Sherman's Food Adventures: HiFive24 Fried Chicken

HiFive24 Fried Chicken

Over a year ago, I had visited the original HiFive 24 Fried Chicken out on Marine Drive after Saturday night hockey with Gordo and JuJu.  We were pretty impressed with what we got and that prompted me to bring Mijune in on the action.  She seemed to enjoy it too, but of course, she remarked there are better options.  Totally summed it up, good fried chicken, especially for 24 hours, but still not the king of take-out fried chicken.  That still belongs to LA Chicken in Richmond.  I never wrote a post on that, mostly due to laziness, so when their 2nd location opened up on the Burnaby-New West border, I decided to get off my ass and do one.

Let's get to the "meat" of this post with the Fried Chicken in half regular and half spicy.  At first glance, the chicken somewhat resembles Church's, but in reality, it is completely different.  I find the batter to be crunchier, yet at the same time, doughy in parts.  There is less flavour where the meat doesn't seem to be brined (or brined as long) as Church's.  Despite that, it is still juicy and the the skin is well-rendered.  The spicy does have a kick, but isn't as flavourful as Church's either.  What sets HiFive apart is that they also offer Baked Chicken in both regular and spicy.  If you were thinking Costco rotisserie-style, then this isn't it.  Rather, the meat is drier and less flavourful.  However, it isn't exactly super dry either.  Again, the spicy wasn't that hot, but was definitely there.

Of course, we had a few sides too including the Fried Mac & Cheese.  Inside, it resembled Kraft Dinner, but that wasn't a bad thing.  Very familiar and still tasty.  Outside, it was crispy with a touch of grease.  Great for the kiddies, but personally, I'd be sick of them after one.  Compared to the rest of the competition, other than say 7-11 and Safeway, HiFive offers up Potato Wedges rather than fries.  These were really good with lots of soft potato surrounded by spiced crispy batter.  I think this is a smart move on HiFive's part to differentiate themselves from other fried chicken spots in town.  That combined with the baked chicken, there are certainly more options available.  However, my personal preference would be LA Chicken, then Churches before I consider anything else (when it comes to takeout fried chicken).

The Good:
- Juicy meat
- Crunchy well-rendered batter
- Option of baked chicken

The Bad:
- Needs a bit more flavour in my opinion
- Some parts of the batter can be dense and doughy
- Not pictured here, but I tried the chicken strips, they are not very good 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’ve had HiFive numerous times and prefer their service to Church’s. I find that even the non- spicy chicken still has spice due to them frying everything in the same oil. Been to LA a couple of times and indeed, it’s good. You should try Win-Win in Steveston. Great flavour, juicy with sides like mashed potatoes, gravy and a wacky Filipino-style Mac & tomato sauce.

Sherman Chan said...

Yep, had Win Win already. Good chicken.

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