Dig in to the other KFC
Restaurateur’s Korean empire branches out
THE availability of popular Korean food and culture is expanding to Castletown shopping centre thanks to Townsville restaurateur Tak Lee and Netflix survival drama Squid Game.
Mr Lee has opened two new ventures, the Chi. King Korean Fried Chicken restaurant and the Dalgona Asian dessert cafe, in a revamped mall near where Coles is due to open in early June.
The popular Korean Dalgona candy featured in Squid
Game, a Netflix series viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide, in which competitors had to separate an imprinted shape from a honeycomb candy biscuit without breaking it.
With Sera Shin, Mr Lee also operates Asian barbecue and shabu-shabu restaurant Coo. King near the BCC cinemas in Little Fletcher St, as well as three Zizigo restaurants and stores around the city.
Mr Lee said Korean fried chicken was the most popular dish at his Zizigo stores and had not previously been available in Townsville.
He said the growing popularity of Korean food and culture around the world had also led him to focus on Korean-style fried chicken in the new venture.
“As the owner of a Korean catering company I believe the Korean food industry will be expanding more than previously and getting much bigger,” Mr Lee said.
“It’s time to become Korean.”
The dine-in restaurant, which will also provide delivery and takeaway, will feature chicken fried, slow cooked, in burgers and salads as well as Chimaek – the Korean chicken and beer dinner popular in South Korean restaurants.
While the Dalgona cafe takes its name from the popular Korean sweet, it is actually an Asian coffee and dessert shop.
It has Korean sweet coffee with Dalgona candy on top, cakes, macarons and waffles, with pastries similar to croissants topped with ice cream and fruit.
Pastries are filled with red bean paste or custard.
Mr Lee said he initially did not think about going into a shopping centre for his new ventures.
But he said that Castletown had come to the party with good lease conditions and that he expected the addition of the new Coles supermarket to bring in a lot of customers.
Also, the redevelopment of the centre’s Playtown and recent addition of the Toymate store would attract young families – clients he hoped would also be sampling his Korean fried chicken and sweets.