Seoulful Chicken on Otumoetai Road brings Korean fried chicken and homestyle Korean comfort food to Otūmoetai, Tauranga. The menu is built around boneless-thigh fried chicken — juicy inside and crunchy outside — served original, coated in a sticky sweet & spicy sauce, or glazed in savoury garlic soy, with a Chicken to Share option for picking two flavours at once.
Around the chicken sits a full Korean menu: sizzling rice bowls like Bul Dak, jeyook and bulgogi, a vegan tofu steak, bibimbap and a hand-battered pork cutlet with a 30-year-old gravy recipe; Korean ramen and udon; tteokbokki, tempura and dumplings; and five kinds of gimbap. Weekday lunch specials pair the fried chicken or a Korean stir-fry with rice.
Behind the kitchen is the Seoulful story of owner-chef Sam, a qualified chef whose path ran from high-end Japanese kitchens to the Korean flavours he loves, and his wife Grace. Since moving to New Zealand in 2013, Sam has chased one idea: recreating the nostalgic feeling of the restaurants around Korean universities — a neighbourhood place where students and residents make memories over a meal worth coming back for.
Seoulful Chicken on Otumoetai Road is a Korean kitchen with one clear headline act: Korean fried chicken made from boneless thighs that come out juicy inside and crunchy outside. Order it original, coated in a sticky sweet-and-spicy sauce, or glazed with savoury garlic soy — and if you can't decide, the Chicken to Share option lets you pick two flavours for the table.
But calling it a fried chicken shop undersells the menu. Around the chicken sits a full line-up of Korean comfort food: sizzling rice bowls, Korean ramen and udon, tteokbokki, hand-rolled gimbap, dumplings and tempura, plus weekday lunch specials that pair the chicken with rice.
The Seoulful story starts with Sam, the owner and chef. Sam is a qualified chef with deep expertise in both Korean and Japanese cuisine, and his path began in high-end Japanese kitchens before his passion shifted and expanded toward the vibrant flavours of Korean cooking.
In 2013 he moved to New Zealand, where he and Grace built their life and family. While Grace focused on her corporate career, Sam stepped away from the commercial kitchen to look after family — but the dream of owning a restaurant, a place to share his food and connect with people, never faded. He genuinely loves talking with guests and seeing the sheer happiness a good meal can bring.
That personal touch shows up on the plate. The pork cutlet is hand-battered and served with a Korean-style gravy from a recipe cherished for 30 years. The bibimbap even comes with the kitchen's own advice: mix it all together to properly enjoy it.
Start, naturally, with the fried chicken. Original Fried Chicken is the classic — not greasy, as the menu proudly notes. Sweet & Spicy Chicken arrives coated in a sticky glaze, while Garlic Soy Chicken is the pick for savoury cravings. Keep an eye on the heat markers: several dishes are flagged hot, and Bul Dak — sizzling chicken in a smoky chilli sauce — is the extra-hot one for serious chilli fans.
The rice section covers bulgogi (soy sauce marinated beef stir-fry), jeyook (stir-fried pork in Korean chilli sauce), the vegan Tofu Steak with a choice of soy or chilli sauce, and bibimbap topped with the signature bulgogi. Noodles run from the world-famous Korean spicy ramen — original or loaded with egg, cheese, hot sauce or both — to black bean ramen, chicken udon flavoured with slices of the signature fried chicken, and a tempura udon with a prawn and vegetable tempura on the side.
Smaller plates are worth planning around. Tteokbokki, Korea's most popular street food, pairs chewy rice cakes with Korean chilli sauce, with cheese or egg upgrades available, and the kitchen suggests matching it with the assorted tempura of seaweed rolls, fried dumplings and vegetable tempura. There are deep-fried dumplings too — plain or coated in the famous sweet-and-spicy sauce — plus a crispy chicken salad. Gimbap comes in five rolls, from the smoked-ham school gimbap of Korean childhoods to beef, spicy pork, chicken and a vegan fried tofu version.
Weekday lunchtimes bring the specials board: the fried chicken flavours or a Korean beef or pork stir-fry served on rice, in small or regular sizes.
In Korea, everyone holds sweet memories of the nostalgic food enjoyed around their college or university — places where dreams are built in youth. That is the feeling Sam wants to recreate for Tauranga: a neighbourhood restaurant where students and residents alike make new memories, and where one day people look back and say, "It was so fun when we used to go to that restaurant."
It makes for an approachable menu whether you're a Korean food regular or a first-timer: sharing platters, clearly marked heat levels, vegan choices such as the Tofu Steak and Fried Tofu Gimbap, and catering available for bigger gatherings. Come for a chicken feast, a quick lunch special or a steaming bowl of ramen — the aim is to send you off full, happy and already planning the return visit.