I ate lots of Korean fried chicken here, covered with that sweet and spicy sauce, but I was never completely satisfied. As more fried chicken chains appeared and the competition got tougher in Korea, I eventually stopped ordering KFC from Pelicana because I wanted to order chicken from new, trendy places that would offer more exciting, Western flavors that I couldn’t get every day in my Korean dishes.īut after moving to America and not always eating Korean food every day, I found myself craving for KFC more and more. I preferred crispy, heavy-breaded chicken without the sauce, reminding me that I was enjoying something American. I didn’t like how the sauce made my fingers sticky, and the flavors of the sauce were not something that I was looking for when I wanted fried chicken. When I first tried Pelicana’s yangnyum tong-dak in my childhood living in Korea, I didn’t like it at all. It became a sensation and eventually an essential part of Korean food culture. The brand called this new Koreanized fried chicken yangnyum tong-dak, to appeal to Korean consumers. The CEO of Pelicana, Hee Kwon Yang, wanted to Koreanize this Western dish by applying sauce that was made with traditional Korean spices like garlic, onion, and gochujang. Pelicana was one of the first chicken brands that commercialized fried chickens for delivery in the country, changing the way Koreans ate and viewed chicken. During that time, rotisserie chicken, so-called “tong-dak,” was what Koreans knew and wanted, and it was typically sold from street food trucks for pick-up. Back in the ‘80s in Korea, there were not many foods available for delivery. Photo: Pelicana / FacebookĮstablished in 1982, Pelicana was born from the idea of delivering clean-packaged fried chicken. Pelicana has been one of the most popular fried chicken chains in Korea since 1982. Pelicana is the latest newcomer to KFC family in the crowded K-town neighborhood - but it has one of the longest histories of any chain in Korea. Famous Korean fried chicken chains, like BBQ Olive Chicken and BonChon, have opened multiple locations throughout New York City, and local chains like Turntable have made a killing, too. Its signature sweet-and-sour sauce, made with Korean spices like gochujang, makes KFC stand strongly in the fierce fried chicken competition in America.
I am not talking about Colonel Sanders I am talking about Korean fried chicken. KFC has gone mainstream in American food world. Located on the third floor of Food Gallery 32, a food court in the heart of K-town at 11 West 32nd St., between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, it’s the best version of Korean fried chicken that New Yorkers can probably find outside of Korea. But despite my mom’s negative insights about the future of the chain in Korea, Pelicana’s entrance into Manhattan is still a big deal.
Pelicana is like a dying brand in Korea now,” my mom said as I continued to praise Pelicana’s fried chicken. “There are so many fried chicken chains here. “No one eats Pelicana chicken in Korea anymore,” my mom said, surprised when I raved about Pelicana, one of the biggest fried chicken chains in Korea that opened its first location in Manhattan recently.
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