Cocoru

Found this new place in Richmond and was quite surprised. Its specialized in Fried Chicken. It uses the Korean flavours in their fried chicken and has a variety of choices. We ordered their Snowfall chicken because I was craving their cheesy fried chicken. It was a bit different than I imagined but it tasted great! It wasn’t too strong of cheese flavours but the cream sauce does make it quite heavy. Warning: The proportions are HUGE! Three of us could not finish the plate of chicken. We also ordered their fried rice cakes and it was soon yummy! I loved the chewy texture and a little bit of crispy on the outside too. Definitely recommend this new spot in Richmond. The waitress was so kind to give me some of their house special sauce on the side to try and I loved it. It’s called the Dak Gang Jeong sauce. It’s supposedly the spiciest Korean hot sauce but it wasn’t not too spicy. it has a sweet flavour to it as well.

Best chicken I ever had in Canada. Cozy and comfy environment. Friendly bilingual servers are plus. Usually the korean chickens from other restaurants are instant taste with too much unnecessary ingredient but this place has the closest original taste. I am so glad that I found this restaurant as a chicken and beer lover. I am definitely coming back again.

Sometimes you get a craving for some fried chicken. You’ve just got to have it. Based on where I’m situated, Zabu, Boom Beer and all the others are a bit of a drive, so imagine my surprise when I noticed on my Facebook feed that a new Korean Chicken place had opened up just a short drive from my place.
Cocoru Chicken & Beer is nestled right in that Richmond strip amongst a variety of other Asian cuisine. What makes it stand out from the other chicken places is that it is clean. Not to say that others are dirty, but they certainly have a more ‘worn in feel’ sort of like your favourite pair of jeans. This is likely a result of the colours, lighting and being brighter and lighter than others such as Zabu, Ajuker, and Boom. They are definitely going for a more modern/​trendy look here.
That being said, when you first enter, you are greeted with a wall of action figures ranging from One Piece Dr. Slump, Gundam and various Marvel characters. A nice personal touch, but seems a little out of sort with the rest of the décor in my opinion.
Service was fairly attentive. The servers were of varied ethnic backgrounds, they all speak English. My wife and I got ID’d when ordering some beers. My wife didn’t bring any ID so that was a no go. Can’t really fault them for doing their job, but it seemed like they were asking for ID from every table…
In some ways, I feel like this is Korean Fried Chicken for beginners, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, but I don’t need an explanation of what I ordered when I know what I want. Some things that stand out vs other chicken places. Also, you don’t need to ask me if my food is too spicy, when it clearly isn’t. I get that it’s all part and parcel of trying to provide good customer service, but please let the chicken speak for itself.
So how was the food? I’ll only comment on the things we ordered.
Deep Fried Rice Cake — $ 5.00
As it was just the two of us, my wife and I ordered the Deep Fried Rice Cake to start. We got two skewers of rice cakes of 5 each. These are topped with their yangnyeom sauce and some sesame seeds. The rice cakes are just crispy enough on the outside but remain soft inside. The sauce has a bit of kick to it, but nothing to make you reach for the water. Would I get them again? I think so, the price point is fairly attractive, and my wife enjoyed them enough to the point where she still had a good impression of them as I write this review.
Snowfall Chicken — $ 24.00
Honestly a bit different from what I thought I was going to get, but still good. Boneless chicken topped with béchamel sauce and grant padano cheese. I don’t think another chicken place in the lower mainland has this (from what I have experienced at least). More than enough for two people. Let me start with the chicken. It is very crispy on the outside, but not at all oily. The meat itself is very tender and a pleasure to eat. The two combine for a pleasant experience. When topped with the sauce and cheese it becomes quite filling fairly quickly. Eater beware though, it becomes a bit much about ¾ of the way in. This is easily combatted with having something spicy though, so if you are going with a group of people and this is one of the items ordered, order another chicken dish on the side that has a bit of spice to it to balance the flavours.
Alternatively you can ask for yangneyom sauce on the side ($ 2.00 extra charge) to combat the rich creamy flavour of Snowfall chicken (especially as you get to the bottom of the dish).
While we were there, Cocoru was running a promotion via Facebook, where giving them a like would net you a free can of Coke. Be sure to ask your server about this if they don’t mention it, and be sure to ‘like’ it in front of them so you don’t miss out.
Overall we are likely to go back and try a few other things on the menu for sure. In the grand scheme of things, you can never have enough quality chicken places and it’s nice to see Cocoru make a foray into that field.