Upper Thomson Korean Fried Chicken at BOKK: Open to 10:30pm

BOKK, at 183 Upper Thomson Road, #01-01, Singapore 574429, is a small neighbourhood Korean fried chicken shop on the ground floor of the Longhaus building in Upper Thomson. Its pitch is short and confident: crispy, juicy, freshly made chicken in three flavours, served in two, three or eight-piece sets with kimchi and daikon pickle on the side. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:30am to 10:30pm and closed on Mondays, which makes it one of the later-opening chicken stops in this part of central Singapore.

BOKK describes itself as your neighbourhood spot rather than a destination restaurant, and the menu reflects that. There is no wall of twenty sauces or a bar menu of fusion experiments. Instead you choose a size, choose a flavour and eat. The shop asks a playful question on its site, which side of K are you on, a nod to the eternal Korean chicken debate between plain fried and sauced. Whichever side you pick, the chicken arrives with the same pickled sides.

Customers have taken to it. BOKK's own site shows a 4.7 rating across 149 reviews, with recent comments dated October 2026, one calling it their current best fried chicken in Singapore and another praising a staff member by name. That kind of loyalty usually comes from consistency, and a shop that fries every order fresh with only three flavours has fewer ways to get it wrong.

The three flavours cover the classic Korean chicken spectrum. Original is the benchmark: plain fried chicken where the crust should crackle and the meat stay juicy, and it is the best way to judge the frying. Soy Garlic is the savoury, glossy option, chicken brushed with a sweet-salty soy glaze sharpened with garlic, popular with anyone who finds chilli too much. Yangnyeom is the sticky red one, a sweet and spicy gochujang-based glaze that most people picture when they think of Korean fried chicken.

Because the sets come in two, three and eight pieces, ordering is easy to scale. A two-piece set works as a quick solo lunch, three pieces makes a proper dinner for one, and the eight-piece set is the one to share. A group of three or four can order two eight-piece sets in different glazes and compare, or mix a sauced set with a plain one so the crunchy Original pieces stay crisp while you work through the sticky ones.

Every order comes with kimchi and daikon pickle, which matters more than it sounds. The cold, crunchy cubes of pickled radish, called chicken-mu in Korea, are the traditional partner to fried chicken, cutting through the oil and resetting your palate between pieces. BOKK also makes a point of its own pickled radish, which it calls BokK Mu, and serves fresh kimchi alongside. If you are eating in, ask for extra if your table is working through a big set.

To drink, BOKK pairs its chicken with Korean drinks and soju, as its own site puts it, which is the chimaek habit that makes fried chicken a social meal in Seoul. A cold bottle of soju split between friends, or a sweet Korean soft drink for anyone driving, rounds out the meal. The kitchen keeps the focus on chicken rather than a long bar list, so think of the drinks as the supporting act rather than the reason to come.

BOKK opens at 11:30am, so an early lunch is the calmest time to drop in, especially on weekdays when the Upper Thomson crowd is at work. Dinner is the main rush, as Upper Thomson Road is a popular evening food strip. Because the chicken is fried to order, expect a short wait for your set. If you want to check whether a table is free or ask about a larger order, the shop takes messages on WhatsApp at +65 8818 5334.

Remember the weekly day off. BOKK is closed every Monday, a common rest day for small independent restaurants in Singapore, so plan any Monday chicken cravings elsewhere. On the other six days it stays open until 10:30pm, which makes it a useful late option after an evening walk nearby. The shop also lists an email, contactus@bokksg.com, for anything that does not fit a quick chat message.

Longhaus sits on Upper Thomson Road, one of Singapore's well-known food streets, lined with shophouses, cafes and long-running local eateries. Upper Thomson station on the Thomson-East Coast Line is a short walk to the north, near Thomson Plaza, so the shop is easy to reach by train from Orchard and the city. Buses along Upper Thomson Road stop close to the building too.

For a walk before dinner, MacRitchie Reservoir Park lies just to the south, with boardwalks along the water and the start of the trails to the TreeTop Walk suspension bridge, which is also closed on Mondays. An easy evening stroll along the reservoir edge, followed by a set of Yangnyeom chicken, makes a good Upper Thomson evening. On weekends, the cafes along the road are worth a look for dessert afterwards.

Is BOKK open on Monday? No, Monday is its only day off. Which flavour should a first-timer pick? Order a two-piece set of Original and a three-piece set of Yangnyeom, so you taste the plain crunch and the sauced version side by side. Can you message ahead for a big group? Yes, the shop invites WhatsApp messages on its number, and that is the simplest way to ask about larger orders before you make the trip up Upper Thomson Road.

Address: 183 Upper Thomson Road, #01-01, Singapore 574429, in the Longhaus building. Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11:30am to 10:30pm, closed Monday. Phone and WhatsApp: +65 8818 5334. Email: contactus@bokksg.com. Flavours: Original, Soy Garlic and Yangnyeom, in two, three or eight-piece sets. Every order comes with kimchi and daikon pickle. Nearest MRT: Upper Thomson on the Thomson-East Coast Line.