It took Insung Park seven long months to perfect the Korean fried chicken menu he designed from scratch.
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If the queue of hungry customers lining up at his Jjindakk food truck at Warners Bay is any indication, the hard work was worth it. So popular is his fried chicken that he has decided to open a restaurant on Beaumont Street in Hamilton in "a couple of months". He found a suitable venue just last week.
Not bad for a boilermaker who, in 2020, won the Hunter's Best Welder competition.
"I was born and raised in South Korea, studied Western cuisine in university back in Korea and moved to Australia in 2012 as a working holiday visa holder to seek Western cuisine experience," Insung said.
He studied engineering fabrication at TAFE NSW and and "got a state sponsorship visa (permanent residency) in 2019". He then moved to the Hunter Valley to work in the mines as a boilermaker.
"My fried chicken story starts from a much younger age," Insung said.
"Korean fried chicken started as a takeaway food back in the '90s and it got crazy popular in the Korean community. It wasn't cheap. My family wasn't financially comfortable so we had to get one chicken for our entire family.
"My brother and I were at the age that we never stopped eating and my mum would just look at us eating and pretend that she wasn't interested. She would only ever eat the meat left on the bones.
"Ever since I fell in love with Korean fried chicken, I have always wanted to have a Korean fried chicken restaurant. I can eat as much as I can if I own the shop [laughs]."
He started his Jjindakk Korean Fried Chicken food truck business in November 2022 after becoming an Australian citizen.
"I was working in the mines and I thought my family was living comfortably with just my wage but as the cost of living rose and mortgage rates kept going up, I just couldn't keep working overtime shifts and I was mentally burned out," he explained.
"My wife wasn't in a position to seek work because we have three young children."
Trying to come up with a solution to ease their financial stress, Insung spoke to a neighbour who operated a food truck. He became a mentor of sorts for Insung, and an inspiration ("He guided me in the right direction from the beginning.")
Insung developed his own Korean recipes from scratch.
"I had to start working out all the recipes for each sauce for the fried chicken, the batter mix, cooking time and so on ... basically I had to work out everything from nothing," he said.
"It ended up taking nearly seven months to complete all the recipes.
"Unlike other big franchises, I don't buy sauces or batter mix directly from Korea, I invented and created the actual Korean flavours all by myself."
The most popular dish on his menu is Yangnyeom chicken, which he refers to as a traditional Korean fried chicken. It is typically seasoned with a sweet and spicy sauce made with gochujang, garlic, sugar and other spices.
"A lot of people have said our menu is good value and super tasty and are very surprised at what can be made out of a food truck," Insung said.
"I have a lot of regular Korean customers travelling from other cities to get our chicken.
"I would say I am a perfectionist. I can't allow any low quality food to be served from our food truck, it is never ever acceptable.
"I really care about Jjindakk's reputation and it is built because we consistently serve the best quality possible food and also have friendly service."
You can find Jjindakk Korean Fried Chicken at Metro Warners Bay on Fridays (4pm to 7.30pm) and Saturdays (11am to 7.30pm), and at various other locations on a Sunday. Just check Jjindakk's social media for details.
"We do sell out early most of the time and I really do not want to disappoint anyone who planned to have Jjindakk that day and they can't," Insung said.
"I also have so many more menus in my mind to offer and it will be all sorted when we have a proper restaurant."
Watch this space.
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