Chi Ken
“I very like fried chicken and jumbo squid, so big can't eat it by alone and it is cheep.”
“They have daily specials, and variety of snacks; from sweet potato fries to fried squid.”
“Taiwanese meat sauce over rice: it's like taiwanese style sloppy joe over rice with tea egg and pickled radish.”
Chi Ken
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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We are rarely ever in Brooklyn so on the off chance that we have some event in the area we will try to visit some of the bookmarked Yelp spots.
I had heard about this place from a friend and was eager to try it as I love Taiwanese fried chicken and really haven't found a good substitute in the NYC area.
We tried the "popcorn chicken" which is really called salt and crispy fried chicken in Chinese, as well as the fried tianbula (fish cake). They have two varieties – the Japanese tempura kind and the Taiwanese fish cake kind which is the real deal, so of course I went for this one.
Verdict – the tianbula was slightly over fried as they were just crispy. It should really be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. However being that I haven't had the real thing in so long I'll give it a pass.
The chicken was great and flavored well. They also use basil to dry so it's the authentic methods. We asked for mildly spicy for both and ended up thinking it was just a tad too spicy.
If ever in the neighborhood I would definitely stop here again, but would never trek out from Queens or Long Island just for the food. Perhaps they can open a franchise in the Queens area 🙂
CHI KEN opened to a ton of fanfare to the 8th Ave Chinese neighborhood of Sunset Park. While I am all about fried foods, they earned a 3.5/5.0 from us. We rounded up to be positive in the hopes that they improve over time.
They're conceived as a Taiwanese snack shop, normally relegated to street food status, they opened on a side street along 8th Ave. From early reports, they had wait times of upwards of an hour… For snack food, this is not acceptable but the time that I went, it was no more than 15mins. Lucky, right?
Ordered the BBQ Chicken cutlet, enoki, and of course the oft mentioned crazy jumbo squid that's making headlines. It was definitely jumbo. I don't know about that crazy part though. You can be the judge of that. Of the items ordered only the chicken cutlet was both flavorful and satisfying. The squid offered notoriety and not much else, but while only slightly flavorful, it lacked substance, especially being and in effect, the crunch I was looking for.
Worth a trip if they're not overwhelmed but there's certainly no guarantee of that since they have two fryers going at the same time, definitely a bottleneck. While offering seating, it definitely is not waited on by servers, nor is it that big.
On a random weekday afternoon, I finally got that crazy jumbo squid. It took about 15 minutes for them to fry it and I watched them put it in the fryer through the kitchen window. Table manners aside, I still didn't know how to eat the thing. I couldn't eat it all by myself, but I was mentally prepared to because it smelled so good.
It was fried perfection and the outside layer was flavorful. I ordered it to go and maybe that contributed to the sogginess, but still good! I think it it would've been better if I ate it there. The eating area is a small side space that probably gets packed during busier hours, not a place to linger. I'm glad to have this snack option in the area though. I would like to try their popcorn chicken next time!
I really wanted to try their squid, their popcorn chicken, and their awesomely packaged milk tea. Unfortunately, my first visit had me leave empty-handed. They had no more squid and no more milk tea, and I didn't want to only wait for the popcorn chicken.
Now my second visit, still no milk tea…I am super disappointed. However, they do have the squid this time, so I ordered that and popcorn chicken. They were both very very delicious. Yummy spices or something! I like their chicken better than vivis popcorn chicken.
The squid is huuuuge. Quite heavy too. It's not called jumbo for nothing. I shared it with my sister and it filled us up!
I highly recommend trying this place
Recommend the popcorn chicken, the milk tea in that naked man bottle, and the squid. Didn't really like the chicken cutlet – it became soggy and not as tasty as the popcorn chicken. Remember to eat the items right away, or they do end up being a bit mushy/soggy. Super oily, but taste wise was delicious. You will likely get very thirsty after eating this, so make sure you hydrate yourself.
I saw Chi Ken open up a few weeks ago and I knew I had to come and try it. The name and design of the place was what got me.
I first had Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken when I went to Taiwan a few years ago. The popcorn chicken here was pretty delicious. There was a good amount given and it was made fresh. I'd eat this again.
The squid was huge and ginormous! It was a little hard to chew, but that's the novelty of it. I'd eat this again, but I wish it was less greasy and oily. I also wish it had a little more flavor.
The chicken cutlet was a fail. Don't get this. I felt my piece was refried and it was very dry. The piece was big, but because it was dry and refried, it was so hard to cut.
The rice was another fail. The sauce was sweet and the rice was hard so it was very hard to mix. The tea egg was also not fresh.
Fried prawn – this was okay. It was a special for $1 so might as well try it. They deshell it before frying so that was good.
If I'm in the area again and craving some fried foods, I'd gladly come back for their popcorn chicken and squid. The other stuff, not so much.
Taiwanese fast food type of restaurant. Order, pay and sit. Small area to sit on the side. I let the hype die out before I came. Definitely more enjoyable without the crowd. There's a fridge full of ingredients to deep fry up to your choice by the entrance. The cashier didn't seem to understand English as well or maybe she was shy. I don't know but it felt weird interacting with her. Anyways nice place for fast deep fried food and rice.
Popcorn chicken bento box: perfectly seasoned and deep fried. Not too salty and greasy as expected. The cabbage definitely balance the whole dish out. I'm definitely coming back to try the squid.
Naked body milk tea: ordinary milk tea in a very appealing bottle. Very nice souvenir to have after drinking it all up.
Taiwanese meat sauce over rice: it's like taiwanese style sloppy joe over rice with tea egg and pickled radish. Yum!
Totally chanced on this in good ol' 8th ave after parking on the block. My boyfriend and I initially wanted to eat Viet. We parked across the street from Chi Ken and I was really intrigued by the storefront. The place was brand spankin' new! The windows were super clean (lol) and through them were these bright light bulbs spelling CHI KEN. So we walked in, and I checked in on Yelp! Turns out I already had the place bookmarked. 🙂
So we walked on in and a wave of reeeeally intense hip hop/rap music smacked us in the face. Totally unexpected, sort of hilarious, and also sort of bizarre.
There wasn't a huge line or anything.
I ordered the popcorn chicken box (~$7), and my boyfriend ordered the chicken cutlet box (~$9.50), and to share, the fried squid (~$7). The meal was almost $30 which is above average for the neighborhood.
Food was finished after 15 minutes or so. There was a sign that if you order the cutlet, expect to wait approx 10 minutes. We picked up our order from the counter. There is a small seating space for about 15 people at most.
The box comes with a tea egg, popcorn chicken, rice, lettuce.
I really enjoyed the popcorn chicken. It is… really just what you would expect from popcorn chicken – crispy and light. The saucy rice was delicious. Tea egg was alright. I really wanted to eat veggies to wash down the guilt of the fried foods, but that was the most oily lettuce I have ever eaten in my life. Did not eat.
I took a bite of the chicken cutlet and THAT was really good. Much better than the popcorn chicken. There's some sort of light sauce slathered on that chicken cutlet. It was super crunchy – not breaded… but more like coated in starch/deep fried? But yum!!!
I was so full from the popcorn box alone. I tried a small piece of the squid. The squid has the same taste/coating as the chicken cutlet but required a LOT more effort to eat. It's a huge squid. So you had to cut it/chew it for a long time… because it's squid. But I prefer it in chicken form since it's easier to eat and I'm lazy.
But I will definitely be back for the chicken cutlet!