Baby-friendly Korean restaurant in Buk-gu, Daegu: Cafe Dongyi Chimsan

Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch Parking lot, high chairs O Cafe Dongyi is a place I quietly rely on a lot. The Chimsan branch especially, inside Samsung Changjo Economic Complex, is great to bring a baby to, so every time a new menu comes out I end up there like it's fate haha. And on top of that, being able to get sponsored support from Cafe Dongyi — arms wide open, hooray~~~~~~🙌🏻 so excited This time there was even the summer-only new menu, the yeolmu bibimbap rice bar, so I ate it shoulders dancing. Maybe because it's made with domestic ingredients so I trusted it more, I scraped the bowl clean 🫢

The route: play at Samsung Changjo Campus, then go eat

It feels like a waste to come to Samsung Changjo Campus and just go straight to eat (well, for me anyway) so first play a round at the mini playground, meet friends on the lawn, run around as much as you want, and once you're really hungry, that's when you go in — that's when the food tastes best.

Last time we came as a group, this time it was 4 of us including the baby. The seating is mostly set up as 2- and 4-person tables.

Along with the Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch chef's photo, the company motto is genuinely reassuring. That's why the rice, chili powder, kimchi — almost all the ingredients were domestic.

Unlimited fried eggs — a lifesaver for families with kids

These days, with egg prices what they are, and Chinese, American, and all sorts of imported eggs around, Dongyi's generosity of letting you grill our precious domestic eggs as much as you want.

Kids are perfectly happy with just fried egg and gim (dried seaweed)..! Thanks to the fried eggs, step one — getting the kid to actually sit down — was a success.

Before I get into the main menu, here's Cafe Dongyi's evening look, right after we finished eating. Ah, so full.

Ordering via T-Order, waitlisting, and heotgae tea

A neat spread of different dishes. Dongyi with its kind prices too.

Since you can order via T-Order at each table, we quickly loaded up on a lot of menu items. Us moms get pretty hungry too.

You can register for the waitlist through Table Ring.

Spotted Dongyi's thoughtfulness: outside, cold heotgae tea considering the heat for waiting guests.

Inside, warm heotgae tea to soothe your stomach is offered as the seasonal drink.

What we ordered — bulgogi rice bar, grilled spicy pork, yeolmu bibimbap rice bar

• Dongyi grilled pork bulgogi rice bar
• [Personal grill] grilled spicy pork course
• Summer special yeolmu bibimbap rice bar + tasting-size sweet and sour pork (mini)

The first dish is a spread made for kids: an even healthier seaweed soup with perilla seeds, and sweet bulgogi. A combination that simply can't taste bad, so kids, eat nicely now.

Wowaaaa, as someone who loves red food, I went for the grilled spicy pork..^^ A bubbling doenjang (soybean paste) hot pot and pork sizzling on the personal grill — you all know how good it is mixed together in a big bowl.

Still, we had to share nicely among several people, so we ate it politely with chopsticks. It was just spicy enough — perfect as a side with rice.

The tasting portion of sweet and sour pork — must have been fried with glutinous rice, chewy and crisp. I gave the baby a little taste and she ate it up well. That sauce was tangy and clean, real umami.

Ta-da, the new summer-only menu makes its appearance. Yeolmu bibimbap (mixed rice with young radish kimchi) — isn't this the perfect K-food for when you have no appetite? Once you leave your mom's home cooking behind, yeolmu kimchi becomes precious. Quickly add rice, add chojang (vinegared chili paste), and mix.

Midway check-in: chopsticks moving so fast you can't even see them. The kids mostly eat fried egg and rice, so thanks to that, us moms get to try every single main dish. Cafe Dongyi is a top-tier restaurant to escape home cooking and bring your kid to.

Hours, location, parking

* Weekdays 11:00–20:30 (B.T 15:00–17:00 / L.O 20:00) Weekends 11:00–21:00 (B.T 15:00–16:30 / L.O 20:30)

* 1km from Daegu Station Exit 2, Line 1 (a bit far to walk)

* You can park at Samsung Changjo Economic Complex and get 2 hours free.

A word after the visit

Kids are already happy with unlimited refills of fried egg and just some barley gangjeong (crispy barley snack)..^^ Thanks to that, us moms got to properly enjoy eating out haha. Run around as much as you want at Samsung Changjo Campus, then eat, play a little more, then go home, wash up, and go straight to bed — isn't this exactly the perfect day a mom dreams of..☺️ Next time I definitely want to try the dishes with names that already smell of tradition — the 40-year master's kimchi jjigae rice bar and the 50-year-tradition juicy fried mandu (dumplings). I can only imagine how much of a rice thief those will be. And could you please extend the summer special yeolmu bibimbap rice bar we had this time a little into fall too? 🥹 I ate it so well that it's a shame the seasons are changing. Once you actually eat at Cafe Dongyi, you can feel the care put into even a single side dish or soup, so I came away feeling properly looked after. A meal like this — as a mom, it genuinely moves me~~!