Fried chicken mania has taken over many North American cities.
And, yes, that’s a good thing.
But I’m still happy that a new Victoria restaurant has bucked the deep-fried trend for a different style. I just moved to Victoria recently from Metro Vancouver, which has seen an explosion of fried chicken restaurants in the past couple of years.
Global companies like Pelicana, Chicko Chicken, bb.q, Popeye’s, Mary Brown’s and more have been setting up shop across the country, because a variety of styles of fried chicken to diners.
I love it. I eat it. But I’m also excited by the opening of a new restaurant in Victoria, at the corner of Blanshard and Fort Streets, called Good Ovening.
I tried Good Ovening after it opened very recently in the old Aegean spot. The menu is Korean-style chicken, but its focus isn’t on fried chicken, but oven-roasted chicken.
The menu offers a variety of oven-roasted versions, including the original, volcano, spicy chili, soy garlic, cheese prinkle and honey mustard. But you can also get those versions in the brown rice baked chicken style, which I was told makes the skin just a little crispier.
I went with original, which includes mashed potatoes and coleslaw (I subbed the potatoes for white rice). The results were amazing. The chicken is so juicy and tender and you get a heaping amount that I had enough for dinner that night. The skin was nice and crispy, but the meat was tender inside.
Good Ovening also has a variety of starters, including crispy pork belly, calamari, bacon poutine and a “cheese burger roll” - I’m excited to try that one.
Victoria has an amazing Korean food scene (I might write soon about Smile Chicken and their incredbly satisfying chicken burger) and Good Ovening is a worth addition to this.
READ MORE: This new all-pink Asian diner just might have Victoria’s best burger
DISCLAIMER: I have not been compensated in any way by this business for writing about its food. They don’t even know I’m writing about them. I just like good food.
Chris Campbell is an editor with Black Press Media at the Victoria hub of newspapers. You can follow him on Twitter @shinebox44.
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