Marinated galbi in garlic sauce, Jongno, Daegu BBQ: Jangjak Saenggalbi

Jongno restaurant in Daegu, pork galbi, Jongno meat restaurant, Jongno fresh galbi restaurant

If anyone visiting Daegu is looking for a good restaurant, I'd like to recommend today's Jongno spot — I went to this fresh galbi place that used to be called Byeokdol Saenggalbi.

Where Jangjak Saenggalbi Jongno Main Branch is, and its hours

It used to be Byeokdol Saenggalbi, but they changed the name — now it's Jangjak Saenggalbi Jongno Main Branch, haha. For the Jongno fresh galbi restaurant location in Jung-gu, Daegu, it's about a 5-minute walk from Jungangno Station.

• Location: 38-1 Jongno, Jung-gu, Daegu (inside the Jongno food alley)
• Getting there: 5-minute walk from Jungangno Station
• Parking: nearby paid parking lots
• Hours: daily 17:00-01:00

I like pork belly too, but lately I'd been really craving fresh galbi, so I went looking... on a day with drizzling rain, meat somehow feels even more tempting.

The interior of Jangjak Saenggalbi Jongno Main Branch, a Jongno meat restaurant in Daegu. I took this photo before they'd replaced the sign yet. It's located inside the Jongno food alley too, so it was easy to find.

Inside Jangjak Saenggalbi: a BBQ spot that doesn't look like one

If you're a pork galbi fan in Jongno, Daegu, looking for proper ribs, this fresh galbi place had a unique look from the exterior all the way through the interior. It's a meat restaurant, but spread over 2 floors, and the lighting was... just so pretty. There are even waiting chairs. Even the floor tiles were nice at this fresh galbi place. Maybe because of the vibe, there were a lot of young couples.

The 2nd floor had a totally different feel. It seemed like a great spot for group work dinners. They had a variety of menus like jangjak marinated galbi. We ordered the marinated galbi.

Banchan and the free cypress-steamed dish

As soon as we ordered, the banchan (side dishes) came out right away — I really felt taken care of, they came out so neatly. Satisfaction went up seeing the care put into each dish, haha. Banchan I kept reaching for. They went perfectly with the meat. All the side dishes, like the shredded green onions, were ones that made the meat taste even better.

And then, haha, they brought out a complimentary cypress-steamed dish! It had thin-sliced pork belly, shrimp, and mung bean sprouts in it, hahaha... wait, this is complimentary?? Haha. Felt like the perfect side dish for soju.

Staff grill the marinated galbi and debone it for you

I ordered the Uiseong garlic galbi from Dongseongno, Daegu. Since it's marinated, when I grill it myself I get really stressed about the timing, which makes it uncomfortable to enjoy eating. If you grill it wrong you have to throw half of it away lol, so I never used to be able to eat much.

But here, a staff member grills everything for you. Thank you so much. You can enjoy the fresh galbi so comfortably haha.

Now let's eat... they kept grilling for us, and it was actually hard just watching... the smell was so good. The second time, they carefully deboned the meat too, and the parts near the bone were nice and chewy.

Dipping it in the special garlic sauce... wow, honestly, it made a sound... I already knew the garlic sauce was delicious, but with how tender the fresh galbi was, dunking it in the sauce made it even richer. It wasn't the usual taste I'm used to — I barely chewed a few times and it wasn't tough at all, it just slid right into my mouth, haha.

Galbi with mul naengmyeon: how the pairing tastes

This fresh galbi restaurant in Jongno, Daegu, lets you eat in so many ways — with sauce, with jaeraegi (pickled radish)... which I think makes it even more delicious. Juicy ribs paired with mul naengmyeon — honestly, this combo is just so good.

At this meat restaurant in Jongno, Daegu, the naengmyeon broth was refreshing and perfectly seasoned, making it so good to eat alongside the meat. And yes, I did finish the entire broth.

This galbi restaurant, Jangjak Saenggalbi in Jongno, Daegu, is somewhere I really want to go back to... even now the taste seems to linger. Since it's so tender, your parents will probably love it even more — why not visit Jangjak Saenggalbi Jongno Main Branch? It's a place I'd love to visit again.