The latest addition to David Chang’s New York Momofuku empire debuted in the East Village two months ago to the hype you’d expect.
With successful restaurants dotting the East Village, Fuku serves up Chang’s take on a chicken sandwiches. Though a chicken sandwich doesn’t sound like cause for excitement, Chang has proven that his versions of everyday food can be inspirations. I’m not much for chicken sandwiches, nor am I keen on waiting in hour-long lines for food, but the price was right ($8) and the hype was enough to give it a shot… under the right circumstances.
At 3 PM on a Tuesday, a friend and I decided to give Fuku a shot. Seeing as it was mid-day, there shouldn’t be much of a wait, if any, and my friend is a huge Chang fanboy, so this seemed like as good an opportunity as any to check it out.
Perfect. No line. We walked right in and both ordered the “Koreano” (basically the Fuku + daikon) and an order of their potato wedges. About five minutes after settling into our place at the counter, the huge chicken sandwiches arrived with breaded chicken hanging out either side of the potato bun. This wasn’t an optical illusion to make the chicken look bigger, the piece of chicken thigh dwarfed the normal-sized bun.
Obviously I’m writing this review because:
1) I DESPISED the chicken and the hype wasn’t deserved
2) I LOVED the chicken, the hype was deserved and as someone that avoids ordering chicken sandwiches I was now obsessed with Fuku. Not only was it a more than generous portion of dark meat chicken, each bite was juicy and delicious (yet somehow light and not greasy), but the price for those two enormous chicken sandwiches and a side of potato wedges ran us $23 — a value that turns me on in ways I won’t go into.
So yeah, #2. Though I don’t usually eat chicken sandwiches, I’ve had enough to know what I like and don’t. Fuku’s Koreano sandwich is the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had… it might even be worth waiting in line for.
Fuku
163 1st Ave
New York, NY 10003
between 11th St & 10th St
East Village




