Hot Star Large Fried Chicken

My friend and I came in here a few minutes before they opened on a Saturday. Luckily we beat the line ups. I ordered the original large fried chicken medium spice with seaweed and a apple Yogurt drink
Overall the wait time was about 10 minutes, loved how it is made to order and fresh however, beware bones towards the bottom half. I was impressed with the seasoning batter and juiciness as well as size of the chicken.
I would definitely come back for more. Not to mention the apple Yogurt drink was task and went well with the chicken =)

One of the best fried chicken I’ve had. I am a little wary when ordering chicken breast because it’s cooked to dryness but this chicken was incredibly juicy.
They season the chicken just right and it is very flavourful.
It truly is a huge portion and well worth the money. I was super full after eating the original large chicken with spicy seasoning and milk tea. It is a lot of fried chicken to eat so maybe if you’re just looking for a snack, split it with a friend.
You wouldn’t think it would feel like a meal but it is.
Needs more seating areas though and maybe some sides that would offset the fried food.
Definitely would come back!

Tasty chicken! Typical Taiwanese style, where it’s lightly fried, breaded, and with some salt and pepper. The spicy has a bit of a kick to it but don’t expect the glorious spice that induces next-​day ring-​of-​fire. This is a good or a bad thing, whatever floats your boat.
The chicken is big (ger than my face), and feels satisfyingly filling. But at $ 10, it doesn’t feel like a complete meal (what about some veggies? Carbs?). Was hungry a few hours later.
Service is friendly but a little slow. Seems like they fry the chicken fresh from raw with each order. It tastes piping hot at least, so it’s worth it.
Was a tasty snack. Would come again with friends who haven’t tried for the novelty, but otherwise, I’d rather grab $ 10 worth of Popeyes.

The Spicy Original Chicken is probably one of the best deep fried chicken! Go early to avoid lines! The wait is not so bad and it is really worth it. It is so big that it is bigger than my face which is really interesting. I just wish that they were open later then it would be the greatest late night eat in Downtown core.

Must Try: Crispy Large Fried Chicken, Original Large Fried Chicken and Green Apple Yogurt & Blue Curaçao Yogurt.
Rating: (⁷⁄₁₀) Food, (⁷⁄₁₀) Service, (⁷⁄₁₀) Value, (⁶⁄₁₀) Ambience, (⁵⁄₁₀) Presentation, (⁸⁄₁₀) Cleanliness
My Experience:
Went to try it out from all the excitement my Taiwanese friends had. Ordered both the Original (maximum spicy) and the Crispy (original spicy), along with the Green Apply Yogurt, Blue Curaçao Yogurt, Passion Fruit Soda and Strawberry Sunset.
Overall, you can’t go wrong with fried chicken, but it was generally underwhelming. I preferred the Crispy version over the original, as it had more texture, flavour and crunch. I would note that the portion is quite large, one full size chicken breast, with some bone at the end of the piece.
The Green Apple Yogurt and the Blue Curaçao Yogurt were great drinks that we added to the combo, the only downside was that it was mostly ice in the cup. I would NOT recommend the Strawberry Sunset, as it was not strawberry enough and oddly too carbonated for my liking.
The presentation is the chicken inside a take out bag, and you basically hold the takeout bag to eat the chicken. A bit savage, but does the trick if you’re out and about eating a quarter of a chicken.
I would recommend those curious to try it out for themselves, it is in no way bad fried chicken, but was far from what I had expected it to be.

pretty good fried chicken on the go.
I ordered the crispy fried chicken medium spicy level
and fries.
$ 8.99 plus tax (11.99) The chicken was good, upon ordering it took 7 minutes like advertised. the chicken was really fresh and juicy no complains there. The bone was still in aswell. The batter was nice and crispy not too greasy or dry just right. The only thing I was not too fond of is that the spice component is not mixed into the batter, it is just a powder they put on top, i would prefer to have it mixed into the batter (seems like cayenne pepper) it was burning my lips just a bit. overall the chicken is worth trying.
The fries $ 2.99 were okay aswell texture and look was like costco fries with just a bit more flavouring.
They have a nice clean place and clear simple menu, no specials they have combos and specialty drinks.

As I was walking on Yonge street, I saw a big blue sign with the words «Fried Chicken» caught my attention so I stopped to see that it was a Taiwanese fried chicken shop. Intrigued — I came back a few days for lunch on Friday:
Location/​Décor:
— It is located few mins south of Gerrard on Yonge Street and you can’t miss the the light blue store front
— We came on Fri for lunch right at 12 which didn’t have a lineup at all. However, after about 10 – 15 mins, huge crowd formed a long line up inside the store.
— Inside, it is very modern and clean looking but space wise, there is not much seating. We ended taking this back to the office to eat. Probably ok for 2 – 4 people but for larger groups, take away is probably best.
Food:
— I liked the menu concept — it is straight forward and simple menu with a few options. Basically, you order your chicken then fries and a drink.
— For chicken, you can order their original style (GIANT NUGGET!!! :)), fried chicken and popcorn chick. For fries, they have regular fries and sweet potatoe wedges (or thats what they looked like). Finally, for drinks, they have regular pop and some sort of iced drinks. There are items coming like BBQ flavoured chicken, fried mushrooms.
— So we ordered 2 original chicken orders, one with pepper and salt while the other was spicy.
— Wow — we were super impressed by the size as it is probably the size of a sheet of paper… Coating was thin and crispy while also not being very oily (very good thing!). Inside the chicken was flavourful, moist and tasty. It resembles a huge chicken schnitzel! All in all — a great tasty lunch! Size-​wise, you could probably share one between 2 people however there is a bony part at the bottom — it is funny as it almost acts as the handle!
In general, if you have a craving for fried chicken, I think this hits the spot. There were also a seaweed flavour which I will probably check out next time.

This is a great take out place for quick food but it was definitely very expensive. After paying over $ 20, we got a seasoned piece of pork chops, fries and a club soda mixed with fruit flavouring. I thought it was nice to try but I’m not jumping to go back anytime soon. The flavours to choose from are seaweed, salt and pepper and spicy. You can choose a range of spicy options and I went with medium.
It was not very filling, good to try though I think that is the extent of this establishment.

I’ll give this place 3.5÷5 stars.
At the beginning, *the first bite* it was definitely at 5 stars — the «omg! I’m so coming back for this.» But then it gets to a point where the fried chicken became bland :(Note that the portion is huge, one was more than enough for me.
There’s a graph on the wall of this place indicating how the first bite is the best part too haha.
I’d recommend the:
SEAWEED FLAVOUR FRIED CHICKEN :)
We ordered the regular crispy flavour and thought the seafood one wins by far. This place is great for a try, but I don’t think I’ll return anytime soon.

Although Hot Star didn’t live up to my expectations overall, I have to admit the chicken is pretty damn good. Meat was tender, well-​seasoned and not dry at all! However, the batter is quite thick so it was really heavy especially upon the first few bites where there is little to no chicken to go with it. The best part is towards the middle (where all the meat is) but as you move closer to the end, you’ll have to eat around the bones which is a little annoying. Its a good snack to eat in the cold as it comes out piping hot.
They don’t cut the chicken into smaller pieces in order to retain the moisture so it’s not really sharing-​friendly.
Considering the size, I don’t think the pricing is outrageous nor is it really fair to compare it to what you’d pay in Taiwan. I didn’t regret it but I’d think twice about going back since it failed to leave a lasting impression.
It can be pretty confusing because most people automatically start standing behind whoever is closest to the door without realizing that there are two separate lines (order and pick-​up) and the longer one is most likely the pick-​up line. So beware of that to prevent wasting your time.
I spent about 30 minutes in this place altogether — 10 or less in the order line and 20 in the pick-​up when I came in on a late Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t that bad as I’ve waited longer (ahem* Uncle Tetsu) but it’s definitely not a place to go for a quick grab by any means.

This is a piece of chicken breast (with bones), pounded thin and flat, and deep fried into a very, i mean VERY thick breading. The breading was well seasoned, and every crunch was addictive. What I mean is: upon the first few bites, I’ve decided that this chicken is not going to change my life. But yet I just can’t stop eating it. Every bite leads to another bite.
Do you like fried chicken? Do you like Chips? I’m asking because after the chicken was over and done with, I find myself daydreaming and wanting to eat Hot Star fried chicken again! I then realized it’s essentially a combination of my two love: chicken, and chips.
It wasn’t good chicken but it was good breading, almost feels like junk food and not a meal.
Think Swiss Chalet sauce VS the chicken. Or the KFC spices and chicken skin VS the actual chicken.
The whole experience of lining up and encountering many weird patrons in the restaurant almost ensure that I won’t visit again very soon.

This is an addition to the food chain fads that are making an impact here. Though its not to the level of Uncle Tetsu cheese cakes this place was ridiculously busy the first time I passed by and was reasonably busy at an off peak hour when I visited.
The lineups are confusing at first as some people were lined up for pick up and one doesn’t know where to go initially. I gave the menu a quick look and went for the big chicken and ordered it medium hot. Then the wait began. I had roughly 12 people ahead of me so the wait was around 15 min (they do fry to order) so the wait time is expected. The dinning in option is not inviting to say the least and I can imagine it being unbearable when its crowded. Anyway on to the main attraction here is the verdict
The batter is a bit on the thick side but the chicken is fried well and thankfully not overcooked. One can mistake it for a Schnitzel but this one has bones on the tail end of the chicken so do tread carefully. The spice itself didn’t pack much heat. Certainly better than the chain offerings but with Kaiju just around the corner at the same if not less price range I can’t recommend it over Kaiju.
3.5 Stars.

Huge line, huge expectations… all for a katsu-​like piece of $ 8 chicken.
My co-​workers dragged me here for the soft opening. I had no idea what it was but they were hyping it up so much that I was pretty excited. They have no spicy, medium spicy and spicy. I got spicy and it was very manageable. Not too hot but still with some kick. 3 stars because the chicken was aiiite but definitely not worth the line up and $ 8.

Food: ⁸⁄₁₀ — Value: ⁶⁄₁₀ — Service: ⁷⁄₁₀ — Ambiance/​Décor: ⁷⁄₁₀
$ 15 for a piece of fried chicken and a drink is not worth it in my opinion.
First of all, you can only order chicken and drinks. Don’t be confused by their menus. Some items say «Coming Soon», some don’t, but you still can’t order any food items other than the chicken. I don’t know what the timeline for the other things is.
SEAWEED
is a green powder. It tastes like seaweed and is nice in addition to the salt and pepper (S&P). I tried a bit of my friend’s regular S&P and it was a little salty just on its own. There are a few seasoning options, but I didn’t feel like they were obviously enough displayed. It was like fine print under the chicken. I only remember S&P, seaweed, and maybe spicy although I’m not sure about that last one. It’s also unclear if you can have multiple because I asked for seaweed thinking I could only pick one, but my receipt said S&P and seaweed. Maybe S&P is the default.
CHICKEN
is hot and tastes pretty good, but I mean, it’s just a giant piece of fried chicken. I was full with the chicken and drink. Full, but not stuffed.
DRINKS — WHAT IS YOGURT?
I feel like this is a question a lot of places need to answer. I had the green apple yogurt drink as part of the $ 15 combo and it tasted great. I love sour green apple. But I don’t know what part of this was yogurt. Like a drop of yogurt? It was essentially a juice. But it tasted great though, albeit expensive.
BEAT THE LUNCH RUSH BY 10 MINUTES
There wasn’t a line at 11:50am, so we got to order immediately and while we ate in, people started to trickle in, but it didn’t get unreasonably busy. The wait was mostly for the food preparation, which is under 10 minutes.
I might come back to try some of their other fried things, but as is, the chicken or even the chicken and drink combo seem really expensive.

I also came to this place after reading the BlogTO post. Used to be Sushi Tower and now its a Taiwanese Fried Chicken place.
Omg $ 10 for a piece of chicken??? Yeah the piece was kind of big and you get a free pop, but it’s still pretty fricken expensive. On opening day, I thought there would be promos/​specials going on but guess not. Was planning to try their popcorn chicken but it was already sold out, plus they didn’t have everything on their menu out yet. So basically, everyone had to get the same fried chicken. They have different seasonings and my friend and I both got salt and pepper. When we got it, it was crispy, hot, and still fresh!
They should really organize their pickup/​ordering system better though. Yeah opening day and the line was pretty long and things get pretty hectic, but I could really do without a Chinese lady yelling out the number order lol.
Every time there is a spelling error or typical Chinese grammar on the wall, I cringe a little.
Not sure I’ll be back but it’s worth a try!

Hot Star is apparently this huge popular chain restaurant in Taiwan and is the next big thing in Toronto that has people willing to line up for hours. I went just before noon on a Sunday and was pleasantly surprised to find there was no line outside… didn’t realize there was a substantial line inside the actual shop (it’s decently spacious, not as cramped as Uncle Tetsu’s, so that’s nice), so all in all the wait took me about half an hour. They’re pretty efficient and only let you order one item per person, so bring some friends if you want to try multiple things.
Obviously their main thing is the giant piece of breaded chicken ($ 9.99+tax), which comes in three flavours: salt and pepper, spicy, and seaweed. I ordered the salt and pepper flavour and shared it with a friend for lunch because it is HUGE… don’t think I would be able to finish a whole one by myself, honestly. It comes out very hot and fresh and is delicious… lightly seasoned (not too salty), crispy and lightly breaded, and the chicken is soooo moist and juicy. I really enjoyed it, but didn’t think the flavour was super unique (Bar Fancy chicken still holds my heart.) While I don’t think I would be willing to line up for a long time for this, if it was about another half hour wait I would like to come back and try the seaweed flavour! This place is definitely going to be a hit with fried chicken lovers.

I thought coming here on opening weekend would be crazy talk, but nope. I walked by here at 2:30pm on Sunday afternoon. Fully expecting it to look like the scene outside of Uncle Tetsu’s, but it wasn’t bad at all. The queue was right at the door, so I got in and started my place in the queue.
It could get a bit confusing since there’s two separate queues; one for ordering and one for picking up. Since they were both bottle-​necked at the door, it looked like one queue and I had to find my place.
I was in and out of the restaurant with my fresh piece of fried chicken within 40 mins. I suppose I spent 20 minutes in each line.
I was observing the few orders prior to mine to see how you’re supposed to order, the people in front of me didn’t do so and when they got to the cashier and he said «pepper salt or spicy», they had no idea what the guy meant, it means you can choose your topping.
Each piece of chicken is made to order. They serve it in a pouch and you eat it as if it was a McDonald’s hashbrown. It’s crispy. It’s juicy and tender.
As it was opening weekend, only the original large fried chicken was on the menu (if you’re lucky, you might be able to get popcorn chicken too). There are other fried items available, like fries, fried king oyster mushroom and sweet potato fries.
There are two combos you can choose from, combo 1 includes a bubble tea, combo 2 includes a bubble tea and fries.
I really enjoyed the large fried chicken here and I am looking forward to returning to try other menu items.

After paying 9.99+ tax. I realized how much I miss Taiwan because their chicken is probably under $ 4 lol. I lined up today for about 35 minutes. Their chicken is made to order and there is a pick up line. For now, it’s one chicken per customer. I got the original with pepper salt, and it comes with a free pop.
Their chicken is huge! It’s best to eat it after you get it because it’s all hot and crispy. Even though they show the full menu, they’re not selling most of them yet.
Worth a try if you like fried chicken!

Came across a blogTO post couple days ago introducing this very new restaurant from Taiwan — Hot-​Star Large Fried Chicken. They claimed to be one of the street food that you must get at the Taipei’s Shilin Night Market. I was very curious on the taste and size of their chicken, and here I am on the third day of their soft opening.
Arrived at 10:50am, there was already a short lineup. I was the sixth person in line, so it wasn’t that bad. After taking a couple pictures outside and reading their poster menu, it was already 11am, and I couldn’t wait to get in. Little did I know, they were not ready for customers, we had to wait outside until 11:15am to get in.
After getting into the restaurant, the staff made us wait for another 10 minutes to start taking orders. They did not inform the customers why or what we are waiting for, but all I see are the floor staff standing around behind the cashier counter.
Anyhow, as I was waiting I learned a little bit more about this restaurant and their chicken. Each piece of chicken is freshly fried upon order for 7 minutes, so that they are remain fresh and crispy. In addition, they do not cut the chicken into little bite size pieces for you, as they want to maintain the juiciness and moisture of the chicken.
Here’s a closer look at their menu. As you can see only the Original Large Fried Chicken is available. I was told by the cashier that they are limiting to only one order per customer. I was surprised that there were no signs or notices in the restaurant stating that. I also wanted to try out their Fried King Oyster Mushroom, but it was unavailable.
Their pick up area is nice and clean with a huge logo. I didn’t have to wait for the full 7 mins for my chicken to be ready, it was more like 2 – 3 minutes. They also have a promotion right now, all fried chicken comes with a free soft drink. But I still think it’s over priced — $ 9.99 + HST for a piece of fried chicken and a soft drink (this is equivalent to buying 3 pieces of chicken in Taiwan).
Not going to lie, their Original Large Fried Chicken is very delicious. It’s crispy on the outside, while the inside still remains tender and moist. Definitely one of the best street food I have ever had.
In general, I did not have a great experience at my time visiting this restaurant. I felt like everything was out of place. The staff were not well trained. During my 50 minutes at the restaurant, I spent over 40 minutes waiting because they were not ready to open. The rating that I gave to them was solely on the taste of their chicken.
TIPS:
–if you would like to try out everything on their menu, I would highly suggest you to visit them at a later time (maybe in a month or so, when they are more settled)
–be prepared to wait in line
–they have limited quantities of chicken, once they are sold out, they’ll call it a night
–availability of their menu is subject to change without notice

I heard this Taiwanese chicken chain with a real good reputation was coming to Toronto, so I decided to see what the fuss was first hand.
So far I am in line to order and have not received my food yet, what a good time to start my Unilocal review.
The line up outside was immensely long. Perhaps all those who grew up with this chain got really excited and have decided to come down.
I haven’t ordered yet but I thing this will not be disappointing from what I have seen so far. The fillet is an actual chicken breast with bone in! Eat your heart out North American fast food chains!
The flavours com in original, specialty bbq, and crispy. For today only the original is available. They also have popcorn chicken. I will order the original and the popcorn chicken. I have not eaten since breakfast and it is now 2:00pm.
The operation itself is clean and modern, the employees even wear surgical masks!
Another 10 minutes at least before I get my food, I hope it lives up to the hype.
Okay, so every order is made on order, nothing here is prepared ahead of time and it is delicious, crispy, tender, juicy and hell yah worth the wait.
This is a grand slam.
Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Cleanliness ⁵⁄₅
Food: ⁵⁄₅
Service: ⁵⁄₅