Bonchon Chicken - Ellicott City, Maryland

Bonchon Chicken is a Korean restaurant known for its signature fried chicken items - wings, drums, and strips. The restaurant chain, with locations worldwide ranging from the Middle East to East Asia, also serves a variety of Korean dishes such as tteokbouki, bibimbap, and bulgolgi. 

The entrance

Sleek black booths and tables, flat screen televisions, and a high ceiling give the place a modern allure. I particularly liked where my friends and I sat, a big booth next to the window where we all had plenty of space.

 Wings: spicy (left), pickled radish (middle) and soy garlic (right)

Scott and Anthony

My friends and I decided to share two orders of 30 piece wings. The wings come in two flavors, soy garlic and spicy, and are served with a side of pickled radish. It's cool that you can customize the wing order - any combination that you like ranging from half and half to only soy garlic or spicy. We selected 25 soy garlic and 5 spicy wings.

The soy garlic wings tasted incredibly savory. We liked how the wings were distinctively crispy on the outside, which gave it a slight crunch when you bit into it. The wings have just the right amount of sauce glazed on the skin; it's a goldilocks state where it does not feel like the wings are too saucy nor barely tasty due to a lack of sauce. Simply put, these large wings were an exceptional entree for any chicken wing connoisseur.

The spicy wings are definitely a stark contrast to the soy garlic wings; these wings are on the complete opposite spectrum of the tangy soy garlic wings. Although the texture is the same as the aforementioned soy wings, these wings are packing heat. There is a delay between when you taste the zesty flavor and hotness after taking the initial bite. I tried two of these wings one right after the other and seriously underestimated the overall heat when it hit me. I'm not the biggest fan of hot wings, as I prefer either mild or sweet, but they are differently worth trying if you're up for the challenge.

Friends and I sitting in one of Bonchon's big booths

Overall, my friends and I were stuffed after eating a total of 60 delectable wings. Although pricey at a total bill of approximately $17 per person, I thought it was a fun experience with my friends that I would try again and recommend to other groups alike.



- Thomas Regnante