Changwon (Chicken & Beer)
Ted Ahn came to Bangkok from Changwon, South Korea for an office job, opened a craft beer bar named after his hometown at MRT Phetchaburi in 2015, brewed two beers that won World Beer Awards in 2017, then bet the kitchen on Korean fried chicken in 2019; BK Magazine now calls him "Bangkok's Korean fried chicken king."
Why go
The 2019 pivot is the story: Ahn dropped a Korean-Mexican taco menu to serve, in his words to BK, "a taste of 'real' traditional Korean fried chicken to Bangkok, the kind that he eats back at home: crisp, juicy, spicy." The taps stayed serious through the change, pouring Thai craft like Mahanakhon's guava hazy pale (B200) and Gamma's 9.3% DIPA (B300) alongside B100 Singha. Ten years in, it's a small chain: the original at the MRT exit, a Sathorn branch opened 2024 with a founding partner from the late Silom bar MASH, and a Bang Na third announced for January 2026.
Order this / avoid
- Order: original and soy-garlic chicken, the two BK Magazine rates
downright addictive,
plus mandu (B180 for eight) and the B20 house kimchi. The angry chicken carries the house gochujang. - Avoid: skipping the sides that mark it as the real thing; the pickled raw squid with gochujang (B80) is the tell that this kitchen isn't compromising for Bangkok.
What locals & experts say
- BK Magazine (2024): chimaek is
the definition of soul food, and Changwon nails it.
1 - BK Magazine (2019): on the pivot, chicken
crisp, juicy, spicy,
the kind Ahneats back at home.
2 - Bangkok Beer Guide (2025):
a variety of craft beer on tap and in the fridge,
with the 10th anniversary marked December 20, 2025.5
Good to know
- Timing: the original ran Mon-Sat 5pm to midnight as of BK's 2019 piece; the St. Louis branch runs daily 5-11:30pm. Re-confirm the original's current hours on Facebook.
- Getting there: the wall is literally visible from MRT Phetchaburi exit 3; the 2024 branch sits at 15/245 Sathorn Soi 11 near BTS Saint Louis.
- Budget: half chicken B220, whole B400 (2019 prices); B180-520 by cut at the newer branch.
Verdict
could-visit — Bangkok's chimaek benchmark per BK Magazine, run by a Changwon-born owner who pairs proper Korean fried chicken with a rotating Thai-craft tap list, at MRT Phetchaburi exit 3. It does one thing at city-best level and prices it kindly; it's a neighborhood dinner, not a destination detour, and the rung reflects that.