Founders of SO Urban BBQ, Rose and Seth Heo, are getting back into the Korean fried chicken game, with Hero Chicken launching in Prospect by mid-February.

There is one super-hyped menu item that has, more than any other over the last two or three years, seemed determined to dominate Adelaide’s eating scene: Korean fried chicken.

But before there was Ban Ban, Pocha, Kokko or Gunbae, there was Rose and Seth Heo, serving Korean fried chicken to late-night crooners in their Grote Street karaoke venue, Bacchus Bar.

“I’m pretty confident that me and Seth are the very first ones who brought Korean fried chicken to Adelaide 10 years ago,” Rose says of those earlier days.

“Back then, with the karaoke business,” Seth remembers, “when [the patrons were drinking], they want to have the oily stuff. We were selling actually a lot in the beginning.”

After Bacchus, Seth and Rose opened Currie Street Korean restaurant BA:M, where their reputation for Korean friend chicken grew as they continued to develop recipes.

As the hype grew around KFC (the Korean version), Rose and Seth’s patrons at BA:M would regularly suggest that the couple set up a specialised fried chicken shop to hock their superior deep-fried wares.

BA:M was forced into closure last year, after Rose and Seth’s landlord alerted the couple their lease would not be renewed due to future development plans for the building.

The couple moved on from the space and opened up SO Urban BBQ, on King William Road, in October.

All the while, they’ve had plans for their first Korean fried chicken speciality shop, Hero Chicken, which will launch in Prospect midway through next month.

Hero Chicken will benefit from the years of experience Seth and Rose providing fried chicken to the people of Adelaide, as well as from time spent visiting Korea to keep an eye on recipe trends.

“[At Bacchus, Seth] was trying to come up with something like Korean fried chicken, for Korean students who missed their chicken, but I wouldn’t say that was exactly the same format of what Korean people actually have,” Rose says.

“But we saw the future, and now, thanks to K-pop – BTS! – everybody knows Korean, Korean culture, K dramas on Netflix. So throughout the last few years, we kept gathering more information and more recipes.

“So we were going to introduce some items on our menu which are very, very popular now in Korea.”

Hero Chicken will offer full and half serves of chicken (full is about 14—16 pieces), with a selection of sauces on offer, such as green chilli mayo and corn cheese – among many others, which you can see here.

“We’re going to be located in Prospect, where there are young professionals who want to just grab a quick snack,” Rose says.

Rose and Seth (middle and right) with chef Sung Ji (left), who joined the team for SO Urban BBQ

Chicken will not be all that’s on offer though, with Hero Chicken also serving up bubble tea and bibimbap.

“That’s actually the most famous and traditional Korean dish, where it’s very suitable for quick takeaway or even for lunch, or even for dinner as well, because that dish is a really, really delicious balance that comes with all different veggies and the meats as well,” Rose says.

The bibimbap will draw from SO Urban BBQ, with the kitchen team implementing slow-cooked charcoal meats in the dish.

Hero Chicken will launch in mid-February, just ahead of the launch of Fringe (Prospect has a series of Fringe events scheduled), and Rose plans to host a giveaway to celebrate the shop’s launch.

“We’re looking to do a fun event, giving out 2021 chicken wings on opening day,” she says.

“That’s a lot of chicken. [Last year is] forgone, we don’t even want to think about it. We’ve made it to the New Year, so new start, 2021, let’s make it fun.”

For updates on Hero Chicken’s progress and opening, follow along on Instagram.

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