NeNe Chicken adding a touch of luxe to Korean comfort food

This finger lickin’ good fried chicken is worth its weight in gold. And now its maker is giving Melburnians a chance to win one of five serves — dipped and dusted in 23 carat gold leaf. Here’s how.

Fried chicken specialists NeNe Chicken is starting a gold rush.

The Korean-based business, which has nine outlets around Melbourne, is celebrating National Fried Chicken Day on July 6 with giveaways and a unique competition.

The first 100 people to visit the Melbourne Central outlet will get free drummettes and wingettes and go in a raffle to win one of five golden serves of the chicken.

NeNe Australia general manager Richard Godwin said the winning chicken would be dipped and dusted in 23 carat gold leaf.

He said the company wanted to do something different to give back to customers.

“We wanted an angle that would dazzle the visual senses and create a ‘wow’ for our customers,” Mr Godwin said.

The gold is priced at about $60 a gram with the amount used depending on the size of the chicken pieces.

Applying the gold to the chicken is tricky and expensive.

“While edible gold is malleable, it’s very delicate and requires a great amount of skill to minimise wastage, because it’s quite an expensive process,” Mr Godwin said.

“But we’ve got it down pat in preparation to indulge our customers in a decadent treat.”

Mr Godwin was reluctant to reveal how the golden chicken tasted.

“We don’t want to give away all the fun,” he said.

But he did say some “food styling wizardry” was required to get the gold to stick to the chicken.

Fried chicken is one of many comfort foods enjoying a recent surge in popularity.

Mr Godwin said there were three key steps to NeNe’s success marinade, batter and sauce.

“Our chicken is marinated prior to frying,” he said.

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“The secret marinade increases the juiciness of the chicken and creates a mild peppery sensation to the tastebuds.

He said the company used a unique batter to give the chicken crunch without soaking up too much oil during the frying process.

The final touch was one of eight sauces used to coat the chicken after cooking.

The NeNe giveaway starts at noon at the Melbourne Central outlet on Saturday, July 6 with the first 100 customers receiving free chicken and an entry in the raffle for the golden chicken.

The raffle will be drawn at 12.30pm.

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