“The best fried chicken you’ll ever taste.” A very bold statement considering the crowded and intense competition around. This statement, prominent in the website of Chicken Charlie, appears to be made with pride and without any reservation. Let’s check if this chicken can, uhm, walk the talk.

We’ve talked about BonChon and 4Fingers Crispy Chicken, the other entrants in the Korean-style fried chicken in the Philippine scene. But before them, as far as I’m concerned, was Chicken Charlie. As noted in its website: “Inspired by similar restaurants in the U.S. and Korea, Chicken Charlie was the first brand of double-fried chicken to make its presence felt in Manila when it opened in 2010.”

Indeed, before I even realized that this is how Korean-style, double-fried chicken is all about, I was already wondering, way back then, why this chicken of some guy named Charlie tastes great (just in case you’re wondering, Charlie is the dad’s name of Ifore Yu, the young entrepreneur who introduced us to this different kind of crunchiness).