Bunsik, embankment
Bunsik, embankment (£)
So, as it turns out, corndogs are a very international affair (who knew?!). For those not so familiar (they’re apparently popular everywhere except the UK), a corn dog is a deep-fried cornmeal-battered sausage. Normally (or at least for me), corn dogs evoke images of American state fairs and a golden brown dog topped with plenty of ketchup and mustard. However, more recently, and thanks to Tik Tok, that’s changing!
As it turns out, the corndog is popular all over the world, and as the simple dog travelled far and wide, it went from simple to something special. Bunsik offers a range of Korean street food, but top on their rather wide menu are their corndogs. The store itself is small, and more often than not, you’ll find the handful of seats they do have full, which isn’t surprising when there’s so often a queue out the door!
Onto the corndogs, then. The range of dogs here is impressive! Sure, they have classic corndogs, all available with a range of toppings (from ketchup and mustard to Korean mayonnaise and cheese), but they also have half-and-half (half hot-dog and half oozy gooey cheese) or potato corndogs, which add a new textural dimension of small fried cubes of potato on the outside of the dog.
and they’re good. The size of each corndog is surprising large; a thick layer of crisp, golden, and well-seasoned batter coats a well-sized hot dog. We decided to mix it up a little and went for a half-and-half corndog and a potato corndog. The half-and-half corndog really was the best of both worlds: thick, gooey mozzarella and a soft, seasoned sausage. For this dog, I decided to go classic and have it topped with ketchup and mustard.
Our original thoughts for getting the potato corndog were, "That looks cool; I’ve not seen a corndog like that!". And it did look cool, until it got doused in cheese sauce (although, despite making this seem like a bad thing, it wasn't). But in addition to looking cool, it did add a great textural element, the crisp cubes of potato, making each bit a little more interesting!
While Bunsik are known for their corndogs, and you’d be forgiven if you thought that’s all they do, they are perhaps a bit of a hidden gem for the rest of their Korean street food. In addition to our corndogs, we got some ddukbokki and Korean-style fried chicken.
Ddukbokki (also transliterated as tteokbokki) are spicy, stir-fried oblong rice cakes; soft and slightly chewy, these take on flavour exceptionally. The flavour they took on here was traditional—a spicy but slightly sweet gochujang-based sauce. Really simply, but so flavoursome, it’s clear why ddukbokki are such a Korean street food staple.
Also surprising us when looking at the menu was Korean fried chicken. With a few flavour options to choose from, from original to honey garlic to sweet and spicy, we chose the dakgangjeong, a more traditional, sweet, crispy style of fried chicken. The chicken itself was super crispy, with perfect-sized bites of moist chicken and crunchy batter. What set the dakgangjeong apart was the sweet and umami glaze it was coated in. Easily identifiable as Korean flavours, the chicken didn’t have the same level of spice as the ddukbokki but was flavorful all the same.
To wash all this down, we went with two (somewhat overpriced) cans of Korean soda! One grape and one pear They were nice, but definitely overpriced for what we paid. Oh well, it felt appropriate given the rest of the food was Korean (as much as corndogs really are Korean).
Was it fun? Yes. Was it good? Yes. Would I go again? Probably yes! It was quick, not that expensive, and definitely had some hidden gems with the ddukbokki and fried chicken. All in all, Tik Tok, cheers for this one.