Daegu pork BBQ restaurant, mixed platter by the geun: Sangnok Hoegwan

How we ended up at a Goseong-dong charcoal grill in Daegu

Today was a day I'd been meaning to meet up with a junior colleague for a while. We both love café-hopping, and since a famous brand recently opened a new store in Daegu, we met there, had coffee, and chatted for ages.

But as we talked over coffee, we suddenly realized we were hungry, and the place that came to mind was Sangnok Hoegwan Yeontan Gui Goseong Branch. Honestly, I'd had my eye on it for a while.

What drew me in most was the word 'charcoal grill.' Just imagining meat slowly cooking over charcoal, gaining flavor as it went, made me even hungrier. We parked in a nearby alley and headed in.

What we ordered: mixed pork platter (one geun) and cheese scallop grill

At Sangnok Hoegwan Yeontan Gui Goseong Branch, we ordered the pork platter (1 geun) and the cheese scallop grill. Since it was a bit before the usual meal rush, the restaurant had plenty of room. When we asked for recommendations, the staff said the pork platter and cheese scallop grill were the most popular. Since a platter with several cuts would let us try more flavors than just one menu item, we went with the pork platter, and also added the cheese scallop grill, said to be the restaurant's signature dish.

We browsed the menu through the smart ordering system on the table. There were several pork cuts prepared — pork belly, pork neck, ogyeopsal, hangjeong neck, skirt meat, and more — plus a variety of seafood options. I especially liked that you could add 100g per menu item, so instead of ordering a huge amount upfront, you could try it first and add more if needed.

What the self-serve bar at Sangnok Hoegwan includes

When the side dishes arrived, they told us to help ourselves at the self-serve bar for anything else. Honestly, with vegetable prices climbing ahead of Chuseok these days, asking a BBQ restaurant for extra wrap vegetables can feel like a bit of an ask. Having a self-serve bar meant we could just take what we needed, which was really convenient. Lettuce, perilla leaves, garlic, kimchi, and other things to go with the meat were all there.

While waiting for the meat, we grilled marshmallows, which was exactly my kind of thing — I'm the only one in my household who actually likes marshmallows.

Does charcoal-grilled pork taste gamey here?

Finally, our pork arrived. Seeing several cuts all together on one plate got me excited from the start. The pieces were thick and looked pretty appetizing. We started putting the meat on the charcoal grill one by one.

At first, I thought the meat was cooking a bit slowly, probably because of the charcoal. But watching it slowly cook made the wait feel worth it. What surprised me was that the meat cooked pretty evenly overall — there's a charm to charcoal grilling that's different from wood-charcoal grilling.

Then we ate a well-grilled piece of meat, and... my colleague and I both gasped almost at the same time.

Wow, how is there zero gamey smell?

There really was no gamey smell at all, and the texture was great too — springy but tender, never chewy. We kept saying things like, 'This texture is so good,' and 'There's really zero smell,' the whole time we ate.

When you go looking for good samgyeopsal spots in Goseong-dong, atmosphere and price matter, but the places you actually remember are the ones where the food itself sticks with you. Today, this place was more than enough for that. We kept talking about the meat throughout the whole meal — that's how memorable it was.

Is the one-geun pork platter enough for two people?

When the plate first came out, I didn't think the portion looked all that big, but since the meat was thick, once we cut into it, there turned out to be quite a lot.

It was plenty for two people, more than I'd expected. And here's where today's unexpected discovery came in: pork skin.

Pork skin at Sangnok Hoegwan: what it tastes like first time

I like pork, but I'd never once eaten pork skin. But there was a sheet of pork skin underneath the meat, and my colleague told me it was delicious and to try it. So I tried a piece with basically zero expectations, and... why had I never thought to try pork skin until now? It was chewy but not too tough, with a lovely soft texture, and the seasoning wasn't overdone. It was seasoned just enough that I could eat it without any hesitation about the texture pork skin usually has. Today, I officially became a pork skin convert.

On one side of the restaurant there was a tank full of scallops, and seeing it packed with scallops naturally built up my anticipation for the seafood menu.

Signature cheese scallop grill and the soybean paste stew finish

After finishing the meat, we decided to try the restaurant's signature dish, the cheese scallop grill.

It sizzled away as the cheese started to melt, and even though we were already stuffed from the meat, watching this made us hungry all over again.

The cheese pull was, of course, impossible to resist. And when we actually tasted it, the scallop meat was quite substantial. The tender scallop combined with the savory, salty cheese meant the dish was naturally well-seasoned without much added seasoning. It had a different charm from the meat entirely.

No matter how full you are, you have to finish with doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew). It came out bubbling in a stone pot, and it already looked delicious. One spoonful in, and the soybean stew here passed with flying colors too. We finished the meal feeling completely satisfied.

Final take on Sangnok Hoegwan in Goseong-dong, Daegu

Today started with coffee and conversation with a colleague at a café and ended up stretching all the way into dinner. We went in simply meaning to finally check out a charcoal grill place I'd had my eye on, and ended up meeting surprisingly delicious meat — and discovering the taste of pork skin for the very first time.

I especially loved the platter setup that let us try several cuts, and the fun of slowly grilling meat over charcoal. Being able to enjoy cheese scallops alongside the meat also felt like a defining feature of this samgyeopsal spot in Goseong-dong. If you're ever craving charcoal-grilled pork in Goseong-dong, Daegu, and want meat and seafood together, Sangnok Hoegwan Yeontan Gui Goseong Branch is worth remembering. More than anything, I think I'll keep thinking about the pork skin I tried for the first time today. :)

• Name: Sangnok Hoegwan Yeontan Gui Goseong Branch
• Address: 39 Goseongbuk-ro, 1st floor, Buk-gu, Daegu, South Korea
• Transit: About 5 minutes on foot from Bukguchung Station