Cocoru Beer & Chicken

After several attempts to eat at Cocoru Beer & Chicken, I decided that a wait for tables was not going to stop me.  Well, Emily wasn't super enthused about waiting, but others behind us were warned that it would be in excess of an hour and a half for a seat.  Even though we had just feasted on some of the best food at the Richmond Night Market, the eating continued (doing our best Mijune impersonation).  Why go for dessert when there is KFC?  We were luckily enough to snag a large table even though we were only a party of 2.

Our plan of attack was to go for half-and-half bone-in and boneless.  So we started with the Boneless Dakgangjeong and Yangnyeom.  After the plate hit the table, we noticed that it wasn't a great picture as both were the same shade of red.  Made sense when we ordered it, but no, not great for photos.  We found the batter to be somewhat thick and firmly crunchy.  It wasn't greasy, but there was a bit too much sauce for our liking.  The Dakgangjeong was the classic Korean sweet chili sauce and it was indeed sweet with some spice.  Again, good, but too much of it.  The Yangnyeom was similar but creamier and topped with peanuts rather than sesame seeds.  I enjoyed this one more as it was dialed down a bit from the sweet chili.  Maybe we should've ordered some rice.  For no other reason that more variety, we got an order of Korean Rice Cakes.  These were crispy on the outside and appealingly soft & chewy on the inside.

For our half-and-half bone-in, we got Original and Soy Garlic.  Okay, let's get this out-of-the-way first, bone-in rocked.  The whole pieces were moist, juicy and well-seasoned.  Best part of all was the skin as it was rendered and lightly crispy.  Even the breast meat was still moist.  The soy garlic had the usual sweet and salty elements as well as the aromatics of the garlic (and garlic chips).  As for the original, it was even more crunchy due to the lack of any sauce.  With that being said, there was still enough seasoning for it to stand on its own.  This was so good, I was thinking in my head when I could come back and eat it again.  Curse that lineup though!

The Good:
- Dat bone-in chicken!
- They were very friendly and even gave us a bigger table despite larger parties behind us
- Open late

The Bad:
- Endless lineup
- The boneless was too saucy (can ask for less though)