8621 109 Street NW, Edmonton

In this last month or so, I’ve had the chance to eat KFC from a variety of different places… Coco’a Deep Fried Chicken, Yum Yum Chicken & BBQ Korean Cuisine (In Calgary, post to come), and the chicken from It’ Dog, so I’ve really had a good chance to compare them. Again, for those of you who don’t know what Korean Fried Chicken, it’s fried chicken that’s been deep fried twice. That’s right, not once, but twice. It gives the chicken a crispier skin and makes it oh so much better.

It’ Dog  first opened up a few months back, and since then I’ve had the chance to go here a few times now with a variety of different people (I lost some pictures, so I kept having excuses to go back). Since being here, I’ve also had the chance to go to The Dog so I can really compare the hot dogs from both places.

Anyways, it’s located near the University. There is some parking immediately north of the building, but there’s much more in the back. It might be hard to get to from the north, but coming from the south going up 109th, it’s not so bad. It’s a small location, and the inside is pretty simple. The occasions that I’ve been here, they always had the K-pop blasting. It’s a little bit on the loud side, so I’d recommend trying to sit away from the TVs. On this occasion, I went with my sister and we got one hot dog each, and their sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken.

She decided to go with the Hardcore dog. It’s described as a grilled sausage with jalapeno, spicy ground beef, spicy sauce, pickled thai chili, and cucumber. If you really like spicy, then I suggest you go with this one. Since my first visit, they’ve really improved on their sausage. When they first opened, I thought the texture of their hot dog was really off. It had too much binding and it was very chew-ey and had an almost gummy-like texture. Now, they are actually pretty good and the texture is way better. My favourite part of their hot dogs would be the pretzel bun. It’s nice a fluffy and makes for a nice addition to the hot dog. These hot dogs are slightly bigger than the ones at The Dog on 118 ave. I think they are both pretty comparable now, it just depends on what kind of toppings you want, either western toppings or more Asiatic toppings, but they are both decent!

The other hot dog we got was the Peach Shrimp Dog. This had three deep fried shrimp ton top, covered in a peach mayo sauce, diced pineapples, green onions, and cucumber. I wasn’t too sold on this hot dog. The diced pineapples didn’t really go with the rest of the dish. The shrimp were decent, but The peach mayo sauce didn’t really come through. If you were to get a hot dog, I think you should stick with the Bulgogi dog, the beef rib dog, or the crispy chicken dog. I’ve had all three of those ones before and I think they were better than the hardcore dog and the Peach Shrimp dog, and they’re cheaper too!

 

As for their chicken… I think it might be my favourite KFC that I’ve had so far. Korean fried chicken is fried twice, which makes it extra crispy. I really like the crispy skin here. The sauce is nice and light, and not too rich. It doesn’t overpower the chicken at all, unlike what I found at Coco’s Deep Fried Chicken. And compared to Yum Yum’s in Calgary, I thought they were pretty equal, if not slightly better! The sauce here is pretty spicy. You can ask for them to put it on the side so that you can use it to dip if you want. I still need to try Wing Chicx though, but so far all the KFC that I’ve had is pretty tasty.

Overall, I’d say that they’ve vastly improved their hot dogs since the first time I’ve been there. That’s to be expected, afterall, I did come when they first opened. Their chicken has always been very good though. I’d definitely come back here for their KFC! If I ever want a hot dog, now there’s multiple places that I can choose between!

Edit: Here are a couple pictures of when I went again in June 2015.

They recently added some dividers between their tables so there’s a little bit more separation between groups of people. This is pretty nice so you don’t have to eat beside complete strangers. It makes the place look a little bit nicer on the inside!

The Beef Rib dog was pretty decent. Personally enjoyed it more than the Peach Shrimp dog and the Hardcore dog.

 

The Garlic Soy Chicken is really good. I think I still like the sweet and spicy chicken more, but it is a nice change. The garlic soy chicken still has a nice sweetness to it. If you can’t handle any spice or heat at all, this is a pretty good alternative. It’s very crispy and light and really hits the spot.