Daegu Korean restaurant for salt-dipped oven mackerel: Geumdeungeo

Why we chose Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch on a rainy day

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch (금등어 달서구 직영점) is a Korean restaurant in Dalseo, Daegu that my relatives and parents have long gone to whenever they crave grilled fish. The weather was gloomy and it had been raining since morning, so it was chilly, and on a day like that you just think of good food. Kongi's mom loves Korean food a lot and said she wanted grilled fish, and since Kongi's mom and dad both had time, we went to Geumdeungeo, which is great for a protein boost.

📍39 Jincheon-ro 16-gil, Dalseo-gu, Daegu, Jincheon Mat Town, 3rd floor, Unit 301 / 🚇 450 m from Exit 4 of Jincheon Station / ⏰ Daily 11:00–21:30, break time 15:00–17:00, last order 20:30 / 🚘 Jincheon Mat Town parking lot

How does parking work at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch?

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch uses the Jincheon Mat Town parking lot, and if you register your parking before leaving, it's free. The outdoor lot was full that day, but there was space further inside, so we parked there.

You can use the Jincheon Mat Town parking lot, and you need to register your parking before you leave to get free parking with no fee.

Take the elevator up to the 3rd floor.

There's a banner at the entrance that's worth a read. I thought the parking was only on the 1st floor, but there's parking on the 3rd and 4th floors too. I only found that out today!

Is there a wait at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch?

There's a wait on weekends, but we came for an early weekday lunch, so we were seated right away with no wait. There are waiting seats too. When I came with relatives and my older cousins, there was a wait, and we all sat here together.

Is the restroom at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch clean?

The restrooms are to the left of the cashier, with separate ones for men and women. There's a sign on the way that I enjoyed looking at. I'm very picky about restrooms, and Geumdeungeo's is clean, which I love. They even have cotton swabs, hair ties and cotton pads.

Geumdeungeo banchan prices, puffed rice snacks and the coin game

Geumdeungeo sells banchan (side dishes) separately: one is ₩5,000, and buying three takes ₩2,000 off, so three is the better deal. There's japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), flower rice cake (kkotseolgi) and kimchi, and the rice cake was warm, like it had just come out.

They also sell yukjeon (beef pancake) and dried side dishes. There's also warm puffed grain (ppeongtwigi) freshly made at Geumdeungeo.

There's also a game where you drop a coin into a cup under water. Call a staff member when you want to try: succeed with a 100-won coin and you get puffed grain, with a 500-won coin you get a mackerel. Worth a try!

When my two older cousins tried it, success got them grilled mackerel, but now it seems to have changed to puffed snacks. My cousins succeeded! Amazing sisters!

Soup options and the dining room atmosphere at Geumdeungeo

The soups are varied too: eel soup, chicken drumstick gomtang (beef bone soup), black garlic chicken seolleongtang, chicken drumstick soup, chueotang (loach soup), dogani-tang (ox knee soup), boneless samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and chueo yukgaejang (spicy loach soup), so it's easy to have a simple one-dish meal. I also saw pickles, soy sauce, gochujang, doenjang, salted seafood, seokbakji (radish kimchi), cheonggukjang, fresh geotjeori kimchi and chard doenjang soup.

There's group seating, and there are blinds you can pull down while eating for a private feel, which is nice.

Extra side dishes that go well with the mackerel include jeyuk (spicy pork), seasoned cockles and yukjeon.

If you join the Naver receipt review event, you get a pack of banchan, flower rice cake and puffed grain as a gift, and there's a special discount on Geumdeungeo gift sets, so they'd make a good present too. There are lots of events, plus extra menu items, alcohol, drinks and a call menu. A sign says "Feed your phone a meal too" and charging is free. Cute line, and nice to be able to charge your phone!

The basic table setting has wet wipes, bowls, water cups and utensils. On the side of the table there are also bowls, aprons, paper cups and cups for alcohol.

What banchan come with the Geumdeungeo pot rice set meal for 3?

We ordered the Geumdeungeo pot rice set for 3 that day. The table was laid with chard doenjang soup, geotjeori kimchi, cucumber, salted octopus roe, soy sauce, lotus root braised with gardenia, seasoned bellflower root, japchae, gim (seaweed), salad, fried eggplant and seasoned namul (vegetables).

The fried eggplant came freshly fried and super warm, so I got a refill. I don't like eggplant, but I like it fried!

There are extra banchan at the self-serve bar, so you can grab what you need there, and the cucumber and fried eggplant can be requested by pressing the staff call button. The doenjang soup was generous with ingredients, and Dad said, "This soup is good."

Then the piping hot pot rice arrived, with cute chickpeas on top of the rice.

Is Geumdeungeo's oven-grilled mackerel seasoned?

Geumdeungeo's oven mackerel is not seasoned, so I recommend dipping it in the salt that comes with it. Grilled in the oven, the mackerel was dripping with shine and glossy, and it looks great.

Let me show this shine up close once more. Mom and Dad picked out the bones and put the fish on my small plate, T_T my parents' love is the best. Oh right, I like my food mild, but it's unseasoned, so I recommend dipping it in salt!

Rice and mackerel together, what can I say. I usually can't finish a bowl of rice and eat about half, but today I ate more than half. Dipped in salt, the seasoning is just right. Gim + rice + mackerel works well too, and gim + rice + salted octopus roe with that salty jeotgal is a real rice thief, isn't it?

Kkotseolgi (flower rice cake) dessert and after-meal drinks

They say Geumdeungeo's flower rice cake tastes best warm. Freshly made food is the tastiest, and warmth matters, I think.

I thought about going to a café after the meal, but I was so full I wouldn't have been able to eat any bread there. Geumdeungeo has 4 drinks: sikhye (sweet rice drink), plum drink, lemonade and coffee.

I drink iced drinks all four seasons, so I liked that they have ice cups.

Dad and Mom had iced Americanos and I finished with an iced lemonade!

Don't forget: after paying for parking, make sure to register your parking before you leave. It's 4 hours of free parking.

Who should you bring to Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch?

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch is clean, so even I, who am picky about restrooms, liked it. The self-serve banchan are tidy too, and the grilled mackerel is seasoned just right when dipped in salt. You get rice cake as dessert and drinks as well, so you leave full. It's good for taking parents to a meal, for group gatherings, for when you want a hanjeongsik (Korean set meal), and for dates too.