If you love Korean food, then you’ll love Chicken Up. Voted by HungryGoWhere as Singapore’s no. 1 Korean fried chicken, they have a huge menu with all your Korean favourites including fried chicken, rice and noodle dishes, stews, Korean pancakes and other very tempting side dishes to munch on with one of their many unique beverages that they have on offer.
Having visited Chicken Up’s sister bar/restaurant Don’t Tell Mama a few times and really enjoying the food there, I went to the Chicken Up branch in The Centrepoint shopping centre on Orchard Road to sample some of their food. My friend and I ordered their best selling Ganjang (Soya) Chicken Wings ($12), Yangnyum Chicken Wings ($12) and Yangpa Bomb ($12) to share as well as a small Stella Artois draft beer ($7) and a Soursop Juice Lightbulb drink ($6) to wash it all down with.
The drinks came out first followed very quickly by the food. My Soursop Juice Lightbulb drink wasn’t very nice, in fact I only drank a little of it since it wasn’t really soursop juice and was strangely fizzy and loaded with sugar plus it didn’t have any chia seeds in it (well none that I could actually see) like it was supposed to. I suppose if you get a lightbulb drink it’s more for the novelty of drinking from a lightbulb shaped container than for the drink itself. Plus they let you keep the lightbulb afterwards.
Both the chicken wings were very good as expected, the meat was tender and juicy and the skin crispy. They were the same as what I’ve had in Don’t Tell Mama since Don’t Tell Mama share the same kitchen as the Chicken Up branch in Tanjong Pagar. I prefer the Ganjang (Soya) Chicken Wings which have a mild soya sauce and spice blend coating them as the Yangnyum Chicken Wings which are covered in a Korean sweet chilli sauce can get a bit too sweet for my liking after eating more than one. Nevertheless the sweet sauce is extremely tasty. Apparently the chicken wings are marinated for 12 hours and then deep fried to perfection sealing in all the flavours.
The Yangpa Bomb which is basically an onion that has been cut to resemble a flower, dipped in batter and deep fried was good and not too oily. The batter was light and crispy and the “onion petals” were tasty dipped into the sauces that accompanied it. However as we got to the middle of the onion it was quite floury and heavy to eat so we left that part. The Yangpa Bomb was served with some carrot and cucumber sticks which provided a bit of fresh relief to all the fried food.
Overall I really enjoyed the meal at Chicken Up and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon to try some more food on their menu as well as the amazing looking Bingsu (Korean shaved ice) desserts they have on offer that unfortunately we didn’t manage to fit in that day. Chicken Up have a lot of promotions and offers on all the time including happy hour, free-flow drink deals, ladies night, set lunches and food offers on certain days so it’s worth checking out their website for details. The restaurant is a nice casual, family-friendly restaurant, a great place for getting together with friends and they also have a kids menu if you go there with the family. Customer service is efficient, mind you we were the only ones there when we went as it was on a weekday afternoon so if you go during lunch or dinner time then it may be worth reserving a table via HungryGoWhere beforehand to make sure you get a table. Also for those budding chefs, they hold weekly cooking classes so you can learn how to make some of the items on their menu.
Chicken Up (The Centrepoint branch)
Address: The Centerpoint #01-33H, 176A Orchard Rd, Singapore 238844 (Nearest MRT: Somerset)
Tel: 6635 2651
Opening Hours: Daily 11am – 11pm
Hope you’ve enjoyed my Chicken Up review, please feel free to leave a comment below with your own review of the restaurant or if you have any questions!
