Review: Shake Shack - Korean Gochujang Fries

Shake Shack's Korean Gochujang Fries features an order of their regular menu crinkle-cut fries with a cup of Gochujang mayo sauce on the side for dipping.

I paid $3.59 for an order (basically the sauce costs 50 cents more than just getting an order of fries).

My previous visits to Shake Shack have been hit or miss in terms of crispiness but, this time around, the fries were crispy all-around. They're fairly lightly salted with a bit of a creaminess from the Yukon Gold potatoes. The crinkle-cut is ideal for picking and holding more sauce, while the thicker cut ensures that the potato flavor still comes through. They gave me a good amount of fries (more than you get in a large order at McDonald's or Burger King) and the cup of sauce was a good size (plenty enough for dipping).

The Gochujang mayo sauce was fairly thick, creamy, and rich, which muted much of the fermented funky quality of gochujang although you still get a taste of the underlying red chili pepper base. It's mildly spicy and is balanced out with savory, sweet, tangy, and salty notes.

Overall, Shake Shack's Korean Gochujang Fries turned out pretty well. The sauce did enough to make it unique from other typical mayo-based sauces at competing chains and offered an enjoyable, varied flavor. It's a little bit weird to give them a name when it just fries with a cup of dipping sauce though.