After leaving Halifax for several years and now being back, it's been cool to see so many new places here. Not the least of these is the major turnaround that has taken place at the Esquire Plaza strip malls.
What were once sparsely-occupied places that seemed to churn through the few businesses that did open there, are now fully occupied, and mainly with restaurants from around the globe! My first time at any of the restaurants (and certainly not my last) was at Korean corn dog slinger, Kon Dog.
The Korean take on the corn dog only started spreading broadly across Canada in the past few years, so Halifax is surprisingly not far behind on the trend! While international chain Chungchun blazed the trail in late 2021, it wasn't long before indy shop Kon Dog set up shop a year later.
As soon as you enter, it's readily apparent that Kon Dog is (smartly) doing a lot of hand-holding with what their products are and how the ordering process goes. There's even very cool, very detailed plastic models of the different types of corn dogs, including the standard all-beef, mozzarella, half and half, as well as iterations with different toppings!
The menu makes for straight forward ordering, and you can have your corn dogs topped with pre-made seasoning and sauce combos from a list, or free wheel it. It's a very smart strategy for easing people's nerves in trying something new, as well as speeding up the process in general.
I arrived for a late, weekend lunch, and their limited seating was nearly full. A steady stream of mainly families continued to come while I was there.
I went for the namesake Kon Dog, which is the all-beef option, as well as a Spicy Half and Half, which is made up of a jalapeno sausage and mozza. One I had topped with tiny hash brown potatoes and the other had bits of ramen noodles.
After a short wait (they take about 5 minutes to cook), my K-dogs were ready for their seasonings. I forget the names of the preset combos that I got, but one was basically ketchup and honey mustard, while the other had both cheddar and parmesan powders.
It's hard to tell from my picture, but these are *thicc bois*! They've gotta be awkward/potentially quite messy to eat for kids or anyone with jaw problems, and it's likely why knives and forks are available. Luckily, having a big mouth is what I'm known for!
Both K-dogs were very well executed, with airy dough and melty cheese inside (in the half and half). While I'm always a fan of hash browns, the ramen took top marks for toppings, with a huge crunch factor! The seasonings were what you'd expect - this isn't fancy, modernist cuisine here, they're coming out of big buckets - but their salty, savoury pleasure cannot be denied.
Kon Dog was a delicious indulgence, and is head and shoulders above the street hotdog cart steamies or backyard BBQ dogs that we're so accustomed to. read more