Late-night pork and daechang grill near Dongdaegu Station: Hubaldae

It had been a while since I grabbed drinks with friends, so I went looking for a good BBQ spot near Dongdaegu Station and ended up at Hubaldae Dongdaegu Station Branch (후발대 동대구역점), which is apparently buzzing for its potato wraps that came over from Busan :)

• 📍64 Dongbu-ro 30-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu, South Korea
• 824m from Exit 2, Dongdaegu Station (Daegyeong Line, Subway Line 1)
• 🕐 Daily 5:00 PM – 12:30 AM, open year-round
• Naver Reservation available

The owner seems like a huge baseball fan haha, and I love baseball too — hehe! Go Samsung, on to fall baseball ~ and let's take it all the way to #1 ><💙

What's on the Hubaldae menu: pork cuts and beef intestine together

Here's the menu. Hubaldae serves pork (pork belly, pork neck) but also grilled beef intestine parts (teukyang and daechang) haha. If you want both, gather round~ And on top of that, it's corkage-free except for the alcohol they sell in-house!

I'm the type who reads through instructions on how to eat something properly if they're posted — I'm really serious about food lol.

Booking a table for 5: two four-seat tables and the side dish spread

Since we had a reservation, the table was already set when we arrived. It was a late weekday, so with plenty of room to spare, the staff set us up generously across two 4-top tables for our party of 5 — such a kind owner..........🫶🏻 Anyway the base spread included honey potato slices, kimchi jjaglee (stewed kimchi), mountain garlic leaves (myeongi-namul), sliced scallions, basil + angelica (danggwi), cheongyang chili peppers, ssamjang, wasabi, plus sundae (blood sausage), mushrooms, shishito peppers and garlic to grill alongside the meat, haha.

The essentials for the signature potato wraps 😋 I saw a review while looking this place up where a blogger wrote that the mountain garlic leaves come pre-separated one by one by staff, so there's never any 'ssam leaf war' here — I burst out laughing at that haha.

They lightly sear the basil on the grill and set it aside, then put the honey potato slices along with the sundae, garlic and shishito peppers, and king oyster mushroom onto the grill, haha.

Pork belly and pork neck cut and grilled for you at Hubaldae

Next came the meat we ordered~! First order was pork belly x2, pork neck x2 to start.

At Hubaldae Dongdaegu Station Branch, the kind owner and staff cut and grill everything for you, which is just so convenient. If they don't come grill it, I'm the designated meat-griller — I like grilling, but between grilling, eating, and drinking, it's a lot to juggle, so having them grill for us was so nice 🥰

Right around the time the meat is nearly done, they catch the perfect timing and build you a potato wrap haha. They place a grilled potato slice down, top it with mountain garlic leaves, seasoned kimchi and wasabi, add the basil dipped in sesame oil sauce on top, and once the meat is fully cooked, dip it thoroughly in the red sauce and set it in place.

And there it is — Hubaldae's signature honey potato wrap, complete 🤎

Well then, time to pour the soju first~ cheers cheers cheers

Once the meat is fully cooked, they thoughtfully lift it off so it doesn't burn~!

Is the angelica root pairing worth it? 3 of 5 friends found it bitter

They also had us try it with angelica (danggwi), an herbal medicine ingredient. Me and one other friend out of the five thought it was fine, but the other three found it bitter and didn't like it lol. For me it was just slightly bitter, but this combo definitely seems like it could go either way for people.

The sweet-and-salty potato wrap is really Hubaldae's identity! The potato slices are sweetly aged, paired with well-grilled meat, and the subtly fragrant basil plays its supporting role perfectly. Then the mountain garlic leaves, seasoned kimchi and wasabi come in to balance out what could otherwise feel a bit greasy~~🥹

Adding Korean beef daechang with chives and grilled potato

Next up, our additional order of pork neck x2 and Korean beef intestine (daechang) x2 — look how plump that intestine is!!!!!!!

The plump, juicy daechang was, as before, cut into bite-sized pieces by the owner personally :)

As it's nearly done, they add chives to the grill too — because everyone agrees grilled beef intestine is best eaten with grilled potato and chives, it's basically the golden rule~~

Seriously the fattest, plumpest daechang haha. You dip it in the same red sauce, which is of course delicious, but I'll add my own note that it'd be even better with a sesame oil sauce topped with sliced cheongyang chili on the side too!

Finishing with fried rice, house special ramen and arrowroot pear naengmyeon

Fried rice (₩6,900) is a must — it comes out fluffy, freshly stir-fried, dusted with seaweed flakes and sesame seeds. It's not too salty, so it's even better topped with a piece of meat or daechang dipped in the red sauce~~!

They also gave us a bowl of their house ramen on the house — maybe because we ate so much....🫶🏻 The noodles were cooked to a springy chewiness, and the broth wasn't just plain water with ramen seasoning mixed in — it's a rich broth actually simmered from stock, haha.

We also ordered the arrowroot pear naengmyeon (₩7,900) haha. It's piled generously with pear, and the broth comes with a fine layer of ice, so it's super refreshing. Chop the noodles up and scoop them with a spoon — such a solid move for drinking food. We ate so, so well 🥰