Grill & shabu restaurant in Daeyeon, Busan: Migsikga's pork couple set

A BBQ-vs-shabu couple's pick in Daeyeon-dong

Every time my husband and I eat out, choosing a family meal takes a while, because I love shabu-shabu and my husband is strictly a meat guy.

Then we found a Daeyeon-dong restaurant that satisfied both of us perfectly. It's Migsikga's Grill & Shabu Daeyeon branch (미식가의구이&샤브 대연직영점), right in front of Exit 6 of Daeyeon Station, so getting there was easy too. :)

Where is Migsikga's Grill & Shabu Daeyeon branch, and how is the parking?

Migsikga's Grill & Shabu Daeyeon branch is at 227 Suyeong-ro, Nam-gu, Busan, on the 2nd floor, facing the main road by Daeyeon Station Exit 6. It's open Monday to Sunday 11:00–22:00, with a break time of 15:00–17:00.

• Address: 227 Suyeong-ro, Nam-gu, Busan (2nd floor)
• Hours: Mon–Sun 11:00–22:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)
• Parking: any of the lots behind the building (1 hour free with a meal of ₩20,000 or more)

It's on the main road by Daeyeon Station Exit 6, so public transport is convenient, and if you drive you can use the lot behind the restaurant, which made visiting easy. With parking support too, it's a great spot for family meals or group gatherings.

Atmosphere and seating

Migsikga's is on the 2nd floor of the building, and Misikga's Udon runs the 1st floor. Walk in through the entrance and take the stairs straight ahead.

The moment I stepped onto the 2nd floor, the clean wood-tone interior caught my eye. The whole place has a Japanese feel, and each table is separated from the next, so it's comfortable to eat there.

The seats are comfy sofa-style with backrests, and at the back there's group seating that works well for family meals or get-togethers with friends. You can close it off with curtains for privacy, so it felt a bit like a private dining room.

Ordering is easy by tablet. The table was neatly set with salt, shabu soy sauce, and even vitamin candy. They also said that right now you can get a tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty) or a drink as a service when you write a Naver visitor review, so keep that in mind.

Menu and prices at Migsikga's Grill & Shabu

At Migsikga's you can get shabu kalguksu-jebi (shabu-shabu with noodles and sujebi dough flakes) for one person at ₩9,900, at both lunch and dinner. There were also plenty of set menus, like the pork couple set and the pork family set.

We didn't hesitate: we ordered the popular pork couple set and paid ₩15,000 extra to add the shabu ring.

Kimchi jjim as a side dish

The basic table setting at Migsikga's came out generous: white kimchi, pa-jeori (seasoned scallion salad), pickled onions, assorted jangajji (pickled vegetables), kabocha squash salad, ssam vegetables, and a variety of sauces.

And the kimchi jjim (braised kimchi) was the personal surprise for me! You hardly ever find a BBQ place that gives kimchi jjim as a free side, right? But at Migsikga's, well-stewed kimchi jjim comes out by default, and it was seriously a rice thief.

The 500g pork couple set

Soon the pork couple set arrived! It's 500g in total of aged pork neck, dwaeji-po galbi (pork belly) and aged gabrisal (the pork neck-end cut), and it was overwhelming from the first look.

I was surprised by the price and surprised again by the amount! It's more than enough for two. On top of that, until June 30 they were giving 300g of dwaeji-po galbi (pork belly) as an event service. Wow! They gave us ours as seasoned dwaeji-po galbi.

Best of all, when you order the pork couple set you can add the shabu ring at a discount! When you go for meat you start thinking of shabu, and when you go for shabu you think of meat, so being able to solve it in one go won me over completely.

The meat set, the seasoned dwaeji-po galbi we got from the event, and the shabu ring we added for ₩15,000 still came to under ₩50,000, so we got a table full of food at a great price.

How did the aged pork neck, gabrisal and dwaeji-po galbi taste?

The aged pork neck in the couple set was almost as thick as a steak. I grilled the pork neck first.

It was scored with knife cuts, so it held lots of juice and the texture was really chewy. After one bite I immediately put the dwaeji-po galbi (pork belly) and the aged gabrisal on the grill too.

Pork neck can turn dry if it's grilled badly, but this stayed moist and was delicious. With a little wasabi on top, it's honestly heavenly!

Personally, the aged gabrisal was the best that day. The chewy-yet-tender texture is so appealing, and a nutty richness keeps coming up the more you chew. It was the moment I understood why so many people love gabrisal.

Can't leave out the dwaeji-po galbi (pork belly) either. It's raw-galbi style, so you can really taste the meat itself, and it was very juicy.

Eating it together with the kimchi jjim was especially a treat. The kimchi is good even on its own, but with the meat the combination was just amazing.

If you ask by tablet, they bring lettuce and other ssam vegetables. Thanks to that, the two of us enjoyed plenty of meat wraps. The meat quality is so good that whether I ate it with white kimchi, with pa-jeori, or with wasabi, the conclusion was that it's delicious any way you eat it.

What is the shabu ring?

Migsikga's shabu ring is a round ring of meat and vegetables wrapped all the way around, with broth in the middle. I was startled by the look at first, and thought, so that's why it's called a shabu ring.

The shabu meat was tender and the pot was packed with vegetables, so the vegetable broth came out rich. The broth itself was clean and deep in flavor, so I kept scooping some up in between.

Eat meat, then shabu-shabu, then back to meat again: the endless happiness route is complete! When the meat starts to feel a little greasy, one bite of shabu and your mouth feels totally reset.

Why it works for family meals and couple dates

Migsikga's Grill & Shabu Daeyeon branch lets you enjoy BBQ and shabu in one go, so satisfaction is really high for families or couples with different menu tastes. When families or couples visit, there's often a dilemma over what to eat because tastes differ, right? Here, there's no such dilemma.

After the meal, we could even have free coffee from the self-service coffee machine by the entrance. There's currently a June-only event giving 300g extra when you order meat, so be sure to visit.

If you're looking for a good-value BBQ place in Daeyeon-dong or a spot for a family meal or company dinner, and you want pork belly and shabu-shabu at the same time, I recommend Migsikga's Grill & Shabu Daeyeon branch. Next time I plan to go back for the family set. :)