Tipsy Chicken

[immersivemachine]

Craving Korean Fried Chicken, I swung by the Hmart/Mekong area and popped into Tipsy Chicken. I'd walked past before but never been in. It's a fun vibe, pretty packed with large groups of mostly young people drinking heavily. Got 14 wings, split 50/50 original and sweet and spicy. Also got the sausage/rice skewers.

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Original was nice and crunchy. I kinda prefer them a little smaller than these giant dino-sized wings, but flavor was on point and they were crunchy and juicy. The sweet and spicy was a bit too cloying sweet for me, but I don't like sweet things in general. Super love the picked diakon served with the wings. Such a perfect little fresh crunch.

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Really dug the skewers. I was craving dukbokki so this kinda scratched that itch. The griddled rice cakes had a nice skin to them that dukbokki doesn't, and I enjoyed that texture.

Lemme know, are there better KFC wings to be had? I didn't look too deep and there's a lot of ground to cover in this area and elsewhere.

Tipsy Chicken
https://www.tipsychickenaz.com/
1933 W Main St Ste 7
Mesa, AZ 85201
(480) 265-8766

[Lunchbox]

Is this a new stall in the mall? I haven't seen this place but I haven't been in a while. Where is this place "exactly"? Looks tasty!

That dukbokki looking dish looks bangin! Do you need friends or is it appropriate for one person? I can't tell the scale of it. (Asking for a friend, obviously. )

[shoestringmartha]

I was just in there a couple weeks ago, and ordered the same thing! We went on a Saturday afternoon, shortly after opening, and it was nice and quiet.

I enjoyed it thoroughly, but found the chicken a bit tendon-y.

It's not *in* H-Mart, but about a couple doors down, on the other side of Two Hands corndogs.

Oh and I can tell you I consumed the dish by myself, but it took two sittings -- only because I ate 7 of 8 of the pieces of chicken.

[M_L-H.P.A.]

I believe this is in the old Po Chicken space which was the go to KFC prior to Bonchon coming to town.

[Skillet Doux]

I believe this is in the old Po Chicken space which was the go to KFC prior to Bonchon coming to town.

Correct. I feel like there are enough places like Tipsy Chicken now that I would've preferred Po Chicken stick around, with those massive whole chicken and bowls of congee. Sadly, not my decision

Yeah, I stopped in back in January not too long after they opened, so my experience is a lot less recent, but it pretty much tracks. Solid joint. VERY heavy breading on the wings, which I'm not mad at, exactly, but it's a lot. The soy ginger was rather nice. Not too cloying, as I recall.

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I also had the bulgogi fries. They were fries. There was some (not enough) bulgogi on them. And some cheese. Exactly what you expect. The only real downer was the rose tteokbokki:

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Thin, weak sauce and rice cakes that hadn't softened. Poorly prepared. I like it in theory, though, so I'd love to hear that mine was a one-off.

[mdpmdp]

With no ill-intent, the owners are Vietnamese (as evidenced by the introduction of Pho on the menu) so it's decent but definitely not "Korean" enough for me (I say as a Vietnamese person).

[cwb]

Oh boy do we miss that juk from Po Chicken! Are there any other spots around that serve a good juk/congee/porridge?

[mdpmdp]

The only real downer was the rose tteokbokki:
...
Thin, weak sauce and rice cakes that hadn't softened. Poorly prepared. I like it in theory, though, so I'd love to hear that mine was a one-off.

I had the rose tteokbokki from bb.q Chicken (a chain directly from SK) in the 99 Ranch plaza and it was fantastic. Nice thick and creamy sauce with a taste of cheese, huge chewy rice cakes. The chicken wasn't any better than Tipsy Chicken, with the caveat that I took it to-go instead of dining in. Definitely recommend trying the rose tteokbokki from there though.

[Wilbur]

[Mod note: Merged from separate thread]

Since the slow demise of the cooking at Mrs. White's Golden Rule and the dilution-through-franchising of Lolo's, I haven't had a go-to place for top-tier fried chicken like my mother used to make for a while.

However, a couple of recent visits tells me that Tipsy Chicken is a heavy-weight contender in a world of fried chicken, although this is not my mother's recipe.

Weirdly enough, this is a bar that is a restaurant serving "Korean" fried chicken. I was an ex-pat living in Seoul for a while, and let me tell you that no such "Korean" fried chicken existed anywhere I ever ate. Bars, yes. Restaurants painted completely black, sure. But fried chicken? No.

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This chicken has the same smooth, cooked-through, tender meat that usually comes from baking chicken after frying it. Over top of that is a light, adherent breading that fills your mouth and nasal passages with the pungent scent and aroma of soy and garlic and sesame oil. They have other items on the menu which I am sure are fine, but why order something else when this fried chicken is available?

I order it boneless, and the 7-piece option is easily sufficient for two, as the individual portions are large. Not once have I failed to burn the top of my mouth by greedily devouring the first and second pieces.

The mandu side dish is my preferred accompaniment, and it comes with additional soy & garlic dipping sauce.

Ambience: Have you ever thought, "I wish I could chow down on toothsome fried chicken while three large screens play three unique, simultaneous yet unsynchronized Korean music videos, while a fourth and unrelated song is piped over the sound system?" Good news for you!

Location: Half a block north of Pho Winglee, in the H-Mart strip mall, a door down from Two Hands.

1933 W Main St #7,
Mesa, AZ 85201

The owner told me that the weekend prior to Christmas (so December 15-17?) 2023 they will be having some sort of special Ugly Sweater special / contest, with drawings for gift cards. I wasn't too clear on what the point of this was, but he was very excited about it.

[Lunchbox]

Ambience: Have you ever thought, "I wish I could chow down on toothsome fried chicken while three large screens play three unique, simultaneous yet unsynchronized Korean music videos, while a fourth and unrelated song is piped over the sound system?" Good news for you!

This sentence alone makes me want to pay my respects with a visit. Thank you.