The chicken was still crunchy when I got home. Home was almost two hours away.
That should not be possible. Fried chicken has a clock inside it, and everyone who has ever ordered delivery knows the sound of that clock running out: the soft, sad skin that arrives twenty minutes past its best moment. So this post is about the small takeaway in Brentford that beat the clock, and about why the man who runs it was never really trying to impress people like me.
The Name on the Sign Means the Ties Between People
Inyun is 인연 in Korean. It is one of those words English does not quite have: the invisible ties that connect people, the reason the same faces keep arriving in your life. And I think Nelson wanted to have his space to be like that.
Nelson Had His First Birthday Party in This Shop
Nelson's parents ran a takeaway in this exact spot for thirty years. It was a rougher neighbourhood back then, and running a restaurant here was not easy. Nelson grew up inside the business. There are photos of his first birthday party happening right here.
When his father retired, Nelson did not sell the space or walk away. He took it over and started a Korean fried chicken shop of his own. And just like his father built the old takeaway into the locals' go to place, Nelson built his for the locals too. It is different food doing the same job.
He Won't Cook With Anything He Cannot Read or Spell
Most of Inyun's customers are regulars, and Nelson thinks of them as extended family. So he cooks with ingredients he would only use for his own family. It is fried chicken, but he doesn't make it with anything that he cannot read or spell. I have heard a lot of chefs talk about sourcing. I have never heard it put more honestly than that.
Half of Brentford knows this place as a coffee shop. The other half knows it as a fried chicken takeaway. It is both. A small room with maybe ten seats and a young cafe counter, where everything is fried fresh to order and a whole chicken means a wait of up to thirty minutes. Nobody at Inyun is in a hurry, and that is the first clue about what the place actually is.
Fried Three Times, Like a Taro Puff
The chicken is deep fried once. Then it goes into their secret batter and gets fried again. Then it gets a third fry for flakiness, and the skin turns into something closer to the famous dim sum taro puff than to any fried chicken I know. The crunch is loud enough to record. I know because I recorded it.
That triple fry is the reason the whole chicken, £25, was still crunchy on my table at home with Ryan almost two hours later. It is my absolute favourite thing they make.
The Vibe
A small takeaway with maybe ten extra seats and a young cafe counter. Half the neighbourhood knows it as a coffee shop, the other half as a fried chicken takeaway. Everything is fried fresh to order, so expect a wait of up to 30 minutes.
What to Order
whole chicken feat — £25
Order this. This was my abosolute favourite. It was still crunchy when I ate at home with Ryan.
pickled raddish
Order this. It is essential for eating Korean fried chicken. If you go to any Korean fried chicken place, and they don't give you this, they are not really a Korean fried chicken place
Dips — £1.5 - £3.5
The sweet and spicy / soy garlic dips are £1.5 and they are very typical of Korean fried chicken sauces. What I like about this is that they don't pre-pour on the chicken and we can just dip it which still keeps the crunchyness. the house Inyun Dips is like gochujang mayo (which has a tiny bit of spice). It is £3.5, and the size is pretty decent.
rose tteokbokki — £9.5
portion is massive and it is milder than normal tteokbokki. It is called rose, because the colour is a bit pinker(?). It is due to cream and it is one of popular dish in Korea. Personally I don't like tteokboki in general, so I wouldn't normally order, but I think it goes well as a sauce.
Salt Bread
They only sell on the weekends.
hotteok latte
Order this. It was really good
Konbu salted chips — £4.5
Order this. It is cajun fries. It was like the popeyes cajun french fries, but thicker.
Who Is It For?
It is a great place for the neighbourhood. It has that extreme crunch that you cannot get anywhere else. If you are a foodie who doesn't mind traveling it is worth the travel, but it is a small takeaway restaruatn with limited seats. So I think it is good to keep that in mind. If it is not too far from where you live, I think it is a great place to go. I hope they open a proper sit down place in central London one day, where friends can go and enjoy it together.