Chimek Chicken & Beer

Chimek was good but personally I feel like it is overhyped and a tad gimmicky. The charcoal burger was interesting, however I wouldn’t say it was the best burger I had. I would say it’s something to try but I don’t think I’ll buy it again. If I’m down for some chicken wings I’ll pop by if I’m in the area. Butter beer was nice, but I think I would’ve preferred to wash everything down with a nice chinotto, coke or rootbeer perhaps. Would probably come back to try the matcha cheesecake. Finding a place to sit to eat can be a bit of a hassle.

Best chicken wings in Perth. I’ve returned several times and slowly making my way through the menu. Can’t go past anything spicy!

We were walking around Fremantle market not really looking for nom noms. But walking past this stall, I was offered a scrumptious, crunchy bite of their popcorn chicken to try. It was so good that I hunted down the rest of my party and we happily demolished a generous portion of popcorn chicken ($ 12) goodness with blue cheese aioli. Looking forward to their shop opening up in my neighborhood. Thanks guys!

Fried Chicken and Beer is a very popular craze in Korea, and I guess it has now come to Perth. Chimek in the Fremantle Market offers a range of Fried Chicken and some non-​alcoholic beer floats. The name Chimek comes from a combination of the word Chicken and Mekju, which is beer in Korean.
For lunch my friend Jaceline and I, ordered their insta-​famous Charcoal Beef Burger ($ 10) and Korean Dak Gang Jeong Fried Chicken ($ 10). The burger which looks black, is actually made with charcoal however there is no charcoal taste to it. I really enjoyed the flavours of the Beef with the sautéed mushrooms, balsamic onions, squid ink aioli and cheese.
Before ordering, they kindly let us try the Dak Gang Jeong Fried Chicken, which was supposedly spicier than their Korean Gochujjang flavour. Personally it wasn’t very spicy, but we liked it and decided to get a serving. It came out with some daikon radish and chips, as well as some handy plastic gloves to keep us from getting messy.
We had also heard great things about their Green Tea Cheesecake, so we decided to give it a go. We were given a good portion size, of the cake with more Matcha sauce and powder dusted over the top. There was a good amount of Matcha flavour in the cake and the texture of it was perfectly smooth.
Overall, Chimek did not disappoint and their friendly service is a big plus. I can’t wait to go back to try their Sticky Pork Cranberry Burger and their Honey Soy Sesame Fried Chicken.

Cheeky popcorn Chicken
So this was a dessert course of sorts after eating some bao at the fremantle markets late this morning. I haven’t eaten here until today, so I thought some popcorn chicken might be a nice entry level foray into what is on offer at this food stall in the markets.
The coating was tasty as it has a decent amount of seasoning and goes well with the dipping source provided, however I would have to say the chicken was a little dry. The flavour did save this dish overall though and I have to admit I would probably grab this dish again if I was strolling through the Fremantle Markets again in future.
Overall the experience has me interested and I will return in future to try this again and/​or other items on the menu.

I must say, the black sesame Swiss roll tasted nothing like what I expected! It was moist and soft, the black sesame paste tasted fresh and not too sweet, the portion is also massive, definitely recommend to anyone that’s a fan of Swiss rolls!
The green tea cheesecake was too heavy for me, too thick and too big, especially for a dessert dish that you were hoping to have after the burger. But it would taste great by it self with a cup of tea.
The black charcoal burger was absolutely delicious! The meat tender and moist, the flavouring perfect and the bun was so soft! The fried chicken was okay, lovely crunch but just a tad too sweet for me.

There are always massive lines at the Chimek stall in the Fremantle Markets so I had to give this place a shot. Since I always love me some Korean fried chicken, I gave the Korean gochujang chicken wings a shot. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed — the breading was too thick in my opinion and the sauce was insanely sweet which kinda killed the whole thing for me. I liked the pickled daikon radishes on the side, they helped cut a bit of the sweetness.
I’ve seen countless pictures on Instagram of their famous charcoal beef burger — I have to admit that the jet black charcoal buns scare me a little bit but I might venture out and try one. Hopefully it’s better than the wings were!

To avoid the lunch crowd, we went at 3:30PM on a Sunday afternoon. This was both good and bad — good because we avoided the mad rush, bad because there was no matcha cheesecake left (I was seriously upset)!!
We ordered just one burger to share between the three of us. There has been so much hype about Chimek’s «Famous Charcoal Burger» and all for good reasons. The bread is a little off putting in colour but I was intrigued to try it. The beef patty was soft, tender, and juicy! But my favourite part was the onions. It added a good amount of sweetness to the burger, just the way I like it.
At first, we were overwhelmed with excitement to see root beer float on the menu. But what got our taste buds tingling with even more excitement was the BUTTER BEER FLOAT! Harry Potter fans would know what that’s all about.
Although seeing peculiar items on the menu excites me, I only ever want to try a little bit. The Food Forager ordered the root beet float and Mr Yongster ordered the butter beer float. YES! Now I get to try a bit of both! Root beer float is nothing new for me — it’s nice but not my cup of tea. I don’t like root beer so really, the ice cream is the part that makes it bearable. Butter beer was just ok as well. The best way I can describe it — think liquid butterscotch ice cream diluted with cream soda. I would have liked it more if they were more generous with the ice cream/​soft serve.
The chick at the counter recommended us to try the Korean fried chicken wings as she suggested they were «nice and spicy». Nice — yes. Spicy — no.
Still itching to try more things off the menu, The Food Forager ordered the buffalo wings without the side of chips. It still costed $ 10 because they replaced the side of chips with one extra wing. I didn’t like these at all… the sauce was too strong and «punchy». Now I wish we had that side of chips so I can wash down the taste of the sauce lingering in my mouth.
Would I come back? Yes, I would come back for the charcoal burger and the Korean chicken wings. Both were tasty and cooked really well even though the wings weren’t spicy.
Oh and guess what! I did return! The very next weekend! I came back just to buy a slice of their heavenly matcha cheesecake. Mmmmm cravings satisfied. Now I can stop blaming Simmybeareats for taking the last slice on my first visit.

Chimek are a small little business within the back end of Fremantle Markets and have developed a bit of a cult following in social media. The amount of times I have seen snaps of their charcoal burger buns and had my mouth instantly water… well I guess you could say dining there was a long time coming.
The first thing we noticed was the reasonable price — we soon realised that we could get a meal each and share a drink for about the same price that we’d pay for a single meal at most breakfast spots. While I love the variety of Perth’s food scene, you’ll often here me vent about the constant scope creep of pricing so it’s refreshing when you find value for money. The only question is — would the taste be there? Because while I love a bargain, I’ll always choose flavour over price. Always.
Deciding to share a couple items between us, my boy quickly suggested the famous charcoal beef burger ($ 10.00). The bun was an inky black but still pillowy soft, encasing cheese, beef, mushrooms and caramelised onion. It was definitely on the sweeter side so could have used just a little extra seasoning for contrast, but outside of that it was all kinds of yummy. It actually depresses me that I keep finding great burgers down in Freo — it’s not close enough! But maybe that’s a good thing for my waistline. I did find the burger a little on the wet side which wasn’t an issue at the start but towards the end it got a little messy — not a deal breaker at all though.
After looking at the different chicken wings on offer, I opted for the Korean gochujang ($ 10.00) which was described as having a mild level of spice. Initially I had my eyes on the spicy one but after a word of warning from the girl serving, I went for the safer option. It came out with thick cut chips and cubes of daikon.
I love that you got disposable gloves to wear while eating these — they definitely came in handy! The wings were sweet and having the sauce on the outside created a sealed crust, something that was very satisfying to crunch your way through to find the soft, steaming hot chicken flesh underneath. I was really pleased to see that the chicken was perfectly cooked and remained tender.
The spiciness of the sauce was present but didn’t quite have enough kick for me so next time I’m back I think the hot version is the way to go for me personally. With the sauce being so sweet it was nice to have those crunchy, fluffy potatoes and the peppery daikon to snack on to restore my palate. I was also pretty happy when I got to the last couple of wings and discovered a pool of sauce to recoat my chicken — something I would have liked to do from the start. I am one of those people firmly in the camp of the more sauce the better.
Since it was still kind of breakfast time we decided not to go too crazy with a drink each and shared a butter beer float ($ 5.00). It sounds so hogwartsesque don’t you think? It had a vanilla like flavour and was extremely fizzy, but was quite addictive! I wouldn’t say I loved it just because with the food being so sweet, I found the drink too much so — and it didn’t quite quench my thirst. That said, I wouldn’t pass on having it again, just maybe not to accompany my wings. I would like to try their root beer float next time I come by though!
When we finished our food we were both feeling really full! Spending only $ 25 we were surprised by the generosity of the servings, and the punchy flavours. A return trip is definitely in order, we thought it was fantastic and there is a lot to love about this place. It might be small and limited in their offering, but I prefer this approach where they nail what they do, and they do it with love.

I had some major FOMOs walking by this place and seeing the giant crowd. I had to investigate.
Unfortunately, Chimek did not rise to meet my short lived and over-​hyped expectations. I had the New York wings, which were okay… for Australian wings. These babies were coated, and I have a strong preference for the naked type. At least they had a pleasant spice level (wait for it, it builds).
Should I find myself wandering the markets of «Freo» again, I’d be up for trying one of their other flavours. Given the size of that crowd, I’m sure I’d be missing out on something if I didn’t.

Located just before the fruit and vege section of the freo markets, this place is a gem! Packed with patrons you have to squeeze your way through to the front to place your order. Staffs were super friendly and were ready to answer your questions as you decide to choose which wings to match which burgers.
We had New York wings with the pork burger. Oh my, the wings were so good. Juicy, spicy, and warm wings with a crispy skin that is very well marinated. You could pretty much taste every flavour in those wings! Fries were crispy and not too oily perfectly done to compliment the protein.
The burger was also another mouth watering dish. There were generous serve of pork meat, topped with cheese and a fresh slaw, all sandwiched between soft and warm buns. I could eat them everyday, if only.
Only drawback for this cute little stall is that there is not much sitting space!
They even have gloves for you if you want to dig in with your fingers — only way to eat wings really!