Dubu Dubu Urban Korean Food (DubuYo) @ NU Sentral, Kuala Lumpur

A recent name that has been coming up in most mall's these days is Dubu Dubu and being a Korean food fan, I was very curious to try their food. Most Korean restaurant's that I know of are non Halal and this one, being a Halal restaurant was of great interest to me as I wanted to see how authentic they could get to the real Korean food when compared to the other Korean restaurants in town that are owned by Koreans themselves. It seems that this franchise has been around for about a year now and recently they have started a re-branding exercise and their name has been changed to DubuYo. I was informed that Dubu Dubu means 'Tofu' and Yo means 'Hello'. One of their recent outlets is the one in NU Sentral Mall located on the Fourth Floor. I happened to be here this afternoon and having been aware of this outlet's presence in this mall, I did not want to miss the opportunity. 

Dubu Dubu in NU Sentral Mall

The Entrance To The Restaurant

Mock Display Of Food Items

The place was hard to miss. This was located on the Fourth Floor and they had one of the largest retail space in the mall. If I am not mistaken, this was directly opposite the entrance to Golden Screen Cinemas, very close to the escalators. The place was beautifully designed and had a sense of attraction to it. Along the glass panels facing the outside, mock dishes had been placed in display. This is good as it gives a newcomer a sense of what the dishes would look like. I walked up to the entrance and sadly there was no one waiting there to greet customers, despite a sign reading 'Please Wait To Be Seated'. I waited and no one came by and after about a minute, I just walked into the restaurant and that was when one of the waitress came running to me. Sad customer service. It was not even peak hours then and they should be more alert and one has got to stand at the door to usher customers into the restaurant. 

Beautiful Interior

Glass Windows Overlooking The City

Posh Long Settees

The restaurant had a grand feeling to it, not like any other fast food place. I understand that this is a franchise but it felt quite cosy and comfortable. There was just a handful of customers as it was already 2.00 pm and most of them would have been done with their lunch. Once I was seated, one of the waitress handed me the menu. I requested her to leave me with the menu for a while as I wanted to go through in detail to understand what they offered in entirety. 

Set Lunch

Set Lunch

Set Lunch

Weekday Set Lunch

Weekday Set Lunch

As a value for money proposition, they had some set lunch deals specifically for weekdays that was available from 10 am till 3 pm. These looked pretty good and were quite cheap. This is a good initiative in drawing the office crowd to come here for lunch on weekdays. I am sure that the reception for this would be good as they were all reasonably priced and very much suitable to the middle class working adults. The place had a great ambiance too and this would surely lure an even greater crowd. It was good to see the new brand DubuYo being promoted here instead of the older brand name Dubu Dubu. Having gone through this, I went on to check their Ala Carte dishes as well. 

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

Summary Of My Orders

Their spread was very impressive. They had thought about almost all the famous Korean dishes, leave aside the BBQ as those are mainly of Pork origin. The Ala Carte prices were just slightly more than the Lunch Sets but their side dishes like pancakes etc. did seem to be on the high side, probably more suitable to be shared among a larger group. Being solo today, I decided to go for Set 1 which was ideal for me. This came with an option of four mains to choose from and I went for their Soondubu Jigae which is supposedly their signature dish here. This set comes with three Banchan as well. As for the drink, that was an add on and I choose their Barley Tea. With that, the waitress went over to the cashier and she returned with the above slip and placed it on my table. It was good as I could immediately see what I had ordered and in case there were errors, I could have immediately rectified them. 

Barley Tea @ RM 2.00

Barley Tea @ RM 2.00

Just like Barley, the Barley Tea tasted quite bland but had a creamy factor to it. Some would perhaps say that it was a little slimy instead. Whichever it was, it did taste nowhere like the usual tea but felt good drinking it. I would not be able to rate this as I have never tasted this drink before. For me, it was not nice to taste but felt good. Simply like to leave it like that. 

Set 1 @ RM 16.10

The drink arrived almost immediately but these dishes did take a while. I had to wait close to about 15 minutes for the dishes. Honestly, as there were TV's around, I did not feel the pinch and indeed 15 minutes is nothing at all. This as ordered, came with some Dubu Dubu Rice, Soondubu Jigae (Chicken) and three side dishes (Banchan). Time to get busy with the meal now. 

Dubu Dubu Rice

Had Lot's Of Sesame Seeds

Quite Sticky Too

This rice was quite similar to the Japanese sticky rice and / or the Korean sticky rice but it was Yam like in colour and just like any other Korean dish, had lots of sesame seeds in them. It tasted flat like the usual rice but went well with the sides and the mains. I would rate this at 7.5/10 . It was nice but have definitely tasted better ones.

Soondubu Jigae

Soondubu Jigae

Light Broth

Tofu

Chicken & Eggs

Chicken Meat

Egg Yolk

Soondubu Jigae is supposed to be a much richer broth, not something as light as this and it is supposed to be really spicy. This was nowhere there and came with just a few bits of chicken, some tofu and an egg. I understand that the price has been lowered but that should not hinder one in providing quality dishes. It would taste okay to someone who's never had 'real' Korean food before but being someone who's seasoned, I think that this was a sure let down. For me, I would only rate this at 6.5/10 .

Banchan

The volume of the sides were good and one has the option to add slightly more to enjoy unlimited refills of these sides. I did not go for that option as these were sufficiently good for me. 

Bean Sprouts

These Bean Sprouts tasted really good. They were immersed in a light sauce that was good enough to bring out the natural flavours. A good preparation and I would rate this at 8.5/10 .

Kimchi

For me, this was just an above average preparation. It was decent but not great. Could have been much better. I am sure that they had used the 'ordinary' grade Kimchi for this preparation, not the high end ones. I would rate this at 6/10 .

Potato's & Carrots

These were Potato's and Carrots in a sweet sauce and they tasted awesome. One of the dishes here that I would say was excellent, probably the only one so far. Everything was just perfect here and I would rate this at 9.5/10 . Excellent one!

Bill For The Lunch

On the whole, it was a very average meal for me. This is perhaps a place for those who have never tasted Korean food before and it is a good learning ground as an introduction to Korean food. But once you are used to the real thing, then this becomes a bore. Sometimes, for novices, it may be not appropriate to straight away jump into hardcore Korean food and this would be a good 'incubation' place to get your taste buds to be slowly tuned to Korean food. One good thing here is that they had absorbed the GST into the existing prices. That is an awesome move when everyone is so concerned about the implementation of GST these days. In summary, average food, very average customer service but very decent prices. 

Address: Lot L4-04, Level 4, NU Sentral, Jalan Tun Sambanthan,

                50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200 Daily

Telephone: +603 2272 2116

Website: http://www.dubuyo.com/home.asp#

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DUBUDUBU.urbankoreanfood/info?ref=page_internal