ChiMec

*Restaurant is closed*

A by-product of my quest to find the best fried chicken sammie in the Lower Mainland has been stumbling upon places that were never on my radar.  Case-in-point, my visit to Alphabet City yielded not only another fried chicken sammie contender, the rest of the food was really good.  Now the quest has brought me to ChiMec Fried Chicken & Burger out on Denman.  Run by the same good people from one store down at MDG, the chances of good fried chicken were pretty good.  Jacqueline and I dropped by for a tasting of their wares.

Not going to talk about something else and get right to the ChiMec Burger presented 2 ways.  First, we had the original with 2 deep fried chicken thighs and then the spicy with 2 pieces of deep fried chicken breast (that equals a whole).  As you can see, they were massive and fully loaded with creamy coleslaw, pickled onions, cheese and pickles on a brioche bun.  My preference was the dark meat as it was juicier.  In terms of original vs. spicy, definitely the spicy for me as the kick was noticeable and impactful.  Well worth the $12.00.

Now their Wings were pretty darn good as well.  We got them in Sweet & Spicy Korean and Salt & Pepper.  I found the coating to be a hybrid between batter and breading.  It wasn't heavy though and stayed crunchy throughout.  The skin was nicely rendered and there was sufficient seasoning even without sauce.  However, the Korean-style glaze was pretty tasty with the usual sweet and spiciness one would expect. 

This carried onto their Fried Chicken with a firm, yet not overly heavy coating.  Nicely seasoned and completely rendered skin.  Meat was super juicy, but didn't degrade the crunchiness outside.  Not much to say about the Fries and Onion Rings as they did the job, but were pretty standard.  However, the most important part of the menu, the chicken, they do it well and I do not hesistate to recommend it.

 

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Well-seasoned, juicy chicken with rendered skin and crunchy coating
- Large sandwiches
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Fries could be better