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Decades-old Taiwanese fried chicken chain TKK Fried Chicken is coming to town, as noted by Twitter user @siisterspooky. This will be the first location in Massachusetts, and it’s coming soon to 1 Beale St., Quincy, according to the company’s website. The location, formerly home to a Papa Gino’s, will be a combined TKK Fried Chicken and Kung Fu Tea shop; the latter, a bubble tea chain, already has about a dozen Boston-area locations.
TKK Fried Chicken opened its first location in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan, in 1974. The chain currently has 66 locations in Taiwan, two locations in Shanghai, and one location in New York City’s Flatiron neighborhood. The New York City location is also a partnership between TKK Fried Chicken and Kung Fu Tea.
TKK Fried Chicken’s website indicates that the Quincy location isn’t the only American expansion in the works — the chain also plans to open shops in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Richardson, Texas.
The Flatiron shop’s menu features fried chicken standards like tenders, wings, breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, along with fried chicken sandwiches, and sides like mashed potatoes, coleslaw, curly fries, crunchy cheese curds, and shishito peppers. The Flatiron location also appears to have a beer and wine license, though it’s unclear at the moment if the Quincy shop will offer alcohol.
Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema visited the Flatiron location earlier this year and noted that the chicken comes in three styles — original, crispy mild, or crispy spicy. “For god’s sake, get the crispy spicy!” he wrote. Also notable: a “very good biscuit” and the “really, really good” kwa kwa bao, “an invention that’s become a signature of the chain.” It’s sticky rice packed with mushrooms, sealed in chicken skin, and fried.
Eater has reached out to TKK Fried Chicken and will update this post as more information becomes available.
• TKK Fried Chicken [Official Site]