"KOOKOO" — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

Went here - sight unseen - for lunch on Saturday and... ate too much. I ordered half a roast chicken with bulgogi sauce and a side order of potato fries, while my partner had the half fried chicken with hot chilli sauce. For drinks I had a somaek (soju and beer cocktail, which was delicious and gave me a buzz and which I will have again), while my partner had a beer straight-up.

The service was warm, friendly and welcoming. And the food was f--king delicious. Excuse my Norwegian, but, yeah, the roast chicken was succulent, as was the fried chicken (we ordered both dishes on-the-bone, so...). The former was served on a bed of sticky rice, over parts of which the bulgogi sauce had caramelised - so damn good. The latter was smothered in a hot and sweet chilli sauce, and served with a (small) side of macaroni salad. There were also two sides of radish pickle, chicken-mu (cubes of radish in a sweet vinegar brine), and what I think was slivers of kkakdugi (radish kimchi). I don't know which one was supposed to go with which chicken, but we were sharing everything, so it was all good.

The sweet chilli sauce was delicious, with a slowly building heat, and covered all of the fried chicken. However, we found it ultimately just too sweet. So, next time - and yes, we will be back - we'll order the sauce separately so we can regulate it to our taste. Furthermore, and yes, two half chickens are a lot of food, even if the chickens were on the smallish side. But we were hungry after a long walk, and couldn't control our ordering selves.

As we rolled to our car, we were already thinking about what to order next time: we'll forego the fries and try some of the other sharing plates as sides. The tofu kimchi is...

ONE OF THE BEST RESTAURANTS IN AUCKLAND IN TERMS OF FLAVOUR, VALUE FOR MONEY AND ATMOSPHERE!

BULGOGI ROAST CHICKEN - This is a must have dish here. It is served on a hot sizzling plate. There is sticky rice hidden underneath the chicken and gives an extra aroma as it cooks on the sizzling plate. The chicken was super tender and was cut into edible slices by the server in front of us. The bulgogi (sweet soy base) sauce was generous. And the extra spring onions on top finished this dish perfectly both visually and taste wise.

WANG KIMMALI - Another must have dish here. It is like a sushi with noodles inside of a seaweed (rather than rice), which is deep fried. It has the most pleasant texture of a crunchy outside and a soft chewy inner due to the noodles.

The fried chicken was also really delicious and the tteokbokki was delicious as well. However the above two dishes really made this place stand out.

The ambience in the restaurant was great, with korean decor throughout the place that were simple yet subtle.

The staff were extremely friendly and helpful throughout our stay.

Note this place will usually require a booking due to how busy it is. But if you go outside of usual peak times (ie, we went in at 4pm) you are able to get a seat without booking.

Will 100% be...

I came here for dinner and had a decent overall experience - I would give it 3.5 stars if Google would allow me to. The staff were friendly, and the interior was modern and stylish, which made for a pleasant atmosphere.

Food and drinks were a bit of a mixed bag for me—some things I really enjoyed, others not so much. The highlight was definitely the roasted chicken with corn cheese, which came with a delicious chicken rice topping. The chicken was moist, flavourful, and honestly quite comparable to versions I’ve tried in Korea.

I also ordered two drinks—the white grape highball and the plum soda—both of which were really refreshing and tasty. I’d highly recommend trying them!

On the flip side, the tteokbokki and fried seaweed roll (kim-mari) weren’t to my liking. The tteokbokki lacked seasoning and the fishcake, while an interesting modern twist being deep-fried, ended up too crispy and dry for me. I personally prefer the traditional style where the fishcake is soft and tender. The kim-mari was also quite different from what you'd typically find in Korea—larger and chunkier—which made it feel too heavy and overpowering for my taste.

Overall, it’s a good spot with some unique takes on Korean dishes. I’d come back, but I’d skip those two particular...