O'Dea Eats: Korean Fried Chicken on First Hill

By: Ryan Phillips

Have you ever had Korean fried chicken? Well if you haven't I suggest you check out a restaurant called Bonchon located in First Hill, Seattle. This place is a hot spot for O'Dea students and is about a ten minute walk from the school. Students go here during lunch time to get some tasty Korean fried chicken.

Bonchon was originated from New York City and was founded in 2006 by Jinduk Seo. His dream was to share his favorite Korean fried chicken flavors with the world. The Bonchon in Seattle opened in 2019 has been at the same location for almost 5 years.

I went to go try some of Bonchon's main dishes during lunch and I must say I was more than satisfied. I tried their signature Korean fried chicken, the udon noodle soup and their house fried rice. Bonchon is known for their signature Korean fried chicken and after tasting it I completely understood why they were known for it. They have many flavors such as soy garlic, spicy, Korean BBQ and the new flavor yangnyeom. I tried the soy garlic and the yangnyeom sauce.

My food scale goes from 1-10 with 1 being never having again to 10 this was the best I ever had. I rated the signature fried chicken a 9 due to it having a really good taste for both the soy garlic and yangnyeom and the texture of the crunch was amazing.

Next I tried the udon noodle soup. I've had udon noodle soup in the past and I must say I love the dish. Bonchon's udon noodle soup fulfilled my likeliness of the bite. I rated the soup an 8 due to it having a really good taste and the noodles were cooked very well.

Finally, I tried the house fried rice. As many people can agree, nothing can go wrong with fried rice as it's a very good side dish to have with your food. I rated it an 8 due to it being enriched with flavor and the seasoning was on point. The cucumbers being an add on was also something I enjoyed and the topping of green onions & peppers.

Overall, I really enjoyed eating at Bonchon. The service was great, the restaurant was nice and the best thing of all was the food. Bonchon is definitely one of the top food spots to go to if you attend O'Dea High School.