Frank Burger Chef Jung Ho-young Edition Review [Korean Food]

Hello! Today I’m covering two of the three new menu items in Frank Burger’s collaboration with Chef Jung Ho-young: the Frank Chicken Burger and the Okonomi Shrimp Burger. These launched as part of the brand’s “Jung Ho-young Edition.” Among the lineup, the Okonomi Shrimp Burger and Frank Chicken Burger generated the most buzz, so I taste-tested both side by side. Frank Burger is already part of my regular rotation, which made me curious about how a chef collab version would land. Let’s dig into what these burgers actually deliver.

Table of Contents

📋 At a Glance

Products: Jung Ho-young Edition (Okonomi Shrimp Burger / Frank Chicken Burger)
Brand: Frank Burger Korea
Price: Okonomi Shrimp Burger 5,500 won (~$4 USD) / Frank Chicken Burger 3,900 won (~$3 USD)
Toppings: [Shrimp] whole shrimp patty, cabbage, lettuce, bonito flakes, okonomiyaki sauce / [Chicken] chicken thigh patty, lettuce, onion, teriyaki-based signature sauce, pickles
Collab chef: Jung Ho-young (winner of Culinary Class Wars Season 1, Japanese-fusion specialist)
Verdict: ★3.0 — Strong value pricing, but the chef-collab label sets expectations the depth doesn’t quite meet

Frank Burger Jung Ho-young Edition: Price and Concept

This release dropped as a three-burger lineup: Frank Chicken Burger, Chipotle Chicken Burger, and Okonomi Shrimp Burger. With that many options to weigh, let’s start with pricing.

This is Frank Burger’s second chef collaboration, following the Yoon Nam-no edition. Jung Ho-young is best known as a master of Japanese and fusion cuisine, which makes the okonomiyaki angle particularly intriguing since it sits some distance from typical burger territory. I went straight for the two items that seemed to anchor the lineup: the Okonomi Shrimp Burger and the Frank Chicken Burger.

What’s on the Okonomi Shrimp Burger

Let’s start with the Okonomi Shrimp Burger build. Of the three items in this lineup, this one carries the strongest personality, and the concept of reinterpreting okonomiyaki as a burger comes through most directly here.

From the side, you can see a thick fried shrimp patty along with onion and cabbage, plus a hint of bonito flakes peeking through. Bonito flakes are an unusual topping for a burger, so the Japanese influence registers right away.

Splitting the burger in half reveals the layers more clearly. The bun is Frank Burger’s standard option. Top to bottom, you get okonomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes, the fried shrimp patty, lettuce, and onion. The build is genuinely simple. Cabbage feels lighter in volume than I expected.

The shrimp patty is built from minced shrimp meat with whole shrimp pieces embedded inside, so when you cut into it, you can spot the shrimp shapes scattered throughout. The okonomiyaki sauce reads as teriyaki-based. The patty is a single layer, so the overall thickness stays on the lighter side. The whole package suggests a deliberately simple build aimed at value.

What’s on the Frank Chicken Burger

Next up is the Frank Chicken Burger. Within the three-item Jung Ho-young Edition, this is the most basic build and also the cheapest entry point. The visual presentation, honestly, leaves something to be desired.

From the side view, the construction looks pretty bare. What jumps out first is the chicken patty practically smothered in sauce. The chicken patty uses dark thigh meat, fried with a thin, crisp coating using what Frank Burger describes as a Japanese-style frying technique.

One thing worth flagging honestly: the burger I received had the chicken patty sitting off to one side, not fully covering the bun. Chicken thigh meat doesn’t always come in uniform shapes, that’s understandable, but the patty surface area was clearly smaller than the bun. That meant some bites along the edges only had sauce and bread without any chicken at all.

Cutting the burger in half makes the layers easier to read. Same standard Frank Burger bun. From the top: a small amount of lettuce and onion, the chicken thigh patty, teriyaki sauce, and pickles. The build is genuinely simple, and that simplicity is probably what makes the 3,900-won price possible.

The sauce is a Chef Jung Ho-young signature: a sweet-savory teriyaki base with a faint mayo-like undertone, and the portion is genuinely generous. To put it plainly, almost all the flavor work in this burger comes from the sauce. The volume and presence are that strong.

Taste Test: How Does the Okonomi Shrimp Burger Land?

Following the tasting order, let’s start with the Okonomi Shrimp Burger. Going in clean with one bite, here’s the honest first impression: yes, it does deliver flavors that read as okonomiyaki.

The sweet-savory pull of teriyaki sauce, the nutty richness of mayo, and the umami punch from bonito flakes combine in a way that pulls up that familiar okonomiyaki aroma. This is one detail that clearly reflects Chef Jung Ho-young’s Japanese-cuisine background.

Bonito flakes are the biggest differentiator here. A pinch of bonito brings out that distinct Japanese umami you simply won’t find in a standard shrimp burger. The smoky depth of bonito interlocks with the sweet teriyaki notes and the salty shrimp, so each bite delivers sweet-salty + umami + shrimp texture all at once. The bouncy bite of the whole-shrimp patty also echoes the way okonomiyaki sometimes uses shrimp as a topping.

That said, there’s a real limit worth flagging. While the flavors do read as okonomiyaki-adjacent, you don’t get the depth of an actual okonomiyaki dish. Real okonomiyaki layers thick cabbage with assorted ingredients that meld during cooking, producing a substantial savor. This burger keeps things relatively light overall, so the depth of flavor lands a touch shallow. The first bite makes a solid impression, but by the second or third, there isn’t much new to discover.

The aroma and atmosphere land in the right zone, but the depth feels a step short. Considering this is a value-priced (5,500-won) attempt at Japanese flavors, it’s a well-executed menu. Still, anyone walking in expecting a chef’s full power and rich complexity could leave a little disappointed.

Taste Test: Frank Chicken Burger Up Close

Now for the Frank Chicken Burger. With the 3,900-won single-item price and a slightly disappointing first impression, I went into this one without big expectations.

The first bite leads with the sweet-savory pull of Chef Jung Ho-young’s signature sauce. The teriyaki-based sauce is portioned generously, so a single bite is enough to push that flavor across the palate. With both burgers leaning on a similarly bold teriyaki profile, the first impressions felt closely related. The fried coating on the chicken thigh patty is genuinely thin, lighter in texture than a standard chicken burger.

One issue stood out the most during the actual eating. That patty-sizing problem I mentioned earlier became more obvious mid-tasting. Since the patty doesn’t fully cover the bun area, each bite created an imbalance: some sections delivered solid chicken bite, others gave only bread, lettuce, and sauce. The generous sauce portion actually amplified the weakness instead of compensating for it. In the patty-free zones, the sauce flavor flooded the mouth on its own and started to feel a little heavy.

Value for Money and Side-by-Side Verdict

Looking at both menus together, the prices are low enough that expecting more than this would be unrealistic in some respects. Even so, considering the chef’s reputation, this collab leans almost entirely into value pricing, and that’s an honest read of how it lands. The Okonomi Shrimp Burger nails the concept of evoking Japanese flavors but feels light on depth, while the Frank Chicken Burger offers a passable build for the price but doesn’t quite earn the chef-collab label. Anyone walking in with high expectations because of the Culinary Class Wars chef tie-in should probably reset and treat this as just a new value-focused release from Frank Burger. Going in that way leaves less room for disappointment.

For more on Chef Jung Ho-young and the show that brought him to wider attention, see the Culinary Class Wars Wikipedia entry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much does the Frank Burger Jung Ho-young Edition cost?

Okonomi Shrimp Burger comes in at 5,500 won and Frank Chicken Burger at 3,900 won (about $4 and $3 USD). The Jung Ho-young Edition lineup includes three burgers total (Frank Chicken Burger, Chipotle Chicken Burger, and Okonomi Shrimp Burger), and this review compares the two that drew the most attention.

Q. How does the Okonomi Shrimp Burger actually taste?

Bonito flakes and teriyaki sauce push the first bite into clearly recognizable okonomiyaki territory, with that distinct Japanese umami right up front. Real okonomiyaki has more depth, though, so the second and third bites don’t reveal much new beyond the initial impression.

Q. Which one should I order first?

For a clearer taste of the collab concept, go with the Okonomi Shrimp Burger first. The Frank Chicken Burger is appealing at 3,900 won, but the patty doesn’t fully cover the bun, so it’s better approached as a value release than a chef-collab showcase if you want to avoid disappointment.

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