Tikka masala vs butter chicken in Jeongja-dong, Seongnam: Kari

Where is Kari on the Jeongja-dong café street?

I wanted something a little different from my usual go-tos, so I headed to Kari Bundang Jeongja Café Branch, a well-known spot in Jeongja-dong. When you think of Indian food, curry and naan usually come to mind, but Kari has a wide range of curries plus tandoori chicken and other Indian dishes, so I'd been curious about it for a while.

Kari Bundang Jeongja Café Branch is on the basement level of the Dongyang Paragon building near Jeongja-dong's café street. It's an easy walk from Jeongja Station, so accessibility is good, and there's parking in the building too, which made it convenient to come by car.

Parking tip! There's a passage connecting to the shopping arcade on the right side of lines 3, 4, and 5 in building 105!! If you're using the outdoor entrance, go down the stairs where you see the Chinese restaurant!!

Inside Kari: a spacious, private basement dining room

Walking in, the interior was bigger than I expected. India-inspired decor mixed with orange accent tones gave it a vibe different from a typical café or restaurant. The tables were spaced generously apart, and there were private dining spaces too, which made it feel good for dates as well as family meals or gatherings.

On one side there's also a space where you can watch the cooking happening live. It's an open area, so being able to see the food being made made the meal more fun :)

Kari's menu, from curries to naan

Here's Kari's menu~ from curries to naan to tandoori chicken, a wide variety of Indian dishes is on offer :)

There's also a wide selection of drinks and alcohol, good for pairing with the meal however you like :) Since it was just the two of us, we debated and went with the KARI Couple Set for ₩66,000.

What comes with the 66,000 won couple set at Kari?

Best of all, the set comes with two curries, so it was great for the two of us to pick and choose according to our tastes. Once we ordered, the table started filling up dish by dish, and it looked pretty generous from the start. First up: an assortment of side dishes!

First, a shrimp salad topped with Indian ricotta cheese!!

The spice flavor, shrimp, and cheese went really well together — a nice balance of flavors 👍

Our chosen drinks were mango lassi and zero-sugar cola :) The vegetable fritters tasted like the kind you'd get at an old-school snack shop — crispy, potatoey, and honestly delicious.

Kari's tandoori chicken: how strong are the spices?

And of course, no Indian meal is complete without tandoori chicken!

I worried the spices might be too strong and polarizing, but it was less overwhelming than expected, with a subtle depth of flavor that paired nicely with the curry.

Tikka masala vs butter chicken: how did the two curries differ?

For this couple set, we chose two curries: tikka masala and butter chicken. They might sound similar, but they tasted quite different, which made switching back and forth fun.

On the left is tikka masala, on the right is butter chicken. Tikka masala was a bit spicier, richer, and more full-flavored! Butter chicken leaned soft and nutty, true to its name, with tender chicken in a creamy sauce — great if you prefer a curry where the spice isn't too intense.

Warm butter naan and plain rice with Kari's curries

And what I was most looking forward to was, of course, the butter naan + curry combo 🤎 The naan came out warm, and tearing off pieces to dip into the curry — this combo never fails. The naan itself was chewy yet soft, which paired well with the rich curry sauce.

It was delicious dipped in naan, but also worked well with the plain rice. With two curries and both naan and rice to alternate between, it turned out to be more filling than I expected.

To finish things off cleanly, dessert arrived too — a yogurt ice cream that wasn't too sweet and was really good. Overall, with so many dishes included, this set was great for two people to share a bit of everything. If you're trying Indian food for the first time, I'd especially recommend going for a set like this rather than ordering single dishes, so you can experience several menus at once 🤍🤍