Food Blog | Korean Oven & Fried Chicken Eco Botanic

Another addition to the already crowded Eco Botanic space, Oven & Fried Chicken is a restaurant serving up chicken in various forms (fried, oven baked, etc.) and loads of other traditional Korean dishes (Jajjang Noodles, Kimchi Jeon, Bibimbap, etc.). Here’s what I thought of it!

Context: Came on a busy Saturday night for the restaurant with my girlfriend. I guess we had okay-ish appetites, but I would say we normally order more than this on most meals.

Is it Halal?

I believe that they don’t have halal certification, but they do mention that they source their chicken from a halal supplier, but do eat at your own discretion regarding this, because I do recognise that different people have different levels of tolerance regarding this.

Where it Is?

It is located in the inner circle of the Eco Nest shop lots. This means that it is the row behind the bubble tea shops (The Alley, Jiayi, Black Whale) and on the same row as shops such as Family Mart (corner lot), Guoma Express and Lemon Tree Restaurant.

A really convenient place because it is about 10 minutes from the Tuas border. Parking is really easy, as there are LOTS of parking lots available in the Eco Botanic compound. All of which are free for you to park in.

OFC (Oven & Fried Chicken) Restaurant can also be found at Komtar, Johor Bahru!

 

Address: No 33 Jalan Eko Botani 3/4. Taman Eko Botani, 79100 Iskanar Puteri, Johor

Operating Hours:

Daily: 11am - Till late (Not sure what this means in particular, though)

Complimentary Radish Starter

What it Costs

They have lunch sets for around RM18-RM22, including the Sundubu Set (RM22), a Kimchi Stew with rice set (RM22) and a Jjam Ppong Set (RM20) among others. But I won’t really be talking about those sets today because I came here for dinner.

Me and my girlfriend ultimately decided to have a Fried Chicken Sampler (basically you can choose 2 types of chicken out of the following: mild, spicy, soy, jambalaya & garlic, and they will give you 4 small pieces of each) - RM36 and a Bibimbap (RM17).

(Additional side note that we ordered the spicy & garlic versions of the fried chicken)

There is a service tax here, so do keep that in mind. Our bill came up to RM58.30 (RM5.30 in service charge).

A few things to note about this place: free water, as with a lot of Korean places, but it is self service and is tucked away to the side. The other thing that you might want would be plastic gloves to eat the chicken without your hands smelling like them for hours - they do offer them here, you just have to request for them.

Before

After

How it Tastes

Overall, I would say it is actually pretty decent. The fried chicken is really nice - both of us were fans of the spicy version of the fried chicken, but my girlfriend was pretty much on the verge of tearing because she was struggling with the spice XD. So do keep that in mind if you aren’t too big on spicy foods, because it can be pretty spicy for some.

The marinade on that spicy one is really nice, making it real juicy and tasty. In contrast, I would say that the garlic version is definitely on the drier side and almost too dry. It becomes almost brittle - if that’s the right word to find here - so I would probably gravitate to getting those more sauce-y versions of the fried chicken.

A closer look at the Spicy Fried Chicken

The bibimbap was alright, but I guess most bibimbaps are alright. The thing that I would say makes it a bit meh would be that quite a few components are a little cold - so just do take note of that.

I don’t really mention the service too much, because normally I don’t really notice it, but I really do notice it here. This place had a REALLY chaotic environment when I was there. Maybe because it was a busy Saturday, maybe it was because it is still new, but this place has people flying left & right, food dripping here & there (as waiters bring it out) and food that has a waiting time that is a bit longer than the normal. Staff are responsive, but those are just my thoughts about this place.

Star Rating

5.5/10. Pretty decent food, but I feel that at the price point, I can find better food in the area with a more comfortable environment. Still remains one of the only places to get my fix of Korean fried chicken though, so it is still worth a try if you’re craving some juicy fried chicken!