Dodo Korea: TikTok-famous Korean style nasi campur in KL with fried chicken & bulgogi

I first came to know about Dodo Korea through TikTok. Influencers and other users were posting about what was dubbed as “Korean style nasi campur”. These influencers would rave about this eatery, saying it served delicious dishes which were reasonably priced. With Korean food being all the rage now (and as a fan of the cuisine myself), I knew I had to give it a whirl.

As of 18 May 2023, Dodo Korea has 3 branches, all of which are located in malls in Kuala Lumpur: Intermark Mall, NU Sentral Shopping Mall, and Avenue K. These malls are located relatively close to each other, so the expansion of this franchise hasn’t really left the vicinity. One good thing is that all 3 outlets are accessible via public transportation.

I visited the outlet in Avenue K and made sure I arrived before the lunch crowd. Based on other reviews, the store can get pretty packed during peak hours, especially on weekends.

Most authentic Korean restaurants in Malaysia tend to be on the pricier side, so it was refreshing to find a casual shop that sold affordable meals. The concept is straightforward as well— go up to the counter and select 2 proteins of your choosing. They have regular set choices on their menu for those who can’t make up their mind.

What I tried at Dodo Korea

First and foremost, the lighting there was criminal.

Second, the portion was huge for me.

I thought it wise to choose the 2 most popular Korean dishes here in Malaysia: fried chicken and beef bulgogi. No matter which sides you choose, one set costs RM17. For the amount of food and the fact that it’s located in the middle of KL, I thought it was well priced.

My meal included rice, 3 pieces of Korean fried chicken, a heaping spoonful of beef bulgogi, a piece of deep fried fish with tartar sauce, half a fish cake, potato salad, kimchi, kimchi bean sprout soup, and 2 slices of watermelon.

The first piece of chicken I had was very tasty. It was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and coated with a well balanced sweet and savoury sauce. This was my first impression of the food and I was very satisfied with it, until I tried the second piece.

In the picture above, I had separated the fried batter from the actual chicken meat. The batter to chicken ratio was shocking. Honestly, the amount of batter they managed to pile on is quite impressive— probably from coating the meat and deep-frying it over and over again.

I get why they do this though. They want to maintain the price, and ingredients are expensive. They probably needed to make the chicken pieces look larger than they are to attract customers. That being said, that amount of batter made the dish a lot less appetising to me.

Flavour wise, the beef bulgogi was good, but nothing special. It had the standard bulgogi taste with a prominent onion flavour. Overall, it was seasoned well. Although the meat was thinly sliced, some pieces were still chewy and I ended up only eating the smaller pieces that were soft. 

The potato salad was really good— well cooked potatoes that were creamy and not short of seasoning.

Everything else was just okay, not bad but not that good either. The kimchi was a great palate cleanser, and tasted fine. It was quite spicy though, which came as a surprise as most places serve mild kimchi. The piece of fried fish they gave had a slightly breaded crust. As expected from a fast food place, it wasn’t particularly fresh.

The soup had a piece of tofu and some bean sprouts for some crunch. When scooping the soup into my tray, a piece of bean sprout dangled off the side, and I watched as the worker flicked it back into my soup with their finger, so there’s that.

I felt like the small piece of fish cake was just there to fill up space in the bento tray. It wasn’t reminiscent of the usual fish cake banchan I’ve had at other restaurants. It wasn’t soft either. I took a couple bites and forgot about it. 

Final thoughts

All in all, the food at Dodo Korea was average. I think it’s a good lunch option, as the service is fast, the food is already cooked, and the price is similar to what you’d find on food delivery apps. I wouldn’t mind eating here if I was working in the area and didn’t know where to eat, especially if I was craving Korean food.

Is it worth the try? Sure, If you’re already in one of the malls. But I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to have this again.

Expected damage: RM17 per pax

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