Pelicana Chicken Melbourne

Overview

Melbourne has proved its love for fried chook will probably never die, with new chicken joints opening up all over town. But there's a new kid on the block you're going to want to take notice of and its name is Pelicana Chicken.

A fresh face for Australia, but by no means a youngster, the brand is one of the original masters of Korean-style fried chicken, having launched in the country back in 1982. Currently, there are over 2000 Pelicana stores across South Korea, with another 1000 iterations taking the rest of the world by storm. And, now, the famed brand has landed Down Under, opening its flagship Aussie restaurant on Franklin Street in the CBD.

Bringing some bold new flavours to the game, Pelicana's dishing up 11 different fried chicken varieties, from a wasabi and honey butter dusting to the signature sweet, savoury and spicy combination, called 'Pelicana Marinated'. All the chicken is marinated for 24 hours before it's cooked.

You can grab a half or full chicken, in either boneless or bone-in pieces, slathered in your choice of coating. Adventurous diners might even be tempted to leave it all to fate, with the 'mystery sauce' option. Other menu favourites include fried chicken wraps, burgers, and a marinated chicken, chips and salad combo dubbed The Aussie Chop. A fiery kimchi soup and tteok-bokki — stir-fried Korean rice cakes — lean a little more traditional.

Hold tight for Pelicana's booze list to launch (hopefully) in April and you'll be able to calm those spicier sauces with something a little stronger than kombucha and coconut grape juice. Think, buckets of imported Cass beer, Mountain Goat and Asahi on tap — and a tidy range of Korean soju, too.