Daegu mackerel restaurant with induction plates: Geumdeungeo Dalseo

The weather had been gloomy for a while and we'd been surviving on home cooking, so on a nice day I took the kids out for some fresh air and a good dinner: Geumdeungeo (금등어), a hanjeongsik (Korean set meal) spot in Wolseong-dong.

Where to park at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch is on the 3rd floor of Jincheon Matt Town, and you can park outside on the 1st floor or on the 3rd and 4th floors of the building. Park on the 3rd floor and you walk straight into the restaurant. It was full that day, so I parked on the 4th-floor rooftop. It was nice and empty up there, so zero parking worries at Geumdeungeo.

This is the Dalseo branch of Geumdeungeo, the famous Deulan-gil restaurant with the long lines. I'd come before for the barley gulbi (dried barley-aged yellow croaker) set and loved it, so my husband and the kids came with high hopes too.

Geumdeungeo's entrance: a golden photo spot kids love

Step into the orange-toned 3rd-floor restaurant and you're greeted by ripe golden rice stalks, plump mackerel dolls and dazzling golden treasure. The kids love it, so we always take a photo here, haha. Before showing us to a table, the friendly owner took our order at the counter and explained the menu.

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch menu and prices

The signature menu has five items: koji-salt-aged oven-grilled mackerel, fire-grilled pork stir-fry, heaped cockle salad, the new hanwoo bulgogi, and barley gulbi. This is how the restaurant describes them.

• Koji-salt-aged oven-grilled mackerel: premium grilled fish made with low-sodium koji salt, the basics of slow aging
• Fire-grilled pork stir-fry: Korean-style pork stir-fry cooked with care, with warm food served warm
• Heaped cockle salad: shelled cockles tossed in a secret seasoning sauce
• New hanwoo bulgogi: made only with 100% hanwoo (Korean beef) cow, the classic tender sweet-and-salty
• Barley gulbi: premium barley gulbi finished over the subtle smoky flame of the oven, paired with the aroma of Boseong green tea

To enjoy the golden mackerel, we ordered two Geumdeungeo rice pot sets (₩18,000 each) and one rice pot set with neopttigi yukjeon (pan-fried flatfish-style beef cutlet).

Homemade banchan corner and spacious seating at Geumdeungeo

Geumdeungeo has a corner of homemade banchan (side dishes) made in-house with good ingredients and careful hands, under the motto "every portion, a craft."

Besides the banchan that come with the meal, there are plenty of other tasty ones to pick from.

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch is a big, 200-pyeong restaurant, so there is group seating and plenty of table space, and you can pull down a blind at each seat to eat in private.

My second kid and I were playing with the treasure at the entrance, and by the time we sat down, the whole spread was already laid out!

Oven-grilled mackerel kept warm on an induction plate

Geumdeungeo's mackerel is grilled for 5 minutes in a 400°C oven, and there's an induction burner under the plate, so you can eat it warm to the very end. True to the name, the golden mackerel showed off its glossy skin, served with koji salt.

The koji salt is made from 100% natural sun-dried salt from New Zealand's clean waters, fermented for 48 hours and dried for another 24. They say it cuts the saltiness of food to a third and is gentle on the stomach. The induction burner under the plate that keeps the fish warm to the end was another big plus.

Tasty homemade banchan, bubbling mallow soup (geundae doenjang-guk), and neopttigi yukjeon: a hanjeongsik spread that makes the table legs bend.

What side dishes come with the rice pot set?

The Geumdeungeo rice pot set came with mallow doenjang soup, seasoned bellflower root, instant japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), fresh kimchi, fried eggplant and a salad, plus the extra neopttigi yukjeon. From the mild yet spicy mallow soup on, every dish was delicious, so my husband and I were very satisfied, and the kids praised it to the skies, alternating between the yukjeon and the mackerel.

Look at that plump mackerel! At some grilled fish places the skin comes out charred black and you can't eat it, but here even the skin was grilled just right, so nothing went to waste. Kids and adults alike agreed: for grilled mackerel, this place is truly top tier.

Scorched rice tea and baekseolgi (steamed rice cake) for dessert

Finally, I scraped up every bit of the scorched rice from the rice pot, made it into nurungji sungnyung (scorched rice tea) and downed it in one go, and then came the baekseolgi (white steamed rice cake) for dessert. A delicious Dalseo hanjeongsik spot, Geumdeungeo.

On our way out, even the oven looked pretty, hahaha. Thanks for grilling our golden mackerel so well!

After dinner: games for the kids, coffee for the adults

Next to the counter at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch there are games, for the kids (?) or maybe for betting on who pays for the meal, and the kids were quite interested.

And how kind: a coffee machine loaded with Starbucks beans, juices, and even ice cups!!! So thoughtful. While the kids played, I made two iced Americanos and headed out.

Great taste and great thoughtfulness too. No reason not to go to this Daegu hanjeongsik and mackerel spot, Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch. Highly, highly recommended.