#76 - Chicken Wings at Hashigo Korean Kitchen

On a cool, overcast day, I had the same debate with myself that I usually do - should I get a ramen or pho or go somewhere new and try something different? As I drove by Mitsuwa marketplace to Hashigo, every piece of me wanted that ramen. But I stayed the course, crossed a single street, and arrived at Hashigo. A Korean kitchen with mostly fusion dishes and a few traditional, this small gem is hidden away in a strip mall behind heavily tinted windows. Stepping in, the darkness persisted a bit, but I was warmly greeted, offered a seat in a booth or at the bar (I opted bar) and quickly helped. As I am still on my kick without soda or caffeine, I opted for water and perused the menu.

Even though I knew exactly what I was going to get (wings), I wanted to see what else they had. As I had looked them up on Yelp and Google Places earlier, I had a general idea of what was good (well, pretty much everything), so while browsing, the kalbi tacos caught my eye. I ordered those with the spicy wings (regular or spicy? the answer is always spicy).

While waiting for the food to arrive, I was handed banchan, consisting of potatoes in a sweet sauce, cucumber and daikon radish kimchi, and regular kimchi¹. The potatoes and radish kimchi really stood out and made a perfect pre-meal appetizer of sorts. In fact, I found myself constantly going back to the banchan throughout the meal.

The first item I received was the trio of kalbi tacos. On top of a corn tortilla there was cabbage, ciantro, kimchi, and radish with the kalbi meat of course. The meat itself was cooked fine, had a nice sauce to it, and, surprisingly enough, finished with a hint of heat. Nothing too strong, but a nice little bonus thrown in at the end there where you'd expect sweetness. I only ate one as I knew the wings were coming and didn't really know what to expect. The other two will make a nice snack or dinner tonight.

The wings though...the wings. Wow. As I mentioned before, I opted for the spicy version. They are presented atop a bed of cabbage with a spicy sauce drizzled atop and even more spice baked right into the batter. Instead of your usual wing, these are dredged in a tempura-style batter and then fried to perfection. Upon biting into one, you will get tons of heat as the tempura keeps them wrapped up nicely along with the natural juices of the chicken. Not grease or fat, but just a juicy, perfectly battered wing.

Served with the wings are two dipping sauces and a little tray of seasoned salt. The first sauce was the same slightly spicy, yet somewhat sweet sauce that they drizzled on the wings. The second is a buttery hot sauce (I know the sauce and it was killing me the whole lunch as I couldn't place exactly what it was - it's not tabasco, not frank's...WHAT IS IT?) which added just a bit of extra heat to the later bites once I had gotten through the tempura. My only minor complaint is the square dishes they serve the sauces in are hard to actually dip the wings in - the drumettes do fine, but the wings struggle to fit in and pick up sauce.

In the end, there's no doubt I'll be making this a regular lunch stop. I still need to try the curry fries, the korrito, and so much more that sounded great on the menu. Kudos to the Hashigo staff. Very tasty and reasonably priced for the amount of food you get (the wings were $9.95 and the tacos $7.95).