These Days, It's All About the 'Nashville Hot Chicken Burger' Over Beef Patties!
What image comes to mind when you think of the hometown of hamburgers, the "United States"? You probably picture the yellow cheddar cheese melting and dripping over a juicy patty. How does it taste? It tends to be a bit greasier and less fizzy than the hamburgers you eat in Korea, with a flavor that might seem off-putting. However, there is a region in the U.S. where you can enjoy a slightly different kind of hamburger ? Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. Nashville’s specialty dish is "Nashville Hot Chicken," fried chicken seasoned with cayenne pepper. It’s like a "spicy hamburger" served with coleslaw, cucumber pickles, and more on a burger bun. You don’t even have to travel to Nashville to try this flavor. The editor has found three places in Seoul where you can enjoy a "Nashville Hot Chicken Burger." Be careful?you might shed tears while eating these burgers!
Rockadoodle
This place is known as Korea’s first Nashville hot chicken specialty restaurant. Starting in Itaewon in 2018, it has expanded to Apgujeong and Seongsu, where you can also taste the flavors of Nashville. Rockadoodle’s signature menu item is the Classic Burger, which includes chicken thigh meat, coleslaw, dill pickles, and red mayo inside a burger bun. A distinctive feature of Rockadoodle’s burger is that even when generously coated with butter-based Nashville hot sauce, the crispiness remains intact. You can order it without sauce, but since the hot sauce is the core of a Nashville burger, it’s recommended to order at least at level 0.5 spice. Each branch also offers special menus besides the signature item, so visiting them one by one is a good choice.
Le Freak
Le Freak, located in Seongsu and The Hyundai Seoul, offers a simple burger menu consisting of a signature and periodically changing specials. If you tend to take a long time choosing what to eat, you should definitely visit Le Freak to taste Nashville. The signature burger includes Nashville hot chicken, pickles, and coleslaw made with red cabbage and carrots inside the bun. The presence of carrots enhances the crunchy texture and makes it easy for even those who dislike carrots to enjoy. There are five types of side dishes, none of which you’ll find at any other burger joint, so it’s highly recommended to try them together. Among the recommended places today, this is the only one that can also be found in Daejeon and Daegu, not just Seoul.
Hotbird
You can also enjoy Nashville hot chicken burgers at Hotbird in Common Ground, Konkuk University. While they offer a variety of beef patty burgers typical of burger joints, their signature menu is the Hotbird Nashville Chicken Sandwich, which features fried tenders, red cabbage vinegar slaw, pickles, and comeback sauce on a brioche bun. The thick whole chicken breast is cooked sous vide, making it tender and not dry at all. If you’re more drawn to beef patty burgers or want to enjoy spiciness even more intensely, it’s a good idea to order tenders or fries seasoned with Hotbird seasoning. Here, you can also enjoy homemade banana pudding as a dessert to neutralize the spiciness.
Even if you think you can handle spicy food, order cautiously. If you’re sensitive to spice, start at level 1.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
