Daegu bar with half-and-half Busan fish cake stew: Eomuk Pocha Tong

A new bar opened up at Dongchon Recreation Area, so I had to check it out~ Their main dish is a mixed eomuk tang (fish cake stew), but they also serve a bunch of other high-quality side dishes!!

Where is Eomuk Pocha Tong, and what are its hours?

• Eomuk Pocha Tong / 4F, 27 Hyodong-ro 2-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu
• Hours: 5pm–1am (closed the last Sunday of every month)
• Parking: free building parking lot

How to walk to Eomuk Pocha Tong from Dongchon Recreation Area, and where to park

Eomuk Pocha Tong is at the 12 o'clock direction past the main rotary at the front gate of Dongchon Recreation Area!! The building is big and has a parking lot too, which is nice~

There's a wide parking lot with an attendant always on site. Because of the layout you might get double-parked, but if you leave your keys the attendant will move your car for you, so you never have to step out mid-meal!!

Just follow the entrance in the middle — there's a ramp entrance and an elevator too, so it's easy to get around with a wheelchair or stroller~

Go up to the 4th floor and it's the shop on the right! Just press the automatic door button and walk in~

Inside Eomuk Pocha Tong: atmosphere and menu prices

Inside there are a lot of wide tables like this. The spacing between tables is generous too, and many are separated by partial walls, so it's great for conversation~

Here's the menu! There's a kiosk at every table, which was convenient, and besides the main eomuk tang there's a good variety of fried dishes, rice dishes, dried side dishes and more — I could see coming here for a second round too~ I ordered the Busan eomuk, the fire-flavor squid stir-fry, soju, and beer!!

Free starters at Eomuk Pocha Tong, kimchi jeon included

The complimentary starters come out generously too — macaroni snacks, salad, and kimchi jeon (kimchi pancake)!!

The kimchi jeon was pleasantly spicy and not too greasy, a nice way to get the appetite going early on!!

Busan fish cake stew with half spicy, half clear broth: what's in the pot?

After a bit of a wait, the Busan eomuk arrives! When I visited, the owner was working alone, but it still didn't take too long. Skewered fish cake, a mountain of bean sprouts, blue crab, rice cake sticks — even at a glance there was a ridiculous amount of ingredients

What's unusual about the Busan eomuk is that the broth is split in half — one side spicy, one side clear. It kind of looks like a shabu-shabu pot lol. The clear broth was salty and delicious too, like a bonito dashi at a shabu-shabu place. Both broths have bean sprouts in them, which I think is why they both tasted so clean and refreshing

There are boiled eggs in there too, and the rice cake sticks are the thick garae-tteok type, packed full — it's genuinely generous!! And the bean sprouts... it's like they dumped in an entire bag, they're piled so high, and thanks to that the broth is super refreshing~ This alone could easily take down three bottles of soju...

Seriously... every kind of ingredient is crammed in there!! This is a bar's eomuk tang, but I've never seen one served at this quality before... The blue crab isn't just there for flavoring either — there are five or six pieces, and they actually have meat inside

Unlimited broth refills with the fish cake stew

And one of the best things about Eomuk Pocha Tong! The eomuk tang broth is unlimited refills~ Other ingredients can be added for a fee, but the base amount is already so generous it should be plenty. And since the broth's unlimited, the soju can be unlimited too... haha

I noticed they twist the fish cake once before threading it onto the skewer so it doesn't unravel — a little trick not everyone knows!! Maybe that's why the fish cake felt extra chewy and springy. It wasn't the dry, flour-heavy kind of fish cake — it was chewy with no flour smell, genuinely tasted like real Busan fish cake!!

Fire-flavor squid stir-fry: only for spice lovers

This is the fire-flavor squid stir-fry!! It comes with a base serving of thin noodles, the seasoning is spicy, and it's loaded with squid — the perfect soju pairing~ Personally I'd say it's a bit spicier than Yeolla ramyeon, so I'd only recommend this to people who handle spice well!!

And the noodles are super chewy too!! Moist, chewy noodles with the spicy squid stir-fry together is just amazing...✨️

Free fried chicken gizzards with a fish cake stew order before 8pm

This is the gizzard fritters!! At Eomuk Pocha Tong, if you visit before 8pm and order eomuk tang, you get the gizzard fritters for free~

But this gizzard... it's genuinely so good... the batter is thin and crispy, and the gizzard itself wasn't chewy at all — super tasty!!! Daegu is famous for chicken gizzards too, but the batter here is different from the places that usually sell it. This one was crispier and less hard, which I loved~ If you come here, you have to try the gizzard fritters. Or, since it's also offered as a set with the eomuk tang, going for the set could be a great way to enjoy both

A place where you can enjoy generous, delicious side dishes made from good ingredients!! If you want high-quality bar food at a reasonable price, I recommend Eomuk Pocha Tong, the eomuk restaurant to know in Dongchon~