Shake Shack Korean menu review: Is the new Korean BBQ Burger worth it?

Korean Style Fried Chicken Sandwich

Korean style fried chicken is one of Earth’s greatest delights. Crunchy skin, soft, fall-off-the-bone chicken, and a sauce baked into the breading that sets your mouth on fire in the absolute best way.

Here’s how Shake Shack describes the Korean Style Fried Chicken Sandwich:

Crispy, white-meat chicken breast coated in a spicy and sweet Gochujang glaze, sprinkled with sesame seeds and topped with white kimchi slaw, featuring Choi’s Kimchi, on a toasted potato bun.

So does this give the same burst of flavor and pleasure as biting into real Korean fried chicken? Umm… No. Unfortunately, dabbing some gochujang glaze on a regular Shake Shack chicken sandwich is not the same as having the sauce baked in, a la the real thing. And at least in the chicken sandwich I had, the slaw was very under-flavored; I would have been hard-pressed to tell you it was kimchi slaw, if I hadn’t read that in the description.

It’s possible this could just be the product of a new menu (it debuted on January 12) that the restaurant wasn’t used to. It’s a totally passable chicken sandwich if you like Shake Shack’s chicken sandwich. But I’d much rather order the avocado bacon chicken sandwich than this one again.