Walking around the buffet is like a time machine back to the 90s, but now everything is Korean. Photo: Tenele Conway.
I’ve got three words to share with you: Dookki Tteokbokki buffet.
If two of those three words mean nothing to you, then you’re in the right place, and by the end of this, you’ll be in the car on your way to Belconnen for a ’90s flashback at an all-you-can-eat buffet with a modern Korean twist.
Dookki is a chain of buffet restaurants that launched in South Korea in 2014 and landed in Australia in 2023. The global brand now has 444 stores across 13 countries.
It’s a scale that’s hard to fathom, but despite all those restaurants, there are only three in Australia, and one happens to be in Belconnen, tucked away in Grazier Lane.
For context, a night out at Dookki is like going down to your local Pizza Hut in 1995 and getting ‘The Works’ – the golden ticket to a bottomless buffet of pizza, pasta and dessert.
If you were anything like me, you clung to the “12 years and under” price for as long as humanly possible just to keep it at $6.95. A moment, please, for the glory days of eating all night for under $7.
Dookki is not $6.95, but by today’s standards, $36.80 per adult, $31.80 for students and $21.80 for children feels like solid value.
Dookki is located in Belconnen’s Grazier Lane. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Dookki has only one menu item: a hotpot of broth with a buffet of ingredients to cook in it, the most prominent ingredient being tteokbokki, a chewy Korean rice cake.
Before my visit, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the experience was seamless, and despite the price point, the food is genuinely good. What Dookki has mastered is turning a concept into a well-thought-out customer experience.
First-timers are guided through the whole process on arrival: which utensils to grab, how the buffet works and where to discard scraps like chicken wing bones. You are even provided with a bib if you choose to protect your attire.
Each table has not one but two explainer cards that walk you through seasoning, cooking, and even transforming leftovers into fried rice or cupbap (a mixed rice or noodle bowl). You’re never left guessing.
Before we were unleashed on the buffet, our server looked at us very seriously and delivered the time limit like a challenge as she stated, “You have one-and-a-half hours”. In my head, I countered with a confident, “Challenge accepted”.
No cooking skills needed to pull off this hotpot. Photo: Tenele Conway.
In the centre of the dining room is the buffet, and this is where I get serious Sizzler flashbacks.
The help-yourself setup comes with clear ingredient labels, descriptions of recommended sauce combinations and serving suggestions. It’s an impressive spread, and one where you’re never left wondering what to do with ingredients or sauces.
Alongside the extensive tteokbokki selection that offers up all shapes and sizes of the delightful Korean rice cakes, there are thinly sliced meats, vegetables, noodles, boiled eggs, fishcakes and tofu cubes with ample choices for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores alike.
There is also a large ready-to-eat selection to accompany the hot pot ingredients, including noodle dishes like japchae, sushi, and kimchi, an array of sweet, original, and spicy chicken wings, and other fried goodies.
If cooking your own dinner sounds laborious, don’t worry; you can leave your inner Martha Stewart at home. The most complex part of this process is upending your bowl into a pan and waiting 5 minutes.
When you’re nearing the end of your 90-minute window, there’s a self-serve ice-cream freezer at the back. Add a drizzle of chocolate or strawberry topping and some choc chip cookie chunks, and you’ve officially completed the Dookki experience.
Dookki is located at 2 Grazier Lane, Belconnen, and is open six days a week, Monday to Saturday. Check Facebook for opening times.
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on Region Canberra.
