Dakgogi on Wellesley
Dakgogi is a spot for late night Korean eats, soju, and K-pop on blast.
Serving the same menu of spicy, cheesy, and fried comfort foods as its original location in Koreatown North, this Dakgogi on a bustling corner of Yonge, just steps away from Wellesley station.
Walk up the stairs into the woodsy interior that most Korean drinking spots like to fashion themselves after. Open from 5 p.m. onward, you can expect this spot to get busier as the night goes on.
There's a series of booths and round tables spacious enough for large groups, which is perfect since you'll want to sprawl out after gorging on baskets of fried chicken, or jam out to BTS on the big screen TV—maybe drunkenly.
There's even a traditional-style platform to sit cross-legged and get inebriated while looking out over Wellesley station.
The specialty at Dakgogi is, of course, their double-fried bird. You can either get a whole chicken (which can easily feed two people) or just half, with the option of getting boneless for an extra $1.
Popular orders include the Padak ($31.99 for whole/$19.99 for half), the quintessential fried chicken order that comes buried under a pile of thinly sliced spring onions. The sauce is light on this one—only a small drizzle of sweet soy-mustard sauce.
The Yang Nyeom ($29.99 for whole/$17.99 for half) is a sticky and delicious pile of chicken coated in a thick sesame-based sauce. There's an option to get it sweet, medium hot, or spicy.
If you can't decide on which flavours to get, there's also the option to go half and half, combining two in one order for $31.99.
Bulgogi on fries ($15) is where Korean marinated grilled beef meets poutine. Topped with a runny egg and mayo, it's totally addictive.
Staple street food dukbokki—long rice cakes in chilli sauce—come spicy ($13) or in a seafood melange ($17) with clams and squid.
What better way to wash down all this cholesterol-inducing food than with Korean liquor? Bottles of soju ($18.99) come in flavours including grapefruit, peach and apple, and grape.
There's also a pretty extensive list of sake and beer here, completing the trifecta of alcohol for a Korean-style night out.
Hector Vasquez