Honey’s Bistro

Five star fried chicken! Thanks, Vincci L for the tip!
I’ve had this bookmarked for a while and was finally in the area to give it a try. It’s a tucked away hole in the wall, near the Insadong strip mall.
I had the sweet soy chicken thighs. They chop it off so the four pieces, is actually two full pieces of thigh. Winner winner chicken dinner! Perfect batter, just the right amount of seasoning, not spicy (yay!) and juicy fresh meat. They serve their fried chicken with a small bowl of pickled radish — it works.
Also had the Korean noodle soup. don’t remember anything about it, except that it tasted like Japanese udon broth and that it was vegetarian except for some tamago-​like egg strips.
$ 7 for buttered corn seems excessive, but I think I might try that next time — along with any other dark meat chicken and wings.

I was feeling the urge for fried chicken and decided to get takeout from Honey’s Bistro. The place has kept its pub feel (not much remodeling from the new owners), but it did have its own parking lot on the side. We decided to get the fried chicken with soy sauce, as well as some steamed dumplings. The dumplings weren’t that great (like small wontons), but the chicken was decent. It was basically one whole chicken that was fried (but chopped into 12 pieces) and then sauced with soy. However, it was kind of pricey: $ 19 for the whole chicken (maybe this is the going rate for friend chicken in the Vancouver area?).
Since they are open late, I may try it again if I have a late-​night craving for some fried chicken (if Church’s up the street is closed already).
P. S. The friend chicken wings at Pok Pok in Portland are much, much better than here (not even a comparison, in my opinion).

If you love fried chicken as much as I do, then this place is definitely worth the drive. Located within the myriad of other Korean dining establishments, it’s easy to miss. Luckily my fried chicken loving partner in crime has been to this place numerous times, so we had no problem locating it.
The space isn’t too big, and the décor has remnants of what could have been an Irish pub back in the day. Nevertheless, the Guinness is now replaced by soju and Korean rice wine.
Their menu isn’t too comprehensive, but I was here for the chicken. We got an order of the mixed chicken (regular) and another order with the Korean sweet soy glaze. Also, we got some fried Korean dumplings and an order of the omelet. Of course, it had to be complemented by some soju.
The omlette and dumplings arrived first, they were good, but I would recommend saving stomach space for the chicken.
I was surprised at the size of the pieces of chicken– this is definitely no KFC as here they give you large, juicy drumsticks and thighs. I tried the regular one first– lightly battered, with just the right crispness of the skin, and then the meat– so flavourful and tender. Needless to say, I was pretty excited for the sweet soy glaze one. One bite and yes, I knew this was it. Reminiscent of Pok Pok’s wings, but without the fish sauce flavour. This was just perfect– the sweet salty juxtaposition, along with a bite of the pickled radish, and finished with soju.
Ah yes, this place is pretty awesome. Despite the mediocre service, the chicken totally makes up for it. Try it and you won’t regret it.

Whaaaa? How is this place NOT more well known?
Well maybe it is, but until last night I had never heard of it. B and I had JUST missed our bus home at Lougheed station and had an hour to kill. It was late so we wandered over to Insadong but they were closed! On the way back we noticed that Honey’s was open (they are open until 1am most nights) so we figured we’d stop in for a quick bit and a drink or two.
We were the only customers at that point so service was quick and we got our food pretty fast. The waitress was so cute and friendly. Brian had the shrimp fried rice and I had some dumpling. The food was GOOD. Much better than I was expecting. Our waitress also brought us bowl after bowl of popcorn (complementary). I’m not sure if they do that for everyone or just if you order booze (we did).
The décor of the place is kind of weird because it’s kind of over the top cliched, Canadian diner yet the tv was playing a Japanese pop music show and all the menus on the walls aren’t in English. Strange, but I like it!
Oh, and we thought this place only serves Chinese food because that was all there was on the menus but after we had ordered we noticed the HUGE chalkboard sign offering soups, paninis, salads, etc. I guess it’s actual a bistro after all :/

This is my Friday night joint! The place is casual, with a few booths and a section in the middle where you can move around tables. They always have Korean shows playing (like those really funny obstacle course ones) and solid music to keep the atmosphere alive. Now all the reviews below me are about the fried chicken, but my friend, you need to come here for other reasons
Honey’s has a deal for $ 20 you get to pick a drink and two dishes. And when you have a group of friends, who like to eat and drink, this deal definitely helps your wallet and hunger at the same time.
My favourite dishes? Corn butter, Korean pancake, chicken wings and egg soup. And yes, these are all on the $ 20 deal menu. Honey’s closes at 1am, but me and my rowdy group of friends have stayed here past closing on multiple occasions. If you need a place with cheap, but good food, open late, and doesn’t mind cleaning up after your spills, this is the place to be.

If you’re looking for some good Korean fried chicken just a little outside of Vancouver, near the Simon Fraser University, then Honey Bistro’s is your place. Seasoned well and fried appropriately for that perfect crisp, you get a nice balance for deep fried goodness that is neither too greasy nor too heavy. The meat is juicy and tender. And to accommodate it, they serve a bowl of these delicious cubes of pickled daikon. I’ve never eaten pickled daikon with fried chicken before, but this was such a great pairing! Who knew? Their kimchee fried rice was pretty decent as well.
It’s also known that their yogurt soju is one of the best tasting. And although, I don’t drink alcohol, my friends did say that you could barely taste the soju and that it could easily be called one of those ‘creepers’.
The only downside to this place was that they weren’t opened when they said they’d open. My friends and I drove all the way from Seattle to come eat here based on another friend’s recommendation. Imagine our surprise when we got there 30 minutes after they should’ve been opened and found it closed. We were getting ready to leave when we saw the lights go on. Luckily the food made up for it…

Read about this place last year when korean fried chicken seemed to be all the rage. Finally got around to trying it out. First thing you should know is that the chicken pieces (aside from the drumsticks) aren’t the typical size. Seems like the thighs and breast are cut into smaller pieces. So when a friend and I ordered an 8 piece combo, with salad, and korean rice cakes (not sure what it was called but I’ve had it in other restaurants and it’s good), we weren’t sure how much chicken it would actually be. Turns out that it was 8 small pieces, so 4 pieces each was the equivalent of us each having two large regular pieces of chicken. Portion was just fine.
We didn’t order the chicken with any sauce, but the rice cake dish was cooked in a red spicy sauce and we wound up dipping the chicken into that. I liked it better dipped. Without the dip, it’s still pretty tasty though. The meat itself had flavour to it, so I’m guessing they brined the meat before frying it. The batter was super crisp and not greasy at all. The caesar salad that came with it was okay, but kind of weird, considering it was a korean restaurant. I would have preferred a green salad with some korean style dressing, especially since this combo also had the korean rice cake dish served with it. But still, it was a pretty reasonable price for the amount of food. Can’t remember the exact price, but I’m sure it was less than $ 24 for the 8 piece combo. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Did it blow my mind? Not quite, but I’d like to go back to try it again. I do think it’s better than any fast food chain chicken you’ll find anywhere.

There are a few things I would do for a good piece of fried chicken (help you move, help you move a body, your mom etc.). Awesome chicken, however, outside of the South is rare to find. Especially the farther north you go. So your mom is safe, Colonel, for now…
I came here at 7pm on a Wednesday night. I was taking Lucille out for her weekly highway ride to shake loose the cobwebs of the miles of city driving I do. I had read about Honey’s before online when looking for a recipe for yangeyeom dak (KFC, Korean fried chicken) and had heard good things. I tell you, surreality couldn’t have picked a better day to show up. It was like David Lynch decided to take over and direct my life for 2 hours.
I walked into the Possum Lodge from the Red Green show and there was no one except for a Korean family eating dinner at a table. I looked back to check the hours of operation, «yup, opens at 4pm». The waitress seated me and brought me a menu and a bowl of stale popcorn, she walked back to have dinner. She came back and took my order, and brought me my beer, then went back to eat her dinner. Korean love songs pumping through the Muzak and HGTV on the HDTVs. It’s weird, but Mike Holmes actually synchs up suprisingly well with Kangta and Vanness.
Anyways on to the chicken…
HOLY CRAP! Sorry, did I scare you? Let me rephrase that…
HOLY CRAP!
Wow is this chicken good. The meat, tender and moist. The crust was ethereally light and sublime.
Now modern science has never, ever proven, without a doubt, evidence as to the existence of angels; but I’m pretty sure that if I got drunk, shot one, butchered it while it was still screaming, battered and deep fried it; that it would taste exactly like this (except this way I’m not going to Hell, well at least not for butchering an angel).
I had 12 assorted pieces ½ plain and ½ in a sweet, Korean hot sauce. I suggest getting the hot sauce on the side and dipping.
Also get this with beer, it makes for a great combo with the chicken and the pickled daikon they serve with it.
Yeah that’s right, beer. Not some fru-​fru cocktail you fru-​fru cocktail…
Anyways, Honey’s; it’s awesome…
Say hi to your mother for me.