-Grubbing in Chicago(land)
Korean Fried Chicken + Corn Dogs and Mochi Donuts
Asian food is taking over the globe in ways it hasn't before. Chinese food has always been popular but we’re seeing a major shift in the Quick Service Restaurant spectrum which has seen an influx of Asian leaning franchises start to open up across the country. Some of the more popular offerings at these spots include Bubble Tea, Korean Fried Chicken, Korean Style Corn Dogs and the newly trending Mochi Donuts. I feel like most of us know what Korean Fried Chicken and Bubble Tea are by now but Korean Corn Dogs are still on the rise ever since becoming popular on tik tok out in LA. The biggest difference in a Korean Corn Dog and a corn dog as most of us know them is the Korean corn dog is made with rice flour. It was back in September of 2019 that I got to try my first mochi donut while in Seattle. I became an instant fan among many other Seattle-ites who were lining up to try these unique at the time donuts. Mochi Donuts aka Pon de ring donuts are a product of Japan where they moved into Hawaii before coming to Seattle and now the rest of the country. Some suggest the name has less to do with the glutinous rice flour that's associated with foods called mochi and more to do with the phrase mochi-mochi, which describes a uniquely soft but elastic and bouncy texture.
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2d Restaurant
Our first stop takes us to Lakeview and a place where social media people flocked too upon it's opening. 2d Restaurant on Halsted is the city's first 2d cafe. The entire inside of the restaurant is hand-drawn two-dimensional monochrome illusionary that makes you feel like you're in a comic. Korean fried chicken and mochi donuts make up for what might be Chicago's most instagrammable / tiktokable dining destination. I visited with my young nieces who each got a kick out of it. You have the option to get your chicken tenders crisp or extra crisp and it comes with a sauce of choice and fries. I liked this for what it was which is some extra crisp juicy fried chicken. No complaints at all on that front and while the donuts were also good they were a tad bit too cold with a chocolate covered churro and a pina colada being our choices. The lines seem to have died down (weekdays anyway).
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Fried Chicken and Mochi Donuts at 2d Restaurant
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Mochinut
Mochi Donuts at Mochinut
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Korean Corn Dog at Kong Dog
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Mochidou
The best mochi donuts I've tried around town thus far come from Mochidou in Hoffman Estates. There's very little info online about this spot but they just opened and they also do bubble tea. The menu switches weekly with about eight different donuts on offer including an ube and strawberry which are pictured below. No surprise to find these out here where there's lots of Asian food options.
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Oh-K-Dog
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Korean Egg Toast at Oh-K-Dog
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See ya next time @chibbqking
2 comments:
Cool list — great to see these. I'll definitely check them out. Would be great to have their addresses here, too.
The food was fantastic and the service was great! I would definitely like this restaurant to anyone looking for a good Asian Fusion meal. I also take these types of food at Fusion & Dumplings House. that was great.
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