On the evening of 30 October 2025, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang sat down at a Kkanbu Chicken branch in Samseong-dong with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Eui-sun. Three platters of fried chicken, a few cheese sticks, three glasses of Jeju Wit Ale. The location wasn’t picked by Huang — his daughter Madison, an NVIDIA marketing director, chose it. Within 24 hours the shop was mobbed, Korean fried chicken stocks jumped, and the table the three sat at had a paper sign taped above it limiting customers to one hour so the queue would move.
Eight months later, on 7 June 2026, Huang came back — same shop, same table, this time with SK Group chairman Choi Tae-won. They poured each other beer, handed pieces of chicken to the crowd outside, and walked away with the next day’s AI announcements already drafted. The point is: when the most expensive people in tech wanted a meal that felt Korean and unguarded, they chose chimaek — fried chicken and beer. Here is what chimaek actually is, where to eat it, what it costs, and how to order it without paying the foreigner tax.
Short answer: Chimaek is chicken + maekju (beer). For a sit-down meal, walk into any branch of Kkanbu, BBQ, Kyochon, Bonchon, or Nene — they all do English menus. Expect to pay 20,000–30,000 won for a whole bird in 2026. Delivery to your hotel via Coupang Eats (English app) is the easy path. The classic Seoul experience is delivery to a Han River park — Yeouido or Banpo — at sunset.
What chimaek actually is
The word stitches together 치킨 (chi-kin, fried chicken) and 맥주 (maek-ju, beer). It is not a single dish — it’s a format. You order a whole chicken (or half-and-half of two flavours), a pitcher of draft beer, and you sit with the chicken in the middle of the table while everyone picks at it. That’s the entire ritual. Football matches, work finishes, study breaks, foreign dignitaries — all of them get chimaek.
What separates Korean fried chicken from the American version is the double-fry. The bird is fried once at a lower temperature to cook through, then again hotter to crisp the skin. The result holds its crunch even when sauced — which matters because half the menu is sauced. The two flavour pillars are yangnyeom (sweet-spicy red sauce) and ganjang (soy-garlic). “Half-and-half” (반반, banban) lets you order both on one bird, and it is the default move for first-timers.
Kkanbu Chicken Samseong — the table everyone wants
The branch Huang made famous is the Kkanbu Chicken Samseong location in Gangnam-gu, just east of COEX. The address is 3 Samseong-ro 96-gil, Gangnam-gu. From Samseong Station (Line 2) Exit 5, walk straight about 500m, turn right at the corner, then continue straight for 170m. Opening hours are 15:00–02:00 Monday to Friday, 15:00–01:00 Saturday, closed Sundays. The table itself has a printed notice limiting you to one hour, worded as a polite request to let everyone “get the good energy” — a workaround for the queue, not a rule with teeth, but please respect it.
The name Kkanbu (깐부) is slang for a sworn buddy — close enough that you share everything, popularised again by Squid Game. Worth knowing because the brand’s whole identity leans into the casualness of the word.
If you don’t care about the celebrity table, any Kkanbu branch does the same chicken for the same price, often with empty seats. There are dozens across Seoul.
For reference, here is what the actual Kkanbu menu charges at the shop (delivery is extra):
- Roasted (전기구이) — 19,000 won
- Original Fried (후라이드) — 21,000 won
- Crispy / Crispy Boneless (크리스피·크리스피순살) — 22,000 won
- Bbasak Curry-ne (빠삭커리네) — 23,000 won
- Six-Pack / Garlic-Soy Boneless / Green-Onion Boneless (식스팩·마늘간장순살·파닭순살) — 24,000 won
- Hot dogs, 3 pieces (핫도그) — 7,000 won
So a whole bird is 19,000–24,000 won depending on what you order. The trio at the famous table ordered the Crispy Boneless, the Six-Pack, and a sweet boneless variant, plus cheese sticks and three Jeju Wit Ales — easy to recreate if you want the “Jensen set.”
The main franchises — and what to actually order
Korea has hundreds of fried chicken brands. Five names cover what most travellers will encounter:
| Brand | What it’s known for | Roughly (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Kyochon (교촌) | Soy-garlic that defined the category | Honey or Red Combo around 26,000 won |
| BBQ (비비큐) | “Golden Olive” oil-fried; the export workhorse | Golden Olive around 23,000 won |
| Bonchon (본촌) | The version most travellers know from abroad | Whole bird around 25,000 won |
| Nene (네네) | Sauce experimentation; Vietnam Hot Spice is a current favourite | Around 27,000 won |
| Kkanbu (깐부) | Crispy boneless, casual pub feel | Whole bird 19,000–24,000 won (dine-in) |
Two more worth knowing: Mom’s Touch (맘스터치) is a budget chain better known for chicken burgers than chimaek; Puradak (푸라닭) markets itself as the “Prada of chicken,” prices around 25,000 won per bird. For the cheap end, supermarket own-brand birds — Homeplus’s “Dangdang Chicken” around 6,990 won, Lotte Mart’s family-size options in the low-to-mid teens of thousands of won — exist and are genuinely fine, though you won’t get the pub atmosphere.
A note on the prices above: 2026 prices have crept up to and past 30,000 won for flagship items once delivery fees are added. Treat the numbers in the table as ballparks, not menu quotes.
How to actually order at a chimaek shop
- Walk in, get seated. Most pubs press a buzzer to call the staff over.
- Order a whole (한 마리 / han-mari) or half-and-half (반반 / banban). The menu will list flavours — if you want the most “Korean” experience, ask for yangnyeom-ganjang banban.
- Order drinks. Saeng-maekju (생맥주) is draft beer; a pitcher (피처) usually beats ordering by the glass. Cass and Terra are the default Korean lagers; most places have a craft option too.
- Sides: cheese sticks (치즈스틱), french fries (감자튀김), pickled radish (치킨무 — comes free with the chicken).
- Pay at the counter on the way out. Card is fine everywhere.
Boneless versions are usually called 순살 (sun-sal). If you don’t want to wrestle bones in front of strangers on day one, this is a fine first move.
Delivery apps — and how not to overpay
Korean fried chicken is a delivery-first food. The friction for foreigners is that the biggest app (Baemin / 배달의민족) is Korean-only and historically wouldn’t take foreign cards. That has loosened: Baemin now accepts foreign credit cards via the “해외 신용카드” option and lets you order as a guest without a Korean residence number.
The simpler choice for most visitors is Coupang Eats, which has full English UI and the fastest delivery in the city — typical orders arrive in 15–20 minutes. Shuttle is a third option built specifically for foreigners.
Two practical traps to know about:
- Tourist-area menus run higher. A bird that costs 22,000 won at a quiet neighbourhood shop can list at 25,000–28,000 won on the same app in Myeongdong or Hongdae, plus a higher delivery fee. This isn’t a scam, it’s the operator’s pricing decision — but if you’re staying in a tourist district, expect to pay more.
- Minimum order and delivery fee stack. The chicken itself might be 22,000 won, but by the time you add the minimum-order top-up, a delivery fee of 3,000–5,000 won, and a cheese stick, you’re past 30,000. Single-bird delivery is a worse deal than dining in.
If you only learn one Korean word for the app, learn 치킨 (chi-kin). Auto-suggest does the rest.
Han River chimaek — the actual must-do
The Seoul move, in summer especially, is chimaek at a Han River park. The two most popular are Yeouido Hangang Park and Banpo Hangang Park. The set-up is genuinely clever: each park has officially marked delivery zones painted on the ground.
Step by step:
- Pick a park, find a spot on the grass. A mat helps; you can rent one at the convenience stores nearby, or buy one cheaply.
- Order chicken on Coupang Eats (or Baemin) and set the delivery address to the delivery zone number for that park — the app lets you pick from a list.
- Wait roughly 30–40 minutes. The driver pulls up at the zone, calls your phone, and hands over the box.
- Walk back to your mat. Open beer. Watch the city lights come on.
Banpo gets the bridge fountain on summer evenings; Yeouido is busier, more crowded, better for people-watching. Either works.
Quick FAQ
Is “KFC” a thing in Korea? Yes, but it means Korean Fried Chicken to most people here, not the American chain (which exists but isn’t the reference). Jensen Huang’s on-record praise used “KFC” in the Korean sense.
Can vegetarians eat at a chimaek shop? Side dishes only. Fried chicken pubs are not the place to try.
Is it spicy? Yangnyeom is sweet-with-heat rather than punishing. If you want plain fried, ask for 후라이드 (hu-ra-i-deu) — unsauced original.
Can I drink in a Han River park? Yes. Public drinking is legal in Korea and the parks are full of it on warm evenings. Be quiet, take your trash, no glass on the grass.
Where to go from here
- Staying in Gangnam? Our Incheon Airport to Gangnam guide gets you to Samseong without the airport-train trap.
- Heading to Hongdae for the night version? See Incheon Airport to Hongdae.
- New to Seoul transit altogether? Start with the complete airport-to-Seoul guide.
Prices, hours, and locations here were cross-checked against 2026 sources at the time of writing, but Korean franchise prices change quickly and the Kkanbu Samseong rules around the Jensen Huang table may have eased by the time you visit. Confirm on Naver Map, the brand’s own site, or the delivery app before you rely on any specific number.