Sinmae Station, Daegu family Korean meal before academy: Cafe Dong-i

Where is Cafe Dong-i Sicheol and how do you park?

Cafe Dong-i Sicheol (카페동이 시지점) is a Korean restaurant at 56 Sinmae-ro 16-gil, Suseong-gu, Daegu, South Korea, ground floor of a commercial building. If you park in the Sinmae Market public parking lot, you get 1 hour of free parking (free after 6 p.m. and on weekends). It is open daily 11:00 to 21:00, with a break from 14:30 to 16:30 and last order at 20:00.

Today was a seriously busy Monday, haha. After getting through a whole list of errands, we dropped by Cafe Dong-i near Sinmae Market for a quick meal before taking our daughter, Bangu, to her academy.

We parked in the Sinmae Market public lot. It was actually our first visit^^;; so we wandered around a little, but it really wasn't hard to find.

Exterior and atmosphere of Cafe Dong-i Sicheol

The exterior is distinctive, isn't it? It felt like a space with an old-fashioned charm and a modern touch at the same time. I've decided to call this a "tasty-place vibe"^^

The inside was really clean too. You can tell the owner pours love into the restaurant, don't you think?^^

What does Cafe Dong-i give out for free?

Cafe Dong-i Sicheol gives you five-grain rice, fried eggs, barley gangjeong (crunchy barley snack) and drinks for free. The perks were amazing^^

• Free five-grain rice
• Free fried eggs
• Free barley gangjeong
• Free drinks

Wow!! And if you come with a baby, they even give you baby rice!! Seriously, did places like this exist when my son was little? Why am I only finding it now that he's all grown up? T_T

At the self-bar, my husband is hard at work frying eggs. We made them according to our head count, but the kids ate so well, haha, that I think we added 2 more^^

The barley gangjeong and the dolgim (crispy seasoned seaweed) have lids on them, but I opened one a little to take a photo^^ This dolgim... why... it was art with the kimchi jjigae. A freebie like this, hahaha, how great is that???

Utensil box in the drawer, and aprons

Another thing I personally loved at Cafe Dong-i Sicheol: the utensil box inside the drawer! Spoons just lying in a wooden drawer make me a little queasy^^;; but here there's a utensil box inside, so I'm giving them +10 points^^ "I protect my customers!!" Aprons are also provided.

You can feel they're serious about the cooking? Serious about running the place? Something like that. It felt like they wouldn't do anything halfway^^

Oh, and they use good rice. Apparently it's good contract-farmed rice. Every little thing made me trust Cafe Dong-i near Sinmae Station.

The lighting was pretty, so one shot~! And here's a shot of what we made at the self-bar!

Sorry the fried egg is ugly.. but it tasted good, haha. The dolgim is so good^^ Honestly, you could keep eating it like chips even without rice, haha. I crunched one or two before the rice even came out^^

Kimchi jjigae at Cafe Dong-i: even my multigrain-packing husband went for the five-grain rice

That day at Cafe Dong-i Sicheol, my husband and son each ordered kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew), and both ate it so happily!! My husband has diabetes and always brings his own multigrain rice to restaurants, but since Cafe Dong-i serves five-grain rice, I told him to just eat it^^ haha

It's not white rice, so please just eat it!!

This is good?? Next time we suddenly need a place to eat, we'll check whether there's a Cafe Dong-i nearby.

My daughter's jeyuk-bokkeum and side dishes

The jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) my daughter ordered had a fantastic smoky char, and the seaweed soup that came with it was really good too. The side dishes, one by one.. how do I put it? They taste truly traditional, haha. Everything's delicious!! That chili pickle (gochuchae jangajji) is so good^^ haha

Japanese-style curry with kkakdugi at Cafe Dong-i

What I ordered was the Japanese-style curry. My lunch hadn't digested well that day, so I ate half and the kids ate the other half^^ The curry was excellent, and my son says the combo of this curry with kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) is insane, haha. You can trust him. This kid knows his food^^;;

The side dishes were so good^^ Put a fried egg and dolgim on top of these three sides, haha, and I'd call that perfect.

We scraped the kimchi jjigae clean, and my son even got a refill of rice.

What will we order next time at Cafe Dong-i Sicheol?

There's a restroom and a hand-washing spot at the entrance of Cafe Dong-i Sicheol, which made it easy to tell the kids, "Go wash your hands before eating!!"

Our family has a routine after eating something delicious: it's the proper way to prepare for the next time^^ We decided on the spot what to order next visit, haha. We'll get 2 jeyuk-bokkeum and 2 kimchi jjigae. The taste was unforgettable. This one goes straight into our "will go again" list.