Daegu Japanese bar for yakisoba and sweet highballs: Gyodong Nakwon

I was wondering where would be good to go in Gyodong for a second stop, and then I found Gyodong Nakwon, a bar in Daegu’s Gyodong! My friend had wanted to go too, so we decided to head over right away 🤭

Gyodong Nakwon’s sign and parking tips

Tip for finding Gyodong Nakwon) The sign says “Rakuen” in Japanese, while “Gyodong Nakwon” is written very small in Korean at the bottom left, so just look for the red sign and you’ll find it easily!

Gyodong Nakwon parking) There is no dedicated parking for the venue. I recommend taking public transit, but if you want to drive, park for free at the City Hall parking lot and walk over. If it’s full, I recommend the Novotel underground parking lot, which is one of the more affordable options nearby!

An izakaya interior stretching far into the back

The interior had a bit of a Japanese feel, as you’d expect from a Gyodong izakaya (Japanese-style pub). The space extended farther inside than it looked from outside, so I thought there were more tables than expected.

The basic table setting looked like this! A gas burner, small plates, cups, a ladle, complimentary snacks, a menu, and so on.

Gyodong Nakwon menu

• Nabe (Japanese hot pots): motsunabe (beef intestine hot pot), Osaka beef brisket jjamppong soup, seafood curry nabe
• Yaki (grilled or stir-fried dishes): crab tomalley pasta, Neapolitan pasta, beef brisket and bean sprout stir-fry, yakisoba, beef tendon and green onion stir-fry, roll cabbage (cabbage rolls)
• Age (fried dishes): chicken nanban, fried shrimp, fried chicken cartilage, cheese and ham cutlet
• Aged salmon sashimi
• Side dishes: cheese omelet, tomato caprese, potato salad, yaki gyoza, yuzu sherbet

The menu was quite varied, with everything from light to hearty dishes, so it seems like you could come without worrying too much about whether it’s a first-stop or second-stop kind of bar!

Along with the food, there was a huge variety of drinks, true to an izakaya. There were sake options at different strengths, as well as highballs, traditional Korean liquor, draft beer, beer, soju, and more. They also have non-alcoholic highballs and soft drinks.

After a lot of deliberation, we ordered yakisoba as our main snack to go with drinks, plus a yuzu highball and a green grape highball.

While we waited, I kept eating the complimentary snack, something like fish-shaped shrimp crackers lololol, so good,,, 🍺 Yuzu highball, green grape highball

Sweet yuzu and green grape highballs

Then the highballs came out right away. The yuzu highball is on the left, and the green grape highball is on the right!

Both the yuzu highball and green grape highball were on the sweet side. They had yuzu syrup and green grape syrup in them, so they tasted fruity. Bits settled at the bottom, so it’s best to stir them well before drinking!

But neither one was low on alcohol, so I’d recommend them to people who want to taste a little bit of the alcohol rather than those who can’t drink at all!!

Chewy stir-fried yakisoba

🍜 Yakisoba

Our yakisoba came out as the main dish. The noodles were topped with bonito flakes, a sunny-side-up egg with a soft yolk, pickled ginger, and tempura bits? The noodles hadn’t gone soggy and were nicely stir-fried with a chewy texture.

And the sauce had soaked deeply into the noodles, so it got tastier the more I chewed. There were shrimp in it too, which I happily ate hehe.

It went so well with the highballs.

Yuzu sherbet, perfect for finishing up

🍧 Yuzu sherbet

And we added yuzu sherbet too, which was perfect for a refreshing palate cleanser.

The yuzu sherbet was cool, tangy, and sweet. It felt like it completely cleared away the lingering richness from the food we’d had before?!

We came to Gyodong Nakwon, a Gyodong bar in Daegu, for our second stop and were already full, but it was so refreshing and cool that I couldn’t stop eating it haha! Yuzu sherbet seems like the perfect menu item to order as a finish!

The restroom was inside the venue too, which was convenient. If you’re wondering where to go in Gyodong for a first or second stop, this Gyodong izakaya seems worth trying at least once!