Pints Empire, Fun and Eclectic Korean

A fun new trend I noticed in Korean restaurants in Edmonton before moving to Winnipeg was in the area of KFC. No no that Colonel Sanders variant, but Korean Fried Chicken. In truth it comes down to good ol fried chicken dipped in a spicy and tangy Korean sauce and served with a side of pickles. Delicious. And so I just could not miss the opportunity to try Winnipeg's variant, Pints Empire.

I was initially quite amused by the name of the restaurant, which gave me no hot clue as to what type of food they were to offer. And yet after I walked in, there was a dawn of realization that its name was more a reflection of the zany and quirky personalities of the owners. I could not help but laugh at my server, decked out in jeans and a cowboy hat greeting us with a big yeehaw, asking us if we wanted a pint or a pitcher of beer (because what else would we want to drink!) or carefully perusing us through their karaoke song offerings. Fun, eclectic and decidedly zany.

Nevertheless we were there for the food and the menu was nicely laid out with a host of typical and novel Korean favourites. Playing with the theme of the decor and style of the restaurant, the food is mostly geared towards the equivalent of Korean pub grub. Interesting dishes come to the fore like a marinated pork belly that is grilled on a hot plate or a spicy freshwater snails recipe that I have never seen before. On the opposite side of the menu are their fried chicken offerings which come in their classic salt & pepper or with a Korean sauce.

We started off with a Seafood Spicy Stir-Fried Rice Cake. A carb overload, the tender moist pieces of rice cake are smothered in a sweet and spicy Korean bean paste based sauce. Somewhat lackluster were the meager bits of shrimp, squid and mussels that were overcooked and bordering on rubbery. And while the vegetables were nicely cooked and offered a crunchy contrast to the rice cakes, I felt a huge imbalance between the rice cakes (and noodles) with the other ingredients here.

Spicy Pork Soup was the closest approximation they had to my usual pork bone soup. I have to commend Pints Empire here for delivering a rich and velvety soup chalk full of porky boney flavour. I was less enthused though by the slices of pork found in the soup which lacked the usual fall off the bone tenderness one normally finds and instead turned a bit overdone. It comes with a side of Kimchi and Seaweed salad.

And the star of the night comes! The fried chicken here comes in two flavours, normal fried and then a BBQ variant. Wanting to try both, we opted for their half & half offer. First came the BBQ Fried Chicken which was, in a word, excellent. Just off the fryer, extremely crisp on the outside but moist on the inside, this fried chicken would have done well just by itself. The addition of the sweet and gooey Korean bean paste sauce though adds a new dimension of texture and flavour that lifts the dish even further. A wonderful take on the humble fried chicken.

After the incredible BBQ variant, we were less enthused by the Fried Chicken portion. Granted the chicken was still expertly fried with the aforementioned crisp outside but moist inside, but there was seemingly something dull and not exciting about the dish. A dash of salt or a twist of lemon would have helped bring the dish to fore but it was simply a humble well fried chicken that pales in comparison to its BBQ cousin.

Pints Empire is an eclectic and fun Korean restaurant serving pub style cuisine. While I was enamored by their soup and noodle offerings, their excellent fried chicken made up for that in spades, just make sure to get the BBQ variant. Certainly a change of pace from the regular Korean restaurants in town and worth a trip with a group of friends, a good time and hilarity is almost a guarantee.