This is Romance Chicken, a Korean fried chicken venue focused on fried and sauced chicken. The menu centres on bone-in and boneless fried chicken in multiple sauces, with tteokbokki, soups, grilled chicken and smoked chicken providing additional options.
Rose Tteokbokki ($27.00)
The dish featured long strips of thin fish cake, alongside chopped slices of bacon and sausage and leeks, with a handful of tteokbokki and sweet potato noodles in a rosé sauce.
The sauce had a creamy, mildly spicy tomato and chilli flavour, which was preferable to the fiery kick of traditional gochujang, without any overt dairy funk. The tteokbokki had a soft chew, perhaps suggesting a rice-based rather than wheat-based preparation. The fish cake strips were very long, at around 15 cm, but were suitably flexible to fold over for a single mouthful, while their large surface area absorbed the sauce generously. The sweet potato noodles provided a contrasting slippery chew that added further textural depth. Overall, an enjoyable dish that would be worth ordering again.
Garlic Soy Fried Chicken ($41.00, whole and bone-in)
Fried fresh to order, the pieces were coated in a fragrant, slightly sweet-savoury garlic soy sauce, while the chicken remained exceptionally juicy from the drumsticks through to the wings and breast. The batter would likely have retained more of its initial crispness without the sauce, as the coating reduced the intensity of the crunch, although it remained enjoyable rather than becoming soggy.
The meat itself was not seasoned beneath the batter and sauce, which became more apparent after the stronger flavours of the exterior had receded. Overall, this was enjoyable and competent Korean fried chicken, although the crunch, crispness and flavour did not reach the level achieved by Joy Fried Chicken.
Overall, Korean fried chicken and accompanying dishes were defined by sauce-forward savoury flavours and generally strong textural contrast, with execution strongest where the chicken remained juicy beneath the coating and the sauce complemented rather than overwhelmed the underlying structure. The Rose Tteokbokki stood out for its combination of creamy chilli-tomato sauce, soft tteokbokki, flexible fish cake and slippery sweet potato noodles, while the Garlic Soy Fried Chicken was enjoyable but less distinctive in its textural execution.
Romance Chicken is located at C03, 3 Avenue of Europe, Newington NSW 2127.