Dalseo, Daegu Korean restaurant: 6,000-won mushroom side at Hyangtaek

Ta-da!

I went back to Hyangtaek, the Korean restaurant everyone raves about near Keimyung University's Seongseo campus, haha. This time to try different dishes. Still a wait as always~~ crazy. The opening event ran until last week so it must've been extra packed!

The weather was too good for going out for lunch. Ate a delicious meal at Hyangtaek then took a walk — total healing. I tried some other menu items this time and want to recommend them. Here's my intro to Hyangtaek, the Korean restaurant near Seongseo Keimyung University.

Where is Hyangtaek Seongseo — Keimyung main gate or back gate?

Hyangtaek Keimyung branch address: 71 Hosan-dong-ro 35bukgil, Dalseo-gu, Daegu

It's known as a spot near the Keimyung main gate, but it's actually closer to the back gate and Dongsan Hospital.

The wait was no joke. Luckily(?) we got seated before the line formed! Every time I come there's a wait, and I keep going wow, wow. The name Hyangtaek means "a house holding the aroma of our food," and honestly the sign looks less like a newly opened spot and more like it's been here forever, haha.

I even saw someone picking up takeout. But it's not on delivery apps like Baemin, so I guess they called it in. So many customers... women customers were way more common.

There were about 10 tables total — 2-tops plus 4-tops. Same as last time!! Also, the food doesn't come out particularly fast!

Hyangtaek menu and prices

Hyangtaek Seongseo has five main meal dishes.

• Mackerel gondre rice ₩14,000
• Eggplant doenjang rice bowl ₩13,000
• Yukhoe bibimbap ₩14,000
• Chamnamul squid rice bowl ₩13,000
• Herring roe bibim noodles ₩13,000

• Grilled deodeok mushrooms ₩9,000
• Galbi platter ₩10,000
• Cheongsong-style spicy chicken ₩9,000
• Mushroom platter ₩6,000
• Drinks include sikhye, omija tea, and sujeonggwa too

This visit's combo: eggplant doenjang rice bowl, herring roe bibim noodles and mushroom platter

Made it into the first 50 again today. The galbi platter!! Thick-cut and generous, really good while it's hot~ but this time I ordered the eggplant doenjang rice bowl and herring roe bibim noodles instead. And the ₩6,000 mushroom platter — this one's a wow.

There's a little "how to eat" note on the table. It says to wrap everything in gopchang gim (thick seaweed) with jeotgal (salted seafood). They gave more jeotgal and gungchae (pickled greens) than last time. The warm miso soup on the side is also nice.

Herring roe bibim noodles, 13,000 won: how much roe do you get?

The amount of herring roe on these noodles is wild. That red stuff you think is sauce — nope, it's all roe.

Ta-da~ now you can really see it's roe. When I mixed the herring roe noodles, there was a pool of perilla oil underneath. Fragrant, and the meat topping was tasty too.

The sunlight at Hyangtaek is amazing~~ made for great photos, haha. Not spicy at all — about as mild as Palbo bibim noodles. It was moist at first but seems to soak in as you eat.

Eggplant doenjang rice bowl, 13,000 won: a doenjang sauce like mazesoba

Last visit I ordered the mackerel rice bowl and the eggplant one; this time I ordered eggplant again. Still impressed looking at it now — those tight little knife cuts.

They slice the eggplant like this. You can also break it apart with your chopsticks, haha. As you can see, the eggplant bowl is loaded with doenjang sauce. It's a doenjang sauce that tastes like mazesoba!! So at Hyangtaek, the eggplant bowl is on the bolder, more intense side of the menu. Lots of chives in it too. For the eggplant doenjang bowl, instead of soy sauce they give you a separate dashida vinegar — pour that in and the flavor gets deeper, more vivid somehow. Kind of surprising.

Mushroom platter, 6,000 won: the side that beat the galbi platter

Get the mushroom platter!!!!!! Better than the galbi platter, (((in my opinion))). It came out piping hot — whoa.

They give you soy sauce to dip it in, but you don't really need to — it's already well salted. The outside is grilled super crisp, almost like it's been fried. But mushrooms hold a lot of moisture, so the inside stays completely juicy. There's enoki, shiitake, and a few other mushrooms in there, all soft and chewy — I loved it so much. Savory, salty, warm.

What to order at Hyangtaek Seongseo Keimyung

I wrapped the herring roe noodles with meat, topped it with tteokgalbi, wrapped in mushroom jeon too — tried it lots of ways. Highly recommend the mushroom jeon. A crowd-pleasing Korean restaurant near Seongseo Keimyung University — recommended. Boing!