Toreore -- Pretty Good Korean Fried Chicken

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Toreore, a Korean fried chicken chain, opened up a spot in H-Mart. Toreore serves their fried chicken breaded. I prefer Korean fried chicken without breading for the same reason I prefer buffalo wings without breading (no sogginess), but Toreore's chicken held up pretty well to the various sauces. I wouldn't, however, order any of the sauced versions to go.

Toreore features four kinds of fried chicken: spicy, sweet and spicy, garlic, and plain. The sweet and spicy version was entirely forgettable. The spicy, which is similar to the sweet and spicy, was redeemed by its genuine kick. Unfortunately, the chicken succumbed to sogginess about halfway through the meal. The garlic chicken was the star of the group -- sufficiently garlicky, a hint of sweet, and minimal sogginess. Next time, I'll get one order of garlic and one order of plain with spicy sauce on the side.

The owner was very pleasant, chatting us up about her business as we waited (an order takes about 20 minutes to prepare). She even held our baby daughter for a bit and kept her distracted so we could get our hands messy with the food. Overall, a very nice H-Mart dining experience. Toreore isn't in the same league as my favorite Korean fried chicken spots in NYC and LA (especially since I tend not to like the breaded style), but it's still welcome addition to Chicago's growing Korean fried chicken scene.

The incongrous Pizza Hut is long gone from H-Mart and in its place is Toreore: Chicken & Joy (“with a touch of mother’s love”), as DY states above. I wondered over there yesterday.

There are six choices ranging in price from $13.99-16.99, generally 14 pieces. (How many parts does a chicken have?) They will gladly sell half portions for half price, but they don’t state that overtly. The choices are:

1) marinade fry chicken
2) sweet & spicy chicken
3) garlic tasty chicken
4) marinade chicken nugget
5) spicy chicken
6) hot sweet & spicy chicken

Seeing as how I have little experience with Korean fried chicken, and none at all with Toreore, I asked for a half portion of number 1. No steam tables here. The food is made to order and I was advised of a 15 minute wait. No problem, 15 minutes is nothing to waste at H-Mart.

There were a lot of chestnuts for sale. They seemed to be converting the panchan counter to self-serve. They were making some fresh kimchi, rubbing pepper paste into cabbage, and people were grabbing it as fast as they could bag it. The sushi stand had a barker on a mic that was annoying.

I returned to the chicken stand in 12 minutes. They were just packaging up my meal. And I got excited. I LOVE packaging!



There are some weird vents on the side and top. The box features stylized fox and chicken characters. The whole thing is tied with a ribbon and a bow and finished with a fridge magnet / clippie thing!

H-Mart was a complete zoo so I opted to drive home – 14 minutes. Opening the box,

I was a bit shocked at the size of the chicken pieces. The thighs were smaller than a typical wing. The single breast was deformed. (Yeah? So? How’s it taste?)

Well, despite the travel the chicken was still somewhat crunchy on the outside, the batter fairly light, just a bit of fresh grease. The chicken was quite moist and the marinade flavor penetrated the flesh. Garlic was quite evident, especially afterwards, as well as some herbal quality I cannot identify. Kinda like mint, but not. I’m not sure I liked it, but I didn’t not like it. (Nice description, bud, you should post to food web sites.) I could still taste the chicken hours later, even after several Listerine strips.

Also in the box were two sets of chopsticks (how do you eat fried chicken with chopsticks?) Some pickled radish that is a nice contrast to the chicken. A small cup of honey mustard. And a condiment package with no English on it whatsoever. I’d assume it would be spicy by the peppers pictured but it was really quite sweet.

Who knows? Maybe one night soon, I’ll startle awake, ravenously craving Toreore: Chicken & Joy’s marinade fried chicken, but I doubt it. Still, I’ll give it another chance and try one of the other offerings.

Toreore (in the H-Mart food court)
801 Civic Center Dr
Niles, IL
(847) 965-0311

-ramon

Ramon wrote:
And a condiment package with no English on it whatsoever. I’d assume it would be spicy by the peppers pictured but it was really quite sweet.

Hi Ramon,

By the characters on the packet (the yellow ones), it says phonetically "sweet chili sauce", or ("suh-wee-tuh chil-li so-suh")

Sharona

(Nice description, bud, you should post to food web sites.)

Love it.

I hear you. I find myself sounding Check, Please! wrap-up at times ("it's just a great place. Good food. Great.")

Thanks for the correction, Ramon. I must have somehow conflated "marinade" and "sweet and spicy".

Give the garlic (and maybe the spicy) a try next time you're at H-Mart.

Ramon wrote:There are some weird vents on the side and top. The box features stylized fox and chicken characters. The whole thing is tied with a ribbon and a bow and finished with a fridge magnet / clippie thing!

my boyfriend had one of those on his refridgerator. i think from the same chicken place. the design of that thing really bugged me. what was the deal with the crazy back?! then he let me in on the secret...it doubles as a beer opener :]

i_like_cereal wrote:...it doubles as a beer opener

You are referring to the fridge magnet / clippie thing! I suspected such but I will have to wait a couple hours to find out for sure. Can't wait!

-ramon