly sliced cabbage were crisp and refreshing. It’s good to eat them when the chicken gets too greasy. I like how the salad weren’t overly dressed with thousand island.
604 Food Critic Assessment
Todak Todak Korean Cuisine is a fried chicken focused Korean restaurant. They also serve deep-fried pork cutlet on rice among other sides. they do not serve liquor, but I have faith in them getting it eventually. I really enjoyed their fried chicken for their , crispy batter, and juicy meat. However, I think they may have put too much baking soda in the batter. For $25 per person, it is a little pricey. I would bring more friends to keep the cost down. They also have cheese boneless fried chicken, which is something I am coming back to try.
Menu
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 336-9866
- Address: 3510 Kingsway, Vancouver
- Hours: 11:30 am – 11:30 pm, Sunday 12:00 pm – 11:30 pm, Closed Monday
