One of the biggest food crazes right now has come to London and it is taking over the foodie scene. Thankfully, there are a number of Halal options too! The Korean Corn Dog is famous for its aesthetics, for its cheese pull and probably because of its attachment to the whole K-pop and K-drama scene. It is no surprise that this is really big right now around the world.
Is it any different to the American version? Essentially, it is the same in its foundation. A battered sausage that is deep fried and covered with sauce. However, the Korean counterpart is so much more than that. You can get a variety of sausage alternatives such as most notably, mozzarella (providing the famous cheese pull). You can even get a half cheese half sausage version! The batter itself is also different on the Korean one. And the sauce choices and combinations are far more adventurous than the standard ketchup and mustard.
Where in London can I get halal Korean corn dogs?
- Uh K-Dogs (https://uhk-dogsnjuicy.com/) – based in Camden, their Turkey sausage is halal.
- Horang-i (https://www.instagram.com/horangi_uk/?hl=en) – based in South London, all their corn dogs are halal.
- Bunsik (https://www.bunsik.co.uk/) – based in Soho, their chicken and beef sausage are halal.
We tried Bunsik
Bunsik have halal beef and now chicken sausage options and they are very careful of cross contamination. Each of their corn dogs are cooked in separate oils and that is visible to see as you order. Each stick is colour coded and there are multiple oils to avoid any cross contamination. A lot of credit must go out to them for such inclusivity. So, from the halal options here you can get the Potato Mozzarella, Beef Corn Dog and the Half & Half, where half of the corn dog is cheese and half is sausage (how cool is that!?). And as of very recently, the chicken sausage is also halal (website not updated yet – but do verify on the day).
The queue is intimidatingly long, but it actually moves quickly. You are in and getting your order taken in no time. we ordered the half & half – opting for half cheese and half chicken sausage. And then you choose your sauces to go on top – we chose ketchup and buldak (what a great choice this was!!). As soon as we took our first bite we fell in love. This was our first time trying a Korean corn dog, so we have nothing to compare it to, but it was delicious! Worth the wait for sure! We liked both halves, but my favourite was the cheese and my wife’s was the sausage. The shining star for me was the buldak sauce, it brought everything together and then elevated it to top tier level. You have to get this sauce! It’s got a little kick to it, but it so makes this!!
As mentioned, this was our first and only experience thus far. So, hopefully look forward to trying the others to compare it to this in the future.
Edit: updated 26th June 2022
Bunsik’s new Embankment branch
Recently, they opened a new branch right outside the Embankment station. The first noticeable difference is the queue or lack of. Literally, there was no one there, which is such a stark difference to the Soho branch. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a new branch or just that it isn’t in a typical foodie location like the Soho one is in. However, it’s Bunsik, the same people, the same food (well actually some different options too, but we’ll come to that). So, of course when we were in the area with family who hadn’t tried Korean corn dogs before, we had to pop in and show them what the hype is all about.
This time, we tried out a couple of different items from their menu including one that is exclusive to this branch – exciting! So, we tried the Potato Mozzarella one, which is probably the most famous on TikTok and a sweet one, which is called Injeolmi corn dog and this is the exclusive one to this branch. It is a mozzarella corn dog sprinkled with roasted soybean powder and condensed milk sauce to give it that sweet taste.
You have to try the exclusive sweet one!
How was it? The potato mozzarella one was actually underwhelming, yes it looks good for pictures and it seems to be the most popular, but this wasn’t it to be honest. We much prefer the half & half one we tried the first time; that one was revolutionary and this one was just meh. The Injeolmi corn dog on the other hand, was absolutely amazing!! We loved it. The sweet flavour works so well with the savoury cheesy corn dog. I would urge you to try this one, but it’s only available at this particular branch at the moment.
Getting there (Soho branch)
Nearest station: Leicester Square
Nearest mosque: Muslim World League Goodge Street (10 minute walk)
Parking: Ossulston Street – free evenings and weekends – plenty of parking spaces on Sundays – about 20-30 min walk from Soho/Chinatown, but it is just outside congestion zone
