Saturday lunch wait for mackerel gondre rice at Hyangtaek Daebong

Is a ₩450,000 monthly food budget for two even possible? T_T I really feel like I've been living so frugally, and I can't believe it's only September 7th... I can't believe my food budget balance either lol

Anyway, as a blogger this whole cutting-food-costs thing is actually paying off~ Today I'm writing up my visit to Hyangtaek Daebong Branch, a rice bowl restaurant near Gyeongbuk University Hospital Station.

Location, parking, and hours at Hyangtaek Daebong Branch

Address: 17 Dalgubeol-daero 440-gil

Parking: About 2 cars can fit in front of the store, but with how crowded it gets, using the public parking lot might be more peace of mind.

It's a quick walk from Exit 3 of Gyeongbuk University Hospital Station, so you can see why it's known as a go-to spot near the station.

Hours: 11:00–20:00 (break time: 15:30–17:00)

Menu and interior

The menu had a nice vibe.

We decided to order the mackerel gondre rice and the yukhoe bibimbap~^^

I really wanted to try the mushroom hotplate too, but sadly it's not available on weekends T_T I thought about ordering it anyway, but I held back thinking about our budget... I'll come back on a weekday. But deodeok mushroom jeon (bellflower root and mushroom pancake)?! Seriously?!

Can you tell how popular this place is? Search for restaurants near Gyeongbuk University Hospital Station and this comes up haha. I waited too, but luckily there was only one party ahead of us so it wasn't a long wait before we sat down! If a table's open when you walk in, they seat you right away; if there's a wait, they give you a table-ring number^^

A shot of the pretty wooden chairs.

The most important part — the taste! A restaurant that nailed a fair price too

First, the soup and neat side dishes get set up~ along with sauces matched to each dish^^

First up, the yukhoe bibimbap (raw beef mixed rice)! Whoa!! An egg yolk?! You know how good yukhoe gets with a yolk mixed in, right? Nice touch that it comes on the side separately since it's a love-it-or-hate-it thing~♡

And then my husband's mackerel gondre rice — he loves fish! The visuals on this... I had mackerel recently at a hot stone rice place, but this one holds its own visually too! The special sauce has a Japanese-style sweetness, so if you want something more plain, mix the bowl first and add sauce after~

It's all written right there, but our eyes read it while our brains failed to register it, so we just dumped the sauce in from the start and lost our chance to taste the original flavor first. lol

Before mixing — it'd be a waste not to, right? So we ate a hearty piece of mackerel on its own lol. The mackerel wasn't fishy at all, just savory and clean! Passed the test!! Now mix it up~!

Wrapping it in roasted seaweed and adding the salted seafood side dish was really good too~ The seaweed is dolkim (roasted laver), and since any side dish is refillable, just ask freely~^^

The quick, sharp service is the best part!

While eating, I remembered something my brother-in-law once said on a trip to Jindo about staff service — something you only notice once you've experienced it.

People kept pouring in nonstop here — and we came around 2pm on a late Saturday lunch! But the turnover was pretty fast! There were surprisingly a lot of tables inside too, and above all, the staff's speed~

You know how annoying it is when you're waiting, and there's an open table right there but you still can't get seated? Here, the staff really seem to have an owner's mindset — they work fast enough that even while waiting, you feel satisfied watching them. So there were genuinely no empty tables sitting uncleared with no one at them — they kept every seat filled with customers. Amazing haha.

Final verdict — a meal made better by skipping the stone bowl for a lower price

A meal we cleaned up completely, minus the sauce leftovers. My husband said it was clean-tasting, and even though it's not a hot stone rice place, he really liked that they lowered the price by skipping the stone bowl, like this place does! I also loved getting to eat plenty of fresh yukhoe, and with so many customers and fast turnover, I could trust the ingredients were fresh too!

Next time, once I successfully diet down our food budget and can eat out freely, I'll treat myself to the small luxury of that deodeok mushroom jeon lol.

What I was really curious about was the one and only herring roe bibim noodles (cheongeoal bibimmyeon) on Hyangtaek's menu — I agonized over it (secretly hoping my husband would pick it..) but went with the yukhoe instead~ But then a couple nearby ordered two rice bowls plus the noodles as a side dish.. ah.... so jealous.... lol. I guess my husband and I would need a third person tagging along to get a taste? We're already stuffed and patting our bellies after just one bowl each lol.

If you're looking for a good restaurant near Gyeongbuk University Hospital Station, I highly, highly recommend Hyangtaek Daebong Branch on Kim Kwang-seok Street~!

Oh! This was just sitting out in the store, and my husband assumed it was just for decoration lol. But when I asked while paying, turns out it's a real cauldron they actually use — they just skip it in summer because it gets too hot! Wow~~