Dongseong-ro, Daegu BBQ with aged kimchi stew: Suyeong Naengsam

Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store: location and hours

Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store (수영냉삼 대구 직영점) is a frozen pork belly BBQ restaurant on the 1st floor of 570-18 Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu, in the Jongno area. It is open 16:00-24:00 with last order at 23:00, and closed on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month. Corkage is allowed, private hire for 50 people is possible, there is a group table for 10, and you can park in front of the restaurant.

The location is really convenient, since it's in Jongno. It's only about a 2-minute walk from Jungangno Station, so it's easy by public transport, and it's a great meeting spot because you can head on to a second round in Jongno or Dongseong-ro afterwards ❤️ I could see right away why so many people looking for a Dongseong-ro naengsam (cold-pork BBQ) place come here.

Don't you have those days when you suddenly crave pork belly so badly? That was exactly one of those days for me. While searching for where to go, I found Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store, famous in Daegu for frozen pork belly, and went right away. To start with the conclusion: it completely broke my prejudice against frozen pork belly.

Interior, group seating and self-serve bar

The restaurant was bigger and more comfortable than I expected. The group table seats up to 10 and private hire goes up to 50, so it looked good for company dinners, club meetups or get-togethers with friends. The mood is lively and buzzing, just what you want from a BBQ place. The fun part: this direct store is the only Suyeong Naengsam branch in Daegu!

A neat self-serve bar!

Another interesting thing I heard: the restaurant is supplied with raw meat from Seocho Galbi, a very famous place in Busan. Apparently the singer Psy once ate 20 servings there, and knowing that's the meat they use got me even more excited. This time we ordered the main items: ✔️2 servings of frozen shaved pork (daepae) and ✔️2 servings of frozen pork belly.

The kimchi and pa kimchi (green onion kimchi) I brought from the self-serve bar were especially amazing.

Frozen pork belly on the left, frozen shaved pork on the right. It's the same meat, just cut to different thicknesses, so pick whichever you like!

Frozen shaved pork: grilled on a salted plate

Before the meat came out, a staff member sprinkled salt evenly over the grill plate. It's not a way you usually see, so it was novel, but once I grilled the meat I understood right away why they do it. Maybe thanks to the salt, the flavor of the meat came through more and picked up a subtle seasoning. Really delicious.

Grilled on the salted plate, it was savory and so good even eaten straight off the grill!! It's tender the moment you bite in, and a rich, nutty umami spreads through your mouth 👍 It's thin, so it cooks fast and I had to grill at speed haha.

Frozen pork belly: 3-4 times thicker and chewier than the shaved pork

The frozen pork belly that came next was much thicker than the shaved pork, roughly 3-4 times, so the chew was clearly there and it felt juicier too. Even the color looks different when grilling. I personally loved the chewy texture of the pork belly, but the signature tenderness of the shaved pork was so good that it was hard to pick just one 🥲 My conclusion: try both ⭐

Aged kimchi stew and cold banquet noodles

Meat alone felt a little short, so we added aged kimchi stew (mugeunji kimchi-jjigae) and cold janchi guksu (banquet noodles in chilled broth). The kimchi stew had a deeply simmered broth with the full flavor of aged kimchi, so it went really well with the meat. Pleasantly spicy with lots of umami, it matched the richness of the pork perfectly.

The cold noodles were better than I expected too. The chilled broth was so refreshing for my stomach. That was my carbs sorted haha. I really recommend having the noodles as your meal. When the sides are good at a BBQ place, satisfaction goes way up, and here both the main and the sides were a success!

Suyeong Naengsam Daegu Direct Store: would I go again?

What I kept feeling throughout the meal was that the meat quality is really good. I'd thought naengsam (cold pork belly) would be a casual thing, but maybe because the raw meat itself is good, the flavor was clearly different. The staff were friendly and brought whatever we needed right away, so the meal was even more comfortable. I absolutely want to come back, really!