Last updated on December 28th, 2022 at 10:14 am
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I am here with another restaurant review and this time it’s about a Korean restaurant called Outdark.
My last food post about Yat Tung Heen has already been a few months ago.
I love Chinese food but I thought it would be boring if I only keep talking about the same type of restaurants. Since I ate at a Korean restaurant this time around, I thought this was a good opportunity to write about it.
My mom and I found out about Outdark through her friend. She said it’s one of the best Korean fried chicken places in Hong Kong.
The restaurant is originally from Busan, South Korea so you know it’s gotta be authentic Korean food. They even have a restaurant in Seoul.
I LOVE Korean fried chicken so if the place is THAT good, of course, we had to try it.
(You might think of the American chain restaurant when I say this but in this post, I’m going to refer to Korean fried chicken as KFC.)
Outdark – Two Locations
There are two locations in Hong Kong: one in Mongkok and one in Tsim Sha Tsui. Whoever chose these locations did a terrific job because, on the Kowloon side, these districts are always filled with people.
We picked the Tsim Sha Tsui location because it’s an area that my mom hangs out in all the time.
Seriously, if there’s one area she likes in Hong Kong the most, it’s Tsim Sha Tsui.
It would have been difficult to find this place naturally. Outdark is in one of those buildings where it’s at the very end of the street. So it’s not likely a place where you would walk by naturally.
Tsim Sha Tsui’s Outdark is inside a building and on the 17th floor.
It’s cool because they have other restaurants on other floors so it’s a building that’s dedicated to restaurants.
First Impression of Outdark
When you walk in, you will notice that the interior isn’t big.
It’s also pretty dark. Outdark has dim lighting but I’m not that surprised.
I heard it’s common in Korea to eat KFC with some beer in the evenings (they called it chimaek). I didn’t follow the Korean way because I’m not much of a drinker but I do enjoy KFC. Obviously! I wouldn’t go to Outdark if I didn’t.
Thankfully, we booked a table for 6 pm in advance.
When we arrived, the restaurant was empty but by the time we were done eating, there was a long line of people waiting.
It was a bit claustrophobic getting out of there because there was one narrow hallway for people to come in and out of the elevators.
I recommend you book a table in advance on Google. It’s quick, easy, and guarantees you to get a table.
Outdark Menu Options
Outdark has several menu pages so there are quite a few choices (most of it is traditional Korean food). If you’re a picky eater, you don’t have to worry about not finding anything you would like.
Even if you don’t like KFC, there is plenty of other Korean food. The food choices will be to your satisfaction.
1) Japchae
Japchae is basically glass noodles.
It’s a must-eat dish at a Korean restaurant.
They’re easy to make at home. I even found a homemade recipe when I have a craving for it. But it obviously doesn’t compare to professional chefs making the dish.
The japchae at Outdark was delicious.
People have different preferences on what they like on their noodles. Japchae can be vegetarian or sometimes, they add bulgogi beef (another popular Korean dish) with the noodles.
As you can see in the picture above, Outdark does have beef in its japchae.
I usually prefer eating the noodles only (I know I’m weird) but adding the bulgogi was the right move. The dish is even better because it balances out the texture. The bulgogi is chewy while the noodles are easy to slurp. It doesn’t require much jaw work.
The noodles were soft, smooth, and flavourful. Along with the marinated beef, the dish was delicious.
It was the first thing that came out and we were pretty hungry. The dish was pretty much gone in an instant.
I wish there were more noodles. The portion didn’t seem big enough in my opinion.
This might sound weird but I would have loved some shrimp or some kind of seafood in the japchae noodles.
This is something worth ordering. When I come back again in the future, I’ll be sure to eat this again.
2) Kimchi Fried Rice
When you think of Korean food, you might think of spicy food.
I certainly do and unfortunately, I cannot handle my spice.
Maybe a little spicy like the King Curry Crab at Saigon Star in Toronto but if there’s an option between spicy and not spicy, I would always pick not spicy. My mom, on the other hand, loves spicy food.
She wanted the Kimchi fried rice so I had some. I mean, it’s already there in front of my face. I might as well try a spoonful?
Also, I’m a rice lover so why not?
The egg on top of the rice made it interesting but if you’re familiar with Korean food, that concept shouldn’t be foreign.
When I was younger, I did not like fried rice. It’s only something I appreciated as I got older.
Since moving back to Hong Kong, I’ve tried rice dishes like paella, shrimp tempura with rice, and XO sauce fried rice.
It was disappointing to find out that Outdark’s fried rice dish was not bad but not that good.
It was probably my least favourite dish. Wouldn’t get this again.
3) Outdark Fried Chicken
KFC Flavours
There are five KFC flavours to choose from: fried, soy, sweet and spicy, honey garlic, and hot sauce.
Outdark has a menu option where you can choose two flavours. It worked out well because I wanted both soy and honey garlic chicken.
If I had to pick ONE flavour, it would have been soy garlic chicken.
But Outdark knows its customers well. They understand their clients might want to sample a variety so it’s perfect for people like me.
By the way, not all KFC places serve soy garlic chicken.
It’s too bad because it’s delicious. I don’t get why it’s not more common.
It would have been neat if Outdark served cheese-flavoured chicken.
Some restaurants would sprinkle cheese powder over the chicken while others would put melted cheese on top. I would honestly eat cheese with anything.
Too bad it wasn’t an option.
KFC with Fries
You’ll know what to expect because there was a huge picture of the KFC on the menu.
When the restaurant served us the chicken tower, it reminded me of a much smaller lobster tower at Fishman Lobster Clubhouse.
There were also fries. There were crinkle fries, waffle fries, and another type where it’s cheese inside? I couldn’t tell what the last one was but I’m pretty sure it was cheesy potato wedges.
Fries fanatics – you’ll go crazy.
Of the three, I liked waffle fries the most but my mom was addicted to the wedges.
She didn’t want to try one at first but once I convinced her, she couldn’t stop eating it.
She actually ate the rest of them after. Sucks for her though because there weren’t many left by the time she realized she liked it.
Honey Garlic vs Soy Garlic KFC
Our opinion is divided on this one.
I preferred the soy garlic chicken (of course).
On the other hand, she preferred the honey garlic chicken.
They’re equally as juicy but the soy garlic chicken is saltier whereas the honey garlic one was sweeter (no surprise there).
It depends if you like your food sweeter or saltier.
Personally, I prefer my main dishes to be on the saltier side. I can make up for the side that prefers sweets during dessert time. Then, I can have the best of both worlds.
The KFC was crispy and had a good amount of sauce on them.
Some restaurants can be a bit of a cheapskate and skimp out on the chicken meat. Outdark’s chicken was meaty and juicy. You’ll be happy about that.
Portion Sizes At Outdark
Outdark does not have large portions. The largest dish was the KFC. Maybe I’m used to Western size dishes but I still get baffled at how small the dishes can be in Hong Kong.
We pretty much finished everything. The chicken tower was a little too much but we wouldn’t have been satisfied if we only ordered one flavour.
We took the rest home but leftovers are rarely as good as eating them fresh.
Eat Outdark’s KFC at the restaurant if you can.
There are benefits of ordering takeout/delivery but with fried food especially, it’s best to eat it right away. The taste wouldn’t be the same and the chicken would have been soggy.
What I Didn’t Like At Outdark
The biggest complaint about Outdark was the service. I live in Hong Kong so unless you go to a fancy restaurant, you don’t have high expectations for amazing service.
At Outdark, it was pretty bad. I think the restaurant was understaffed because the restaurant got pretty full and it didn’t seem like they had enough employees.
We asked for water several times and they completely forgot about it.
Since the water jug wasn’t far away, we ended up getting it ourselves.
We can only ask the waitress so many times to refill our cups before doing it on our own.
It didn’t completely ruin the experience but the experience at Outdark would have been even better if there was better service.
Overall Verdict on Outdark
There were high reviews on OpenRice but I somewhat disagree with the majority. It’s a decent Korean restaurant but I’ve had better ones.
Outdark does have the soy garlic chicken flavour I like.
The restaurant also has reasonable prices and is at a convenient location which is why I would go back.
There are some cute affordable clothing stores nearby as well. You can burn some calories shopping after!
For the food alone, Outdark is not a restaurant that I feel like I must go back to anytime soon. Then again, it’s not another restaurant that I absolutely won’t go back to.
I’ve eaten at several KFC places before. There’s a snack place in Boston I particularly like but Outdark is the first KFC restaurant I ate at in Hong Kong.
If I feel like eating KFC, I would try several other ones. See how I feel about them. I don’t know what the standard is just yet so I have to try a few more first.
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Xoxo,
Nicole