A Conversation with Fiya Chicken - Boston, MA
This is reposted from www.somethingnearu.com - a blog article written by food blogger NearU
Over the past year, the fried chicken sandwich wars have really started to heat up. Popeyes chicken sandwiches were more in demand than toilet paper in March of 2020. Now, it seems like every place is offering their take on a Nashville hot chicken.
It’s pretty hard to make a bad fried chicken sandwich, but it is equally as difficult to make a killer one. Fiya Chicken is making some of the dankest, most creative fried chicken sandwiches around, and we sat down with them to learn what it takes to stand out in the over-saturated fried chicken market.
What sets Fiya Chicken apart from your run-of-the-mill joint is that they are doing Korean fried chicken. The preparation and flavor palate is vastly different, and refreshing when compared to many of the American styles.
Korean fried chicken is fried twice, once at a lower temperature to cook to the chicken, and then a second time at higher temperature to get it nice and crispy. In the words of Fiya Chicken themselves, “The double fry gives you that cracking crunch when you bite into it.” This double fry method may take longer than your traditional single fry, but the results are well worth the couple extra minutes.
The sauces are another differentiator. Fiya gave us a break down of their signature house-made sauce choices:
Soy Garlic: This is your classic Korean fried chicken sauce. It is sweet and savory. A crowd pleaser, if you will.
Spicy Garlic: Similar to buffalo sauce, but with more herbs and seasoning. It has all that buffalo goodness with a little extra kick.
Fire Sauce: Their take on Nashville hot chicken. Tons of cayenne, brown sugar, and gochugaru (an Asian spice). This is a dry rub for those who are less saucy.
Apple Cider Honey Mustard: Fiya’s take on a honey mustard. It is sweet and tangy with a nice bite at the end. This is probably their most underrated flavor, and our personal favorite. This is a take on honey mustard that your taste buds will be dancing over.
Fiya is more than a one-trick pony, and although at their core they are a fried chicken sandwich joint, their top-selling item is their Korean corn dog.
Other than the shape, these dogs are nothing like their American counterparts. The outside is sweet and sugary, with a spicy ketchup drizzled on top. The inside is a traditional hot dog, but with loads of steaming hot mozzarella, creating the perfect cheese pull. This combination of sweet, spicy, doughy, and savory come together in a symphony of flavors that Beethoven would be proud of.
With Shake Shack now offering a limited time Korean fried chicken menu, we had to ask the experts what their opinion was on it. To no surprise, they were disappointed in what they tried. To them, they could clearly tell it was not double fried in the traditional way, and really the only thing that was Korean about it was the sauce pairing.
In a world where it seems there is a chicken sandwich on every corner, it can be overwhelming to find the best spots. If you are looking for cutting-edge flavors that you can’t find anywhere else, then Fiya Chicken should be a top choice. Fiya is constantly innovating and changing their menu, so you never know what inventive creations they will have when you walk in next.
From the owners of Fiya Chicken - thank you to NearU for writing this piece. Please visit his website at https://somethingnearu.com/