In Solaire, you don’t have to be a Hallyu fan to enjoy authentic Korean and beer, as this chimaek institution opens outside South Korea for the very first time.
Chicken with rice is a meal for the body. But chicken and beer?
“Chicken and beer is soul food,” says Kkanbu group leader Amy Sung. “After a hard day at work, Koreans go to the fried chicken outlet and they forget the hardship of the day.”
Actress Son Ye-jin de-stressed with a pint of beer and North Korean-style crispy golden-brown chicken in the global hit Crash Landing On You with the uniformed Hyun Bin. Portraying Seoulite Yoon Se-ri stuck on the other side of the DMZ, chimaek turned a bad day into a romantic memory while watching the first snow with Captain Ri.
A portmanteau of “chi” for chicken and “maek” for maekju (“beer” in Korean), Sung explains, “Chicken —especially when fried — is a good match with beer because the beer reduces the oiliness.”
In Korea, Kkanbu has become synonymous with chimaek. All O Yeong-Su, aka Player 001, had to do was call Lee Jung-jae his “kkanbu” in Netflix’s Squid Game to inspire a nationwide craving for Kkanbu crispy fried chicken.
Bring your Kkanbu
The word kkanbu — not to be confused with chinggu — is a friend who’s also a teammate or playmate. It’s a nostalgic term among Koreans — and why the famous chicken and beer restaurant with over 170 branches all over Korea is more top-of-mind among locals; kids don’t play outdoor games anymore. It’s why in Squid Game, it was 77-year-old O in his Golden Globe-winning role who used it. (While public demand led to Kkanbu offering an endorsement deal in 2021, O had to decline to focus on his craft.)
Seungil Kim, Kkanbu founder and president, brought the camaraderie of huddling up to his neighborhood at his chimaek restaurant just outside Seoul in 2006. His rotisserie chicken, unique for being grilled al dente, became a hit. When he released his crispy fried chicken, within only two years, the demand grew so much that he had to open the restaurant for franchising in 2008.
Solaire needed something laidback and convivial for the Hamilton crowd and something for the high rollers in search of something substantial past midnight; they knew it had to be Korean cuisine. After months of research in Seoul, they recognized how chimaek brings people together and brought in Kkanbu outside Korea for the first time. “Solaire and my company are now kkanbu — good friends,” Kim says.
The portions are big at one whole chicken and half a chicken. With 10 flavors and a total of 16 bone-in and boneless iterations, you’d want to dine with hungry company.
BUT WHERE’S THE RICE?
Solaire and Kkanbu have been preparing for the opening since July, taking exacting measures to ensure your chimaek experience is as authentic as it gets, from selecting the right supplier for the red and white meat, perfecting the marinating and roasting-then-frying process, to leaving out rice from the extensive menu.
“Chicken is not the meal,” explains Sung. “Even after dinner, Koreans go to the chicken place and order chicken with beer.”
Instead, there are sides like tteokboki (chewy rice cake) with fish cakes in soup to balance the spiciness and cheese balls stuffed with gooey mozzarella, Caesar salad, and shoestring and steak-cut fries to tone it down.
For those who’d rather go the other way and want it even spicier, there’s the boneless chicken leg meat with julienned spring onion and mustard sauce, the Bbasak Curry-ne wings and sticks coated with crunchy curried coconut flakes, and sweet and chili fried chicken.
But if you really, really want rice, Kkanbu’s sam-gye-tang (ginseng chicken soup) is a whole spring chicken stuffed with ginseng, chestnut, garlic, and glutinous rice. All slow cooked together, each sip is so nourishing and healing that it cleanses the palate for more.
Maekju and more
The beer is half of what makes chimaek so good, and Kkanbu gives you more to choose from. Expect a wide range of Korean beers soon, but for now, they offer Solaire Lager and Engkanto Hive Honey Ale on tap and bottles of San Miguel, Heineken, and Stella Artois.
Korean liquors like soju and Bohae black raspberry wine are on the menu; a Korean cocktail combining soju with Bohae and lime has the right sourness to cut the saucier, sweeter items like garlic soy chicken and ho-tteok boneless chicken, a surprisingly sweet and savory combination of chicken tenders with tteokbokki with Korean hotteok (brown sugar syrup) sauce with sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
And because this is at Solaire, don’t be surprised to find top-shelf whisky and champagne for your pairings. Dom Perignon’s fresh acidity and minerality complement the Basakan six-pack chicken, a signature Kkanbu recipe so flavorful and crunchy outside yet juicy inside thanks to a top-secret batter. They are all kkanbu.
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In the Philippines, Kkanbu is now open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. at The Shoppes at Solaire.