In the capital, we just love chicken. We love chicken so much that there’s a chicken shop on literally every corner of East London and we somehow managed to spawn a YouTube sensation/connoisseur out of it. When someone comes round with a twist on the concept – say, a Korean twist – I’ll always be the first to nominate my belly for a bit of a chicken excursion. So I gathered my friend, packed a bag of wet wipes, and set sail for Wing Wing, the Korean chicken joint with a cool twist.
Venue and Atmosphere
Wing Wing is loud. Not in a bad way, but from its colour scheme to the Korean music playing through the speakers to the flavours on the tray, the venue knows what it is and it is proud. The walls are an equal mixture of bright reds, blues and yellows, mixed with industrial grey, creating a fun contrast. The furnishings are simple, fitting with the casual dining feel, but the TV screens playing K-Pop music videos are a nice touch (though maybe a bit too loud sometimes - but I might just be an old man).
The crowd is mainly younger people, with a few tourists due to its closeness to King Cross/Euston Station, giving it a more chilled out vibe than most. The staff are generally friendly too, which really helps give it that relaxed, laid-back feel. Also, it’s worth noting that their private hire back room has one of those beer taps that fills the glass up from the bottom and that is awesome.
Funky and bright is Wing Wing's MO and it pretty much works.
Food and Drink
Having equipped my waist with some serious chicken-eating pants, it was time to tuck into some wings. By the way, ordering here is more like Nandos, where you go up to the till, which makes things a lot easier for the casual crowd.
We didn’t mess around and ordered a bit of a feast: obviously we chose 6 wings (£6.90), opting to have a mix of both the soy garlic and hot sauce ones. Unlike a lot of fried chicken, the skin wasn’t greasy and sloppy but crunchy, which was a delightful change. The soy garlic sauce is great, with neither of those ingredients over-powering the other, but the hot sauce wasn’t really hot enough, even for my baby mouth.
Next we ordered the calamari & prawns (£7.90) with seaweed fries (£1.80) as a side. The calamari was good, especially when dipped into their special BBQ sauce, and the prawns were very crispy; whereas seaweed and fries is a combination I never knew I needed in my life. This is a match made in heaven and I found myself wondering why no one else has thought of putting them together before. One item struck our eye though: the onion brick (£2.50). Curious, we asked the staff what it is – ‘a brick of fried onion’, they replied, obviously. And thus it was, a brick of fried onion covered in seaweed. I’ve never eaten a brick before, but while it was the greasiest of the dishes, it was one of those that we couldn’t stop picking at, so fair enough.
Having stuffed ourselves silly with food, we still insisted on having some form of dessert – and Wing Wing supplied us with ice cream. My friend chose strawberry granola (£2.90) and I opted for Nutella Mars bar (£2.90), the latter being a chocolatey explosion that I thought was going to put me in a sugar-induced coma. Luckily, I have an unbeatable sweet tooth, so it was just a nice way to end the meal.
Everything described should be the greasiest thing ever - but it's not!
Summary
Wing Wing is a cute casual dining venue with a lot of personality. Its Korean charm is certainly worn on their sleeve, and the chicken is good enough that it’s a wing above the rest of its competition. If you find yourself around Kings Cross or Euston, you should pop in.
