While in Daejeon my friend suggested we eat at a new Japanese fusion restaurant that just opened called Tokkijung Project. She was really surprised that we got a table without a long wait, having warned me that the lines were insane.
We were quickly seated at a nice table and proceeded to pour over the menu, stuttering along only to realize the entire thing was in Korean, despite the staff speaking English. It took forever to go through the menu and try to peiece together what everything was. And really, we were close, but if it hadn’t been for Hello, Hansol’s translation of the menu in Daegu…well let’s just say while we probably would’ve ended up ordering the same thing it would’ve just taken about an extra half hour.
The menu isn’t completely the same so we took time to compare and contrast and decided to go with what we thought was the special of the restaurant, cream curry. I ordered the orange melon milky soda 말랑 메레론: 오렌지멜론, and we split an appetizer of croquettes 토끼정 고로케 (2,500 each or 6,500 won for 3) and shared the curry udon with a pork cutlet 돈까스 카레 우동.
Instead we ended up with what looked like normal curry udon, though if we’d paid attention and noticed the lack of cream in the title we probably would’ve caught that. It was delicious. But spicy. My friend took one bite while I was stirring my orange melon milky soda and panicked. She loved it, but there was no way I would’ve been able to eat much more than a bite. While flavorful it was highly spicy (to me). So instead I ate most of the cutlet and two of the croquettes, which were probably my favorite part of the meal. I think the actual specialality is called 토끼정 그림 카레 우동, or Tokkijung Cream Curry Udon. It doesn’t come with the donkatsu and I’ve heard it is also a bit spicy. If you’re not sure you can always try to ask what the most popular dish is, or “뭐가 제일 인기 많아요?” (mwoga jeil ingi manh-ayo?)
The restaurant is a small chain with shops in Seoul and Daegu as well. They also serve hot pots and different rice dishes. What we ordered was plenty of food, we didn’t even finish it all.