Jensen Huang is serious about Korean fried chicken. The Nvidia CEO ordered 113 boneless fried chickens delivered to a baseball stadium — his second Korean chicken outing in as many days, this time at BBQ after an earlier stop at Kkanbu Chicken.
Huang attended a ceremonial first pitch at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Sunday afternoon, then watched the professional baseball game from a group seating section, where he and his party planned to eat BBQ's "Crunchy Boneless Cracker" chicken.
The Crunchy Boneless Cracker is a boneless chicken product made from drumstick meat coated in fine breadcrumbs and deep-fried to a crisp, cracker-like texture. It retails for 20,000 won (about $13) per order.
Nvidia ordered 113 boxes of the Crunchy Boneless Cracker from BBQ's Jamsil Baseball Stadium branch for delivery to the group seating area. The order was large enough that BBQ's head office stepped in, deploying additional staff to the venue.
Huang had also sought out BBQ chicken on June 5, the first day of his visit to South Korea. After wrapping up a dinner gathering with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin at "Hyeongnim Jeoyo," a grilled samgyeopsal restaurant near Hongdae entrance station in Mapo-gu, Seoul, he chose BBQ's Hongdae entrance branch as his next stop, ordering golden olive chicken and draft beer.
After the ceremonial first pitch and the game on Sunday, Huang was set to meet Chey again at Kkanbu Chicken's Samsung branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul — the same spot where he earlier made headlines sharing chimaek with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung.
At that earlier gathering, Huang declared that "Korean fried chicken is the best in the world." He is also a regular at 99 Chicken, a Korean-style beer-and-chicken bar in Santa Clara, California.
Earlier Sunday, Huang met with a series of South Korean gaming industry leaders to discuss expanding cooperation in gaming and AI. In the afternoon, he visited a PC bang in Seoul, where he met NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin.
Huang greeted attendees and took a close look at NCsoft's upcoming title "Aion 2." The atmosphere in the venue surged as Huang chanted Kim's initials "TJ" and Kim chanted back "Jensen."
Taking the stage, Huang called out to fans: "Is everyone enjoying Aion 2? Who's the best?" The crowd responded with cheers.
"I love Aion 2," he said. "Nvidia GeForce and Korean esports have grown together."
Huang and Kim also made surprise guest appearances on a live broadcast streamed online and took part in a prize draw for fans.
On June 5, Huang's first stop in South Korea had been a PC bang in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where he met the players of League of Legends esports team T1.
dlcw@heraldcorp.com
