Every time we’ve been past Nene Chicken at Macquarie Centre during the dinner peak, it’s empty with nary a soul either eating or in the queue.
2020
But during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday, we decided to try their Korean Fried Chicken after having grown tired of Papparich and Khao Pla (our previous restaurants of choice at Macquarie Centre). Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, though, because the queue for Nene Chicken was 6 people deep (with more behind us) and most of the tables filled. We were taking advantage of a 50% Liven deal, but few others were so we’re not sure what prompted the sudden surge in interest.
Keen to try as many flavours as we could we picked up their 18 pieces wingettes and drumettes with the choice of three flavours (usually available only with two flavours). All three flavours come on the same plate with 6 wingettes/drumettes of each.
The chicken is crispy and juicy on the inside, but critically the batter to chicken ratio is on point, meaning there’s the perfect amount of batter to add crispiness without feeling the need to rip it off to get to the meat like we do with KFC. There’s still more batter than the fried chicken we make at home with the OKI coating, which is very minimal, but this is great.
Front and centre is the Garlic (no sesame seeds, no sauce) and our favourite flavour of the three. The garlic adds a moreish savoury flavour with a hint of sweetness that keeps us going back for more.
Around the plate, this is the Swicy (with red-coloured sauce and a spicy rating of 1 chilli). The name was evidently a portmanteau of ‘sweet’ and ‘spicy’ with the result being a sticky and sweet tomato-based sauce with just the slightest hint of spicy. With Koreans being known for their spicy food, we’re surprised at the mildness of this sauce, which is rated as 1 chilli. We’re not a fan of the messiness of the sauce, but we’re glad that they provide disposable gloves for eating the fried chicken!
This is the Bulgolgi (with sesame seeds and a spicy rating of 1 chilli). We’re not too familiar with Korean food, and while we know that bulgolgi is made of thin slices of beef or pork marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ground black pepper (amongst other things) then grilled, we’re still not entirely sure what flavour we’re after. We’re thinking it’s something similar to teriyaki and on tasting it does have a somewhat Asian sweet/savoury flavour. It’s enjoyable, though.
This is the Snowing Vegetable (yellow powder with green specks). Essentially coated in a vegetable stock seasoning, this one is very moreish with the sensation of powdered cheese and all of its savoury goodness but without its funkiness. Along with the garlic, this is a favourite, although D finds it a touch too salty.
This is the Mala (red sauce with flecks of peppercorn and a spicy rating of 2 chillis). Where the Swicy failed to deliver on heat, this one brought a very enjoyable and manageable mouth-numbing burn that was restrained sufficiently for the other flavours of the sauce — gently sweet with garlic — to came through. That said, we stilled enjoyed the garlic flavour most and would most likely return for that flavour.
And this is the Super Freaking Spicy (red sauce with sesame seeds and a spicy rating of 3 chillis). This one is as spicy as its name suggests, delivering an amplified Mala flavour with its mouth-numbing spiciness. Despite leaving D sweating buckets and gulping water, the spiciness didn’t drown out the flavour of the chicken and peppercorn, which he enjoyed.
Snowing Chilli is a new flavour released since our last visit and rated with a spiciness level of two chillis, delighted D’s love for enjoyable spicy food. The seasoning has a familiar flavour that recalled the shaker fries from McDonald’s many years ago — likely a mix of garlic, onion and paprika — with a manageable and healthy heat that allows one to still taste the flavour of the seasoning and the chicken itself even as the heat builds. That said, as with most of their ‘snowing’ series, the seasoning is remarkably salty.
The bulgogi (right) looks much the same as the mala (left) and is distinguished with the additional sprinkling of white sesame seeds and a distinct aroma of soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. Upon tasting, those same notes of soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic deliver a deep savoury umami flavour that’s well balanced by a gentle sweetness and the slightest hint of pepperiness. To our surprise, bulgogi is our favourite flavour on offer at Nene Chicken, tasting like a more complex flavour than the garlic and a more balanced saltiness than the snowing vegetable.
Soft serve is also available on the menu for dessert to round off the meal. We can’t pass up black sesame ($2.70) and this one here is smooth with a prominent, nutty black sesame flavour – just the way we like it.
Nene Chicken added lemon to its lineup of flavours in December 2020. To celebrate D’s birthday with one of his favourite foods — fried chicken — we made our way to Macquarie Centre to check out this flavour. We’re fans of honey chicken at Chinese restaurants, so had expectations!
The lemon flavour was very distinct, with the acidity of fresh lemon and without the sharpness of bottled lemon juice. Unlike the other savoury flavours, 18 wings of the same flavour shared between two people, did not become boring by mid-meal as the acidity from the lemon was fresh and constantly cut through any heaviness from the fried chicken. The taste is somewhat like mayonnaise without the creaminess, which is not bad at all, though we would have preferred the addition of honey to balance the acidity.
2021
Nene Chicken is one of our most often visited fried chicken stores, and we’re always keen to try the new flavours that pop up periodically to break up the regular lineup.
This Chilli Mayo was a pleasant surprise, all the more because we chanced upon it just two days after it was released after not visiting the store for a few months. The sauce is a mayonnaise base mixed with chopped jalapenos and topped with white onion, giving the overall effect of a spicy sauce that delivered a moderate heat with added a tangy sharpness that cut through the fried chicken. The flavour was not salty or as fiery as snowing chilli, making it a good flavour to order half and half.
This is the Matcha Soft Serve ($2.70), which delivered a bright matcha flavour and a creamy smoothness without marked notes of dairy or bitterness. We enjoyed it.
2023
It’s been a while since Nene Chicken introduced a new flavour to their menu. So naturally, when they unveiled the wasabi mayo option in March 2023, we were eager to give it a try.
The wasabi mayo featured noticeable flecks of green from the wasabi, which we were pleased to observe as it indicated that they hadn’t simply used the uniform pastel green Kewpie Wasabi Mayonnaise. Upon tasting, the wasabi flavour was vibrant, imparting a punchy depth that complemented the acidity of the mayo base. Its quick, fading heat provided a pleasurable experience, though the crispy batter didn’t hold up as well to the mayo as other flavours like bulgogi or the drier ‘snowing’ variants. As we’re not fans of raw onion, its inclusion didn’t contribute to our enjoyment of the flavour, and we simply set it aside.
Nene Chicken is located at Shop 3445, Macquarie Shopping Centre, Cnr of Herring Rd & Waterloo Rd, Macquarie Park NSW 2113.