Kim Kwang-seok Street Korean restaurant with a stroller: Hyangtaek

Today I visited Hyangtaek Daebong Branch (향택 대봉점), a rice restaurant near Kim Kwang-seok Street that's great for a filling meal! It serves neat, home-style Korean food, so let me introduce it to you, haha.

Where is Hyangtaek Daebong Branch and where do you park?

Hyangtaek Daebong Branch is at 17 Dalgubeol-daero 440-gil, Jung-gu, Daegu, a 1-minute walk from Exit 3 of Gyeongdae Hospital Station on Subway Line 2 :D It's open Mon–Sun 11:00–20:00, with a break from 15:30 to 17:00, and there's no regular closing day.

There's room for 2 cars in front of the restaurant, and parking support at the Kim Kwang-seok Road public parking lot too, so no parking worries! We parked in a nearby side street :)

Seating and atmosphere inside Hyangtaek Daebong Branch

The inside has wood-tone interiors and felt warm and cozy! The kitchen is open, so you can watch the cooking, which I thought was neat :D

There are several 4-seat and 2-seat tables, so you can sit comfortably whatever your group size! It's good for two people eating together, and it looked fine for families too, haha.

As lunchtime got closer, customers kept trickling in! There were also aprons set out on one side~

Hyangtaek Daebong Branch menu and prices

The signature dishes at Hyangtaek Daebong Branch were mackerel gondre rice (gondre is thistle greens), eggplant doenjang rice bowl, grilled deodeok (bellflower root) with mushrooms, and hanpan galbi (a platter of ribs)! The menu isn't huge and is made up of just the dishes you want to eat, so it was actually easy to choose, haha.

• Mackerel gondre rice ₩14,000
• Beef bulgogi bowl ₩14,000
• Total ₩28,000

Can you bring a stroller inside?

Strollers are allowed at Hyangtaek Daebong Branch, so we ate with the stroller next to our table! There are high chairs too. The table was set with barley tea, wooden chopsticks, spoons and tissues, and the barley tea was nuttier than plain water, so I enjoyed it even more :D

Side dishes at Hyangtaek Daebong Branch: pickled radish, jeotgal and gopchang gim

After we ordered, the side dishes came out first. Sweet-and-sour radish, jeotgal (salted fermented seafood), gopchang gim (seaweed) and a special sauce!

The pickled radish was crunchy and sweet-and-sour, just right to eat alongside rice, haha. The jeotgal was salty, so it went well with rice :)

An egg yolk and the special sauce came too! I figured you could pop the yolk over the rice, add the special sauce and mix it all up for an even tastier bite, haha.

How does the mackerel gondre rice taste?

The main dishes we'd been waiting for arrived! My pick was Hyangtaek's signature, the mackerel gondre rice (₩14,000)! It comes with grilled mackerel, fragrant gondre and braised mushrooms :D

First I flaked the mackerel into bite-size pieces! The thick fillet came apart easily even with chopsticks, so it was easy to eat =)

Before mixing, I tried the mackerel on its own! The flesh was thick and mild, so it was good even plain +_+

I added the special sauce first, then mixed it evenly with the scallions, gondre and braised mushrooms on top of the rice!

With fish and gondre together it's light and easy to eat, and the mushrooms go well with the rice! It tasted truly healthy and yet delicious :) Recommended!!

I put the well-mixed mackerel gondre rice on a sheet of gopchang gim and topped it with a little jeotgal! The nutty gim plus the saltiness of the jeotgal was honestly heavenly :D

While eating happily, the side dishes ran out.. Hyangtaek Daebong Branch lets you refill side dishes, so just ask if you need more =)

What is the beef bulgogi bowl like?

The beef bulgogi bowl (₩14,000) had beef bulgogi, braised mushrooms, scallions and flakes piled on top of the rice! Steam was rising off the meat! It looked like it was flame-grilled, which made it look even more appetizing, haha.

The bulgogi was tender and sweetly seasoned, and it went really well with the rice, haha. With the chewy shiitake mushrooms and scallions on top, I enjoyed it to the very end.

I put rice and bulgogi on gopchang gim and topped it with a little jeotgal too! Sweet bulgogi, salty jeotgal and nutty gim made this combo work really well~ And the doenjang soup (soybean paste soup) I had alongside was mild and healthy, which I actually liked :D

Is Hyangtaek Daebong Branch worth going back to?

It was sooo good that my husband and I scraped up every last grain of rice, lol! Next time I want to come with a friend!

Hyangtaek Daebong Branch, the rice restaurant near Kim Kwang-seok Street, serves neat home-style Korean food and is a good place to visit with a child! From the mild mackerel gondre rice to the sweet beef bulgogi bowl, I recommend it for a healthy, filling meal =)