Daegu Korean BBQ near iM Bank Park with free spicy soup: Don Gukbap

Near Buk-gu Office in Daegu, there's a restaurant the locals adore and that has tons of regulars. It's called Don Gukbap (돈국밥), tucked into a quiet alley across from Buk-gu Office, and it has a real old-school gukbap (rice soup) joint feel. This time I ate pork belly and dwitgogi (butcher's-cut pork), then finished with gukbap and suyuk janchi guksu (boiled pork noodle soup). The self-bar has tteokbokki and pork lung, and when you order grilled meat, you get a kicking spicy soup and fried rice for free!!! This can't be a normal level of service, can it?? Here's my review of a special BBQ place that had me marveling the whole meal 😋

• A truly satisfying pork place, flavor in every way
• A favorite among the many regulars near Buk-gu Office Station
• Pork with outstanding freshness, since the owner also works in pork butchering
• Pork belly, dwitgogi and pork gukbap highly recommended!

Where is Don Gukbap in Daegu, and where can you park?

Don Gukbap is in a quiet alley across from Buk-gu Office and the Buk-Daegu Tax Office (8 Oksan-ro 7-gil, Buk-gu, Daegu). It's a 5-minute walk from Buk-gu Office Station, so it's easy by public transport, and it's a 10-minute walk from iM Bank Park, the Daegu FC home stadium, so it's also handy after a football match.

If you drive, you can park in front of the shop, along the alley, or in the public roadside lot near Buk-gu Office Station Prugio, mostly free (search for the public parking lot on Naver Map).

Since it has so many regulars, there may be a wait at peak times! I visited around 1 p.m. on a weekday, and luckily a round of customers had just left.

Inside Don Gukbap: an old-school Daegu pork restaurant

Don Gukbap is a Korean restaurant with a homey feel.

The inside is cozy, with an old-school vibe, and even though it was late lunch, people were still eating. Customers who looked like regulars kept coming in afterward, too. I heard a branch recently opened near Paldal Market as well, so it's clearly a hot spot.

The wording on the walls shows pride in the taste. The owner also works in pig butchering and makes rich bone broth with fresh ingredients every day, so the pride makes sense. Most of the origins are domestic, too!

What's at the Don Gukbap self-serve bar?

The self-bar currently has pork lung and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). Until recently there was sundae (blood sausage) too, but it was dropped because of rising prices. Even this much is something to be grateful for, haha.

Don Gukbap menu and prices

At Don Gukbap near Buk-gu Office in Daegu, gukbap is ₩9,000, and pork belly and dwitgogi neck meat are ₩6,000 per 100g. The main menu is below.

• Pork / sundae / offal / spicy gukbap ₩9,000
• Suyuk set meal ₩13,000
• Grilled meats: dwitgogi cheek/hanjeong-sal (100g) ₩5,000, dwitgogi neck (100g) ₩6,000, pork belly (100g) ₩6,000
• New menu: gukbap + suyuk + ssam set ₩10,000, doenjang stew + suyuk + ssam set ₩10,000, suyuk janchi guksu ₩6,000

On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays they also run a deal selling soju and beer for ₩2,900.

What side dishes come with pork belly and dwitgogi?

What I ordered at Don Gukbap that day: pork belly ₩6,000 × 4 servings, dwitgogi neck meat ₩6,000 × 4 servings, and suyuk janchi guksu ₩6,000.

When you order grilled meat, the side dishes are kimchi, kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), chili peppers, onion, ssamjang (dipping paste), saeujeot (salted shrimp) and ssam pa-jaeregi (seasoned scallion salad). The kimchi and kkakdugi are made in-house and tasted different. The kimchi was fermented somewhere between country-style kimchi and fresh geotjeori, and I loved it.

Free sulguk soup with BBQ: spicy or plain

When you order grilled meat at Don Gukbap, a soup (sulguk) comes free, and you can choose spicy or plain. We chose spicy to cut the greasiness. For an appetizer, the portion was huge. It has the same amount of meat as one regular gukbap, and it's clean-tasting yet spicy, which cuts the richness of the grilled meat well. It makes you think of a glass of soju, haha. The kind of taste that makes it clear why other people eat so much gukbap.

Thick-cut aged pork belly at Don Gukbap

The nicely colored meat arrived, and to get going properly I grilled the pork belly first. The thick-cut pork belly at Don Gukbap held its juices and grilled up moist and glossy.

Maybe because it's properly aged meat, it cut tender from the start, and the soft, nutty flavor was superb. The onion and potato served with it, and especially the zucchini, got grilled in pork fat and came out even nuttier, a real treat.

Dwitgogi cheek or deolmi-sal neck: which to order?

The dwitgogi comes as cheek (ppolsal) or neck (deolmi-sal). I like the fatty parts, so I chose neck. Cheek is mostly lean meat, so if you're on a diet, go for the cheek.

The neck meat definitely looked special from the start. Fat is dripping and the sheen is something else, right? Despite being fatty, it tasted clean, with a chewy, springy texture that went down easily. The more you chew, the more the nutty flavor of the fat comes out, so it's great as a drinking snack or wrapped in lettuce.

What do you think? Looking at it, my mouth is watering and I'm craving it again 😭 A light dip in meljeot (salted anchovy sauce) adds a funky, deep savoriness, and I savored every bite.

Free fried rice that's not on the menu

The fried rice at Don Gukbap isn't on the menu! Why? Because it's a freebie when you eat grilled meat 😆 The meat is already this good value, and then soup AND fried rice... free!!!! I was really touched 👍

They give you steamed rice and fried-rice ingredients, and if you leave a little meat and stir-fry it all together, it's the perfect finish. Thanks to the generous ingredients the fried rice is rich in flavor, and I highly recommend it!!!

₩6,000 suyuk janchi guksu to finish the meal

The new suyuk janchi guksu (banquet noodles with boiled pork) at Don Gukbap is ₩6,000 and comes topped with big chunks of suyuk. Now on to the real finish. I ordered it out of curiosity since it's new. Looks good, right? And the taste was clean, with moist, well-boiled suyuk that was tender and soft, quality that made me nod and agree this is definitely a pork specialist!

The quantity and quality beat most noodle shops, and I honestly ate it in admiration 😙

Verdict: Don Gukbap near Buk-gu Office, Daegu

Don Gukbap near Buk-gu Office in Daegu is a meat restaurant that also does butchering, so it delivers fresh, well-aged pork belly and dwitgogi, plus hearty gukbap and suyuk janchi guksu, satisfying in quantity and quality, with free extras on top. Places like this are rare, so it can't help feeling special. It's also reasonably priced, so it's easy to see why there are so many regulars.

A BBQ place where the owner greeted me with a smile in a quiet alley, a bonus of warmth! It's not far from iM Bank Park or Daegu Station, so I recommend it even if you're traveling in Daegu 😉