NeNe Chicken

I clearly had not realised that Perth has been crying out for more fried chicken options. Lately though, several Asian chains have recognised the need and opened debut outlets in our fare city. The most recent of these arrivals is Nene Chicken in Vic Park.

On our drive there one Saturday I found myself singing the popular track by Silento… “Now watch me whip, now watch me nae, nae”. Not quite the same spelling, but in my head nae nae and Ne Ne were interchangeable. As I later learnt the pronunciation did vary and Ne in Korean translates to Yes, so we were essentially visiting Yes Yes Chicken and were we ready to give it a try? Yes yes we were!

Welcome to NeNe Chicken… the Happy Choice!

The name “NeNe” simply means “Yes! Yes!” in Korean. Here, we pride ourselves on delivering the NeNe experience with our farm-fresh poultry and produce, tireless quality service and a happy dining experience!

We are committed to sharing the cheerful spirit with our customers, by providing the best fried chicken we have to offer! Made to order, we have a variety of crunchy, juicy fried chicken coated with a mouth watering selection of our secret recipe sauces.

Having recently arrive to Australia, our mission remains unchanged. Be it dine-in or take-out, we strive to offer the freshest and tastiest chicken for you to leave with a happy spirit and the full NeNe experience; knowing you made the right choice, the Happy Choice.

NeNe Chicken believes in the benefits of giving back to the community, being happy & eating well while being commercially successful. The aim is to sell a lot more than a piece of tasty chicken, we endeavour to spread our happy spirit, one satisfied customer at a time.

“Not simply just fried chicken, but fried chicken for the soul.”

A group of eager bloggers gathered upstairs in the new Vic Park restaurant and we had the menus thoroughly explained to us by our very friendly waitress. We ended up ordering a whole mountain of different types of chicken to share, along with some of the sides. Variety makes for good photos and it’s always a plus when you get to put a big dent in the menu and narrow down your favourites.

So we ordered….

• Fried Chicken – Original, Swicy, Freaking Hot, Bulgogi, Snowing Vegetable
• Tornado Potato
• Bulchi Chips
• Chips

The chips were first to arrive and while they appeared a fairly standard chunky cut, they had been very well seasoned and had a pleasing crunch. Plus being the first to appear it was a race to get all your snaps done as fast as possible so folks could start eating. They disappeared in a relative flash.

The tornado potato was the second spud varietal that we ordered. Visually it was an impressive looking spiral with a more than liberal sprinkling of ‘Snowy Vegetable’ seasoning. I found the seasoning a touch too sweet for my liking so only ate one thin piece, but good to try new things. I figured my heart really belonged to the chips.

As it turned out we had gone for something of a spud smorgsbord and last up was their most creative take on the humble potato. It included the delicious chips, but was piled with Bulgogi, spring onions and a dollop of sour cream. Now I had never heard of Bulgogi before but as I learnt ‘the word Bulgogi literally means fire meat in Korean. Bulgogi is traditionally grilled, but pan-cooking has become popular as well. Whole cloves of garlic, sliced onions and chopped green peppers are often grilled or fried with the meat’. It had so much delicious flavour from all those herbs and spices! And some of that fragrant beef, along with the chips and the sour cream made for an impressive dressed up potato offering.

With our spud quota sorted it was onto the main event – the chicken had arrived! I decided to start at the tamer end of the scale and then test my mettle with the ‘Freaking Hot’. I wouldn’t say fried chook is something I find myself eating too frequently, but clearly that may have been a bad life choice because from the first bite I was pretty enamoured.

The Original was juicy on the inside, with a crispy and tasty coating. Hot as hell to hold when it is fresh from the fryer, but thankfully the plastic gloves they provided helped with the burny finger tips situation. Apparently wearing plastic gloves to eat chook is the norm in Korea so we said ne ne to their customs and did too. The next chook choice was the Bulgogi, so fried chicken marinated in a beef flavouring. It sounded a little strange, but proved to taste amazing, it was actually my favourite. The Swicy was a sweet and spicy blend, a whole lotta sauce and I didn’t mind it, but it probably swayed slightly on the sweeter side than I preferred. But I felt the heat of this chook was a good segue to the Freaking Hot. I’m not quite sure it turned out to be because yeah, this chicken has massive kick. Like a kick of fire really. One for those who can handle the heat a little better I suspect, I favour my fried chicken a little milder.

With the spicy chicken still lingering (searing) on my taste buds, I welcomed a soft serve to round out the visit. I went for the black sesame and green tea blend and really enjoyed it. While both flavours are strong, neither are sweet and that made it pleasingly refreshing.

It had been an enjoyable first visit and I’d gotten to enjoy lunch with some friendly foodies over some fab fried chook. My thanks to NeNe Chicken for the invitation. One to keep in mind when next in Vic Park!