One thing’s for sure: your meal won’t be bland at NeNe Chicken. There’s sauces and seasonings and anything labeled as spicy really unleashes some searing heat.

Take for instance the spicy fried chicken skin ($8.95), which looks unassuming and has the texture of a tortilla chip mixed with pork find. The dusting of spice starts off tasting like nothing more than a barbeque chip, but slowly builds as it coats the tongue and leaves a lingering sting. It’s an interesting “snack”, but too rich for me. The dish is best ordered amongst a table of six or more, so everyone gets a handful.

It’s a similar story for the tteok bokki ($18.95), which starts off almost sweet until your mouth starts burning after two rice cakes and a mouthful of the shredded vegetables and kimchi. Still, I enjoyed the chewiness of the carbs, and the dish contained a generous portion of fish cake. If anything, it could have used more green onion to provide a pop of freshness.

Thankfully, the boneless soy garlic chicken ($21.99 for a medium) offered some respite. Hot and fresh from the fryer, the chicken was very juicy with a touch of crispiness in its coating. While the soy garlic was a little sugary for me and could use more garlic, it was a welcomed change from the spicy dishes.  

I’d recommend paying the extra $1.95 for pickled radish as it’s an ideal condiment to cool the tongue and cut through the greasiness of the fried dishes. NeNe Chicken is a heavier meal, so sharing is best, especially if you want to try a bunch of different items. And if anyone comes that can’t handle the heat? Well, maybe you just mock them… NeNene booboo. 

Do you have a favourite neighbourhood restaurant? It’s that place you head out to for an impromptu meal, somewhere that offers a solid menu with reasonable prices, and you know you can likely score a table without waiting too long. The food may not be Michelin quality, but you’re usually not disappointed, and the menu’s varied enough that you’ll find something to eat. If I lived in the Yonge and Eglinton area, Wild Chicory could be one of those favourite local haunts.

Their menu is extensive, with several starters that would work well as “tapas” or even act as a main with a side dish, for nights when you don’t have a big appetite. The flavours of the Seoul chicken ($16) were decent – a combination of sweet, sour, and spicy – but could use more gochujang for heat and less rice vinegar as it was a tad tart for my taste. Crispy and juicy, these would have been even better if it arrived hotter.

My husband hypothesized that the chicken likely got cold as they were waiting on the rice nuggets in the crispy pork belly ($17). Indeed, they were searingly hot, very crunchy and addicting – the best part of the dish. Disappointingly, the pork belly wasn’t actually crispy. Perhaps it’s because the big chunks of meat are difficult to render and the dish would be better served as slices so there’s a larger surface area. More likely, there could just be too much hoisin sauce covering everything, which I did find overpowering and would have worked better smeared on the plate so diners can adjust the amount they want on the pork.

The problem with such strong-tasting starters is that the mains feel bland in comparison. A special that evening was the beef rib ($28) that was prepared to tender but not too soft. However, a thick piece of beef needs liberal seasoning to permeate into the meat. When I was having it au natural, it tasted plain. Luckily, the dish did come with a creamy sweet corn bisque and barbeque sauce, two things to dunk the beef into. What impressed me most were the sides, a light creamy potato salad that was bursting with flavours and a crispy and fresh coleslaw.

In the coast to coast ($38), only the scallops were seasoned perfectly, the bit of salt enhancing the beautifully crusted seafood that arrive just cooked through. The salmon was okay, not overly flavourful but at least had a lovely crispy skin. If it was done a touch less it’d be even better since the dish doesn’t come with a sauce and the fish tends to dry out quickly. Meanwhile, the leek and pea barley was too mild and so over powered by the lemon foam that it started having a bitter undertone. Perhaps, it could have been saved with salt.

Maybe I was lucky I didn’t finish the barley as it left me room to share Wild Chicory’s tiramisu ($12), it was delicious… the perfect balance of soaked lady fingers and mascarpone laced cream. Shaving chocolate on top was a nice touch, but I’d still add a touch of cocoa powder as its bitterness would better balance the dessert. Consequently, the tiramisu’s sweetness did go particularly well with an espresso martini ($17), which had a slight bitterness that diluted the sugariness.

Ah… an espresso martini, my go-to drink lately for elongating a meal to make it last a little longer. And time is what you have at Wild Chicory: you’re not being rushed to leave or warned about a two-hour seating limit. That’s how neighbourhood spots should be – walk-in, choose something new or order a favourite, and then just sit back and enjoy.

I’ve been listening to a podcast called The Happiness Lab and within an episode, host Laurie Santos explains that people tend to start things during a time of significance – on a Monday, after their birthday, or perhaps the biggest milestone of all… the start of a new year. It’s a time for resolutions and one of the most popular resolves is to eat healthier and lose weight. Inevitably, 2021 won’t be a year of shedding for me, as the first meal we dug into was a midnight feast of fried chicken. To soak up all the alcohol we consumed, of course.

Since we were ordering on a busy night, the soy garlic chicken ($20.99 for small) took a while to be delivered, so it wasn’t as crispy and was warm on arrival. In my heart I knew giving it seven minutes in the toaster oven would really help, but we were really looking forward to the greasy eats so tucked in anyways. While I do enjoy my fried bird plain, the lightness of the sweet soy blended with garlic was delicious and really helped give the chicken flavour without adding a heavy glaze.

In general, Korean fried chicken is lighter to begin with. The batter is just a coating of flour, so it doesn’t soak up as much oil and isn’t as greasy. The Fry cuts up the half bird into smaller pieces so you can pick and choose the cuts to your preference. For me, I like to pick at the bones, which is complimented by my husband who enjoys big nuggets of boneless white meat. I knew I met my perfect match: he leaves the flavourful pieces for me and is opened to indulging in fried chicken late at night.

Little did we know the chicken arrives as a “combo” with a can of Coke and a container of lightly pickled sweet daikon, which really helps cut through the grease.

That light acidity and freshness helped to balance off the side of fries ($5.99 for small), which was surprisingly hotter and crispier than the chicken. Despite being a “small” order, there was a lot of fries and the spuds were also coated with flour to give it that extra crunch – sort of like the ones you’d find at Taco Bell and Costco, excepted jazzed up with a light dusting of green onions.

I loved that The Fry uses paper-based containers for delivery. And if you want a fully plastic-free experience, skip the pickled turnip (with the fried chicken) and the ketchup (with the fries) in your order.

This New Year’s, what I’ve heard the most is good riddance to 2020 and let the good times begin in 2021. So, with that in mind, I skipped on my traditional resolutions of being healthier or more responsible. Instead, this year, I resolve to live it up and enjoy the good things (and people) in life. And it seems I subconsciously knew this already, as this year started off with a greasy bang.