Daebak! A Korean tteokbokki (rice cakes) buffet at only $18.80?
I couldn’t contain my excitement and immediately jio-ed my K-Pop/ K-drama/ K fanatics (K whatever) chingu down! Also because they had nothing to look forward to after Goblins ended.
Pali-Pali!
”Dookki”, which means ‘Two meals’ in Korean, originated from Korea in 2014, and has over 100 outlets worldwide.
Two meals literally means to start the first meal with a Korean hotpot style, and end off with kimchi fried rice.
It was a steal for the price tag of $18.80 for adults, and $10.80 for children (of height between 110 – 130cm) with its wide variety of Korean food offered.
You get 8 different kinds of tteokbokki (rice cakes) with varying shapes and texture such as Round, Flat, Slim, Square, Hollow, Special, Square Wheat, Potato Sujebi to meat and vegetables such as beansprout, cabbage, fish cake, cuttlefish ball, sausage, boiled egg and mussel for the hot pot.
That’s not all. The fried food counter features one of my favourite Korean street food – Kimmari (김말이), deep fried seaweed roll with glass noodles in it. Crunchy and tasty.
Another highlight was the freshly-cooked Fish Cake Skewers available at the Fish Cake station, best eaten with the sauces from the Sauce Station, drizzled with some soup broth.
For a first timer, it may be a little confusing, but the slip of instructions on the tables helps.
Firstly, the service crew will boil the base soup at your table. You may request for a one-time-off Double Cheese Ring at an additional $9.80.
This is the only add-on available in addition to the buffet price.
While the Cheese Ring may seem all delicious-looking, Instagram-worthy or irresistible, it hardened way too quickly and I immediately regretted my decision.
Secondly, pick up the metal bowl and choose your ingredients for your hotpot at the buffet table.
Some items are really popular and run out fast, so display your kiasu-ness and pick those items machiam like it is the greatest Great Singapore Sale.
Technically speaking, it is a free-flow buffet, but let us try to minimise wastage.
Thirdly, there is a sauce station where you can make your own sauce and decide on the spiciness.
With a DIY guide on the ratio of Dookki Sauce to Tteokbokki Sauce to Gungjung sauce or Flame Sauce, it is not that difficult to be the next Master Chef (just kidding).
I enjoyed the Level 2 Spiciness with 1.5 spoons of Tteokbokki Sauce, 1 spoon of Dookki Sauce and 0.5 spoon of Gungjung sauce which was quite manageable.
The most interesting and my personal favourite tteokbokki was the sweet potato version that oozed out with every bite.
Korean ramen (sans the ultra spicy packet), sweet potato noodles, Vietnamese noodles are available to add into the hotpot and soak up all the “zhup” (sauce).
While the hotpot reminded us of a budae jjigae, the overloading of carbs from the tteokbokki and the ramen, and the lack of spam could be a little heavy for most people.
Friends went on a subsequent visit, and I was told that spam had replaced the mussels…
I ended off the (first) meal with some DIY Kimchi Fried Rice using seaweed, sweet corn and kimchi.
It was a fun, memorable and hearty meal that brought smiles to the table.
Too many choices, too little time, oh did i mention that there’s a time limit of 90 minutes per person?
So put away your camera and K-drama discussion and finish up Dookki (two meals) within the time limit!
Dookki Singapore
Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard, #B1-107 (East Wing), Singapore 038984
Opening Hours: 11am – 10pm (Mon-Sun)
https://www.facebook.com/dookkisg/
Other Related Entries
Ho Rang I (Novena)
K-Tower (Amoy Street)
BAP Korean Food (Alexandra Central)
Hansul Korean Dining Bar (Tanjong Pagar)
Daejon House (Havelock II Mall)
* Written by Nicholas Tan @stormscape who loves all things [NEW]. Daniel’s Food Diary paid for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
