Daegu Jongno Korean restaurant: seaweed-wrapped mackerel at Hyangtaek

Hyangtaek Daegu Jongno Branch: a Korean restaurant across from Starbucks Jongno Gotaek

Looking for somewhere to eat solo after a trip to Banwoldang, I finally made it to Hyangtaek Daegu Jongno Branch, a place I'd wanted to try for a while. It's right across from the Starbucks Jongno Gotaek branch, so it wasn't hard to find at all. It used to be a tendon (fried pork/tempura) place, but it's now Hyangtaek — things change fast around here haha.

Hyangtaek serves healthy, clean-tasting Korean food, and it's a great spot for a light solo meal. There's no dedicated parking lot, so you'll need to use a nearby lot (the Daegu Korea House parking lot — parking fee is on you).

Inside Hyangtaek: seating for solo diners

Once you're inside, the interior is done up in wood tones, giving it an overall cozy, warm feel. The tables weren't cramped at all — plenty of space. There's a range of tables from 2-seaters to 4-seaters, and baby chairs are available too. It's a comfortable place to come eat alone :)

If there's a wait, you write your name on the list at the entrance. I visited just after 2pm and was seated right away.

Hyangtaek menu and the weekday mushroom jeon gift

The signature dishes are the mackerel gondre rice and the eggplant doenjang rice bowl, and beyond those there's yukhoe bibimbap, chamnamul (aster leaf) squid rice bowl, herring roe bibim noodles, and more. Side dishes you can add include grilled deodeok mushrooms, a mushroom platter, a galbi platter, and Cheongsong-style chicken bulgogi. I went with one of the signatures — the mackerel gondre rice 😋

They're also running a promotion where signing up for Naver notifications gets you a free mushroom jeon (weekdays only) — worth knowing if you're planning a visit.

Napkins and utensils were tucked in a drawer under the table.

How to eat at Hyangtaek: the standard side dishes

There's a note on the table explaining how to best enjoy the food at Hyangtaek: mix all the toppings on the rice or noodles evenly, then eat it together with the gopchang kim and bibim jeotgal. You add the special sauce little by little, adjusting to your own taste :)

The standard side dishes are miso soup, gopchang kim, bibim jeotgal, and gungchae jangajji, plus the special sauce.

Mackerel gondre rice: deboned mackerel wrapped in gopchang kim

After a short wait, the mackerel gondre rice arrived quickly. It came topped with gondre (thistle greens), pickled shiitake mushrooms, chives, and sesame seeds, plus a big chunk of mackerel :)

The mackerel piece was generously sized and the colors were so vibrant — it looked delicious the moment it landed on the table 😋

Following the instructions on the table, I mixed all the toppings evenly and added the special sauce to season it. The sauce itself wasn't as salty as I expected, so I ended up using the whole portion haha.

The mackerel had all its bones removed, so it was easy to eat. It paired well with the bibim jeotgal and gungchae jangajji, and wrapping the rice and mackerel in gopchang kim was so good — I was really satisfied!

Is Hyangtaek Daegu Jongno Branch good for solo dining?

📝 The food felt healthy and neat, making it easy to have a light, satisfying meal without any fuss. The grilled mackerel was clean-tasting with no fishy smell, and the gondre — which I hadn't had in a while — was nicely fragrant. Adding the gopchang kim, jeotgal, and jangajji into the mix let me enjoy a variety of flavors, which I liked. I'd recommend this to anyone wanting a hearty, clean Korean meal. After eating, I got curious about the other menu items too, so this is somewhere I'd like to come back to :)