Playing with food at 4 Fingers Crispy Chicken

It’s always been a cardinal mealtime rule that we are not allowed to play with our food. Of course, this rule has been broken many times over, but perhaps never for a more noble cause than that of the newest Korean-style chicken restaurant on the block, 4 Fingers Crispy Chicken.

 

At 4 Fingers, they play with their food every day when they prepare their special hand-painted chicken wings. Yes, they actually take a brush, and, like a master painter, they spread a few glorious layers of soy garlic or spicy sauce on each double-deep fried piece of chicken.  

 

The technique certainly breaks that cardinal mealtime rule and about a million other dining decrees, but only because at 4 Fingers, they want to give each piece of chicken the perfect amount of flavor without sacrificing texture.

 

At the press launch at SM North EDSA last Jan. 27, all the hand-painting was done on the counter outside the kitchen, teasing the appetite of onlookers who immediately fell victim to the deft brushstrokes of the 4 fingers crew, the heady scent of the soy garlic sauce, and the soft crunch of the freshly fried chicken wings and drummettes as brush touched crispy skin. It was all one could do to not stand with watering mouth agape at the sensory feast.  

 

Appetites screamed and expectations sky-rocketed, but the first bite quelled them all with a most dulcet crunch and a bang of garlicky-sweet flavor right on the tongue. From there on out, it was all love.

 

The flavor didn’t confine itself to the first bite. All too often, the meat of Korean-style chicken never lives up to the initial taste, but this wasn’t the case at 4 Fingers, where even the meat was juicy and saturated with the flavor of the sauce.

 

The hand-painting and the finished product thereof easily stole all the attention; only after actually sitting down and taking a sip of the yummy green iced tea did one notice the edgy interiors and the graffiti walls, hand-painted by members of artist collective WeeWillDoodle.  

 

The graffiti murals served as the perfect backdrop for the second round of hand-painted chicken wings, this time covered in a spicy sauce. The quality of the chicken was pretty much the same, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, flavorful all over—except this time, the taste was hot and tangy.

 

That said, those who love piquant foods will enjoy the chicken in spicy sauce, but those who have low tolerance for fiery flavors might find it overwhelming.

 

Not just deep-fried chicken

 

Spicy or soy garlic isn’t the only choice to be made at 4 Fingers. Their menu extends way beyond hand-painted wings and drummettes, with items like Battered Shrimp, Crispy Calamari, and the Katsu Chicken Sandwich. They even have offerings for the health-conscious set, like the chicken wrap and tofu salad.

 

Possibly even more enjoyable than the hand-painted chicken was the Chicken Burger, which was personally recommended by Alfonso Hortaleza, president of Mindblowing Delicious Food and one of the men responsible for bringing 4 Fingers to Manila.

 

It took rather a long wait for the burger to arrive, but one taste immediately made the wait worth it. The chicken fillet echoed the hand-painted wings with its crunchy-juicy quality and bags of flavor, but what really brought the dish to a whole new level was the special curry sauce, which pierced through the freshness of the lettuce and perfectly complemented the soy garlic tang of the chicken.

 

A Singapore find

 

Hortaleza told GMA News Online about how he and his business partner discovered 4 Fingers on a four-day trip to Singapore.

 

“We went to Singapore and I asked a friend, ‘Ano bang masarap dito?’ He told me, ‘Dude, you should try 4 Fingers in ION Orchard.’ Four days kami nun, araw-araw kaming kumakain dun,” Hortaleza shared.

 

Seeing the long line of fellow Filipinos at the restaurant in Singapore sealed their decision to bring the restaurant home.

 

“We noticed na ang haba ng pila, and a lot of them were Filipinos. Aside from us having a great experience, seeing the brand, seeing the high quality food…that’s why we brought it here,” he said.

 

Well, it’s a good thing they did because playing with food has never been this delicious. –KG, GMA News

 

4 Fingers Crispy Chicken is located at the Upper Ground floor of SM North EDSA.