Beomeo-dong, Daegu pork belly restaurant for a birthday: Matdongsam

Today I came back to my old stomping ground (?) — Beomeo, where I spent my school years — to celebrate my best friend's birthday, and I ended up discovering another legendary new restaurant, so I'm bringing you this review haha

I honestly didn't have a go-to BBQ spot in Beomeo-dong yet, so I've been wandering from place to place, but as of today I'm settling down here... The meat quality is amazing, the portions are generous, and the kimchi they serve alongside is a total treasure, so whenever I eat meat in Beomeo I think I'll just come here from now on. This is Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch!!

Where is Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch, and where do you park?

Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch is a brand new BBQ restaurant located at 15 Dongdaegu-ro 74an-gil, 1st floor, Suseong-gu, Daegu, open daily from 17:00 to 23:00. You can park 2 cars on the white lines in front of the restaurant, and there's also a lot inside a narrow road next to the Girl Scouts of Korea federation building at 34 Dongdaegu-ro 80-gil, Suseong-gu, Daegu.

Since I don't drive, coming by bus was really convenient, and I was relieved there's even a small amount of parking, because Beomeo is notoriously tough for parking. The location is somewhere between Dongdaegu Station and Beomeo, so it also seemed handy for hopping to a second spot afterward haha

When you arrive here you might go, huh? A gate? — but you're in the right place!! It has the feel of a renovated house, but once you go inside it's perfectly comfortable for a BBQ restaurant. The building is split into two large sections, so it can definitely accommodate large groups.

It was hot that day, but the owner tempted us in with 'powerful air conditioning'... lol Let's head right in.

Inside Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch: seating for birthdays and group dinners

Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch has a main hall with several 4-person tables, a dining space on the right, and a separate room-like space further inside, so it's suited for group gatherings. The day we went, even the inner room was already fully booked... word must already be out?

Being a new BBQ restaurant, it was definitely spotless, and the interior gives off a certain friendly familiarity that puts you at ease lol. There are so many pretty, aesthetic BBQ places these days, but I have no idea why this vibe is more my type.. haha

Oh, and this place doesn't use the usual BBQ tables — you cook on a grill plate set over a burner! But sitting face to face actually turned out to be another advantage, since you can see each other's faces clearly and there's more room to eat. (Not long ago I sat facing someone I wasn't close to and we had to poke our heads out from under the hood to talk — it was awkward times 200 for both of us... lol)

Anyway, it's spacious, comfortable, cool, and has plenty of seats, so I'd highly recommend it for a company dinner too!!

Plus there are baby chairs too!! As you can see below, they even have a baby rice set for ₩2,000 — rice, scrambled egg, seaweed, dino-shaped chicken nuggets and ketchup. So thoughtful, the owner must love kids.

There's also a restroom on the 2nd floor inside, and one outside — but the outside one isn't really outside, it's right in the front yard, which was great!!

Clean, bright, and having two of them is a total pass. When you go to a popular place, waiting for the bathroom is always the most annoying part... this restaurant was really convenient haha.

Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch menu and prices: what two friends ordered

Here's the menu!! The Matdongsam platter is 600g for ₩50,000, which is a really solid price once you see the meat quality... the meat here is genuinely fresh!! We of course tried to order the Matdongsam platter,,

We went late in the evening, and it was sold out (oh my god). So we tried to order teuk-ogyeopsal (premium pork belly) plus gabrisal, but gabrisal was sold out too... so we ended up just going with teuk-ogyeopsal alone (?). But no regrets, it was genuinely delicious.

For sides, there's doenjang jjigae and yeolmu (young radish) noodles, which are essential at any BBQ place, and they even have baby rice...!! Such a thoughtful owner. Can I order that too (no you can't).

So the two of us adult women ordered 4 servings of teuk-ogyeopsal for ₩44,000, grandma's doenjang jjigae for ₩5,000, and 2 bowls of rice for ₩2,000!! Plus somaek (soju-beer mix) too...^^

Stir-fried kimchi refills and the side dish lineup at Matdongsam Beomeo

For banchan, they give you seasoned bean sprouts, baekkimchi (white kimchi), pickled radish, and herring roe jeotgal (salted seafood)(?). But the highlight is the lettuce salad and... the 'stir-fried kimchi.'

★This stir-fried kimchi is genuinely a hit★ Kimchi that's already delicious gets stir-fried, and then you grill it again in the pork belly fat — how could that possibly not be delicious? Isn't that basically cheating??? I think I ate about three heads of cabbage worth of kimchi that day.

How good is the teuk-ogyeopsal, and how do you grill it?

Let me calm my racing heart from the kimchi with some pork belly... but even from the photos you can tell the meat quality is really good (pink pink). This was the first time I've had pork belly this chewy and thick and delicious, and since it's domestic Korean pork, it might genuinely be the number one pork I've had at any BBQ restaurant.

Visually it kind of looks like a new pork belly jelly snack that just launched at a convenience store (?). That's how chewy and bouncy it looks haha. They set it on the grill for us!! The grill is a bit on the small side so it doesn't all fit at once, but if you're as untalented at grilling meat as I am, running a small, exclusive batch like this actually works out better..^_^

Here's the important part — don't forget to add the potatoes and mushrooms they give you, and of course my one true love, the stir-fried kimchi. Since the grill plate tilts slightly, you put the meat on top and the vegetables underneath, so they get fried in the meat's fat as it drips down... words of wisdom from our ancestors that you need to take to heart.

Even though it's a burner, the flame seems to be on the strong side, because it cooked really quickly?? Once it's golden and irresistible, that's exactly the moment for a toast with somaek... one bite of meat, one clink of somaek, and the whole day's fatigue melts away.

The very first bite has to be plain, dipped in salt — and honestly, since the meat quality is so overwhelmingly good, it's delicious even with absolutely nothing on it. Aged meat is nice too, but when meat is simply fresh, it's always the tastiest no matter how you eat it.

And then there's my beloved combo — grilling the stir-fried kimchi and eating it together with the pork belly... The kimchi was so delicious that everyone at our table, plus both tables next to us, kept refilling their kimchi lol. It was so good I think I'll go back just thinking about it...

And these potatoes they serve alongside are also a hidden gem — mild and plain, they go really well with the meat haha.

Jjondeuksal, the chewy cut we tried when gabrisal sold out

They apologized for the gabrisal being sold out and gave us jjondeuksal (chewy cut) to try instead, and it was genuinely lucky-star good. Thanks for selling out, gabrisal. This jjondeuksal was such a hit — if it's called 'chewy cut' even though the pork here is already this chewy and high quality, you know it's really chewy... The combination of soft, jiggly fat that gives when you bite into it and the surprisingly generous meat underneath was so good that if you like pork skin, this is a cut you absolutely have to order.

We'd originally only ordered 3 servings and felt it wasn't quite enough, so right away we added 1 more serving of teuk-ogyeopsal plus another kimchi refill — the umpteenth one — and cleared that too!! They always weigh the meat on the plate and attach the gram count, which made the transparent, fixed pricing feel very trustworthy haha (and they even gave us 10g extra in the process).

Finishing with grandma's doenjang jjigae for 5,000 won

We perfectly capped off the kimchi (who knows how many refills) and the pork belly by ordering the doenjang at just the right timing!! It was packed with tofu, onion, and zucchini — half garnish, half stew — and pouring it all over white rice and finishing it definitely means +2kg, but happiness is happiness, right... Honestly it's been one of the most delicious, filling meals I've had in a while haha. Highly recommend!!

New restaurants are always exciting to visit, and this one lived up to the excitement just as much!! It was already packed with customers who seem to have heard about the place, but after tasting the meat, I think this place is going to have staying power!! If you're looking for a spot for a BBQ get-together in Beomeo, I highly recommend Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch~