Kokko

Kokko is a Korean fried chicken shop on a Norwood side street. It's a playground-inspired space (courtesy of Design People Unique Space) featuring gleaming white tiles, geometric shapes and bright primary colours.

The restaurant was dreamed up by couple Julie Kim and Ji Ku, who are both from Seoul but met in Adelaide while studying. After moving back to Korea for several years, they returned to Australia so their son, Hu, could attend high school in Adelaide.

At Kokko, Kim coats and fries around 100 pieces of chicken a day. The capped number is the result of a near-obsessive focus on quality control; Kim and Ku speak proudly of how often they filter and test their cooking oil. They also make all their own sauces.

The menu is refreshingly simple: a regular order comes with five pieces of fried chicken, while the “hungry size” comes with seven. You’ll get a combination of boned and boneless pieces, as well as chips and pickles on the side.Twelve ingredients go into the flour, but Kim is keeping hush on what they are. She road-tested the chicken on friends before settling on the final recipe.

You can order the chicken plain or add on one of the sauces: there’s citrus mayonnaise, cheese flakes, sweet soy, hot soy and the Kokko signature sauce (a sweet-and-spicy garlic concoction). A fried chicken burger, cauliflower fries and pickled vegetables round out the menu. The venue is licensed, with a small selection of Korean and local beers on offer.