Dongseong-ro, Daegu kalguksu restaurant with unlimited rice: Donggok

I'm back with a review of a Jung-gu, Daegu favorite: "Donggok Jemyeon." These days the evenings have cooled down and I've been craving hot broth. Personally, this is one of the best kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) places I've ever had, so today I'll share the menu and my honest taste review!

Where is Donggok Jemyeon, and where do you park?

Donggok Jemyeon Daegu Dongseong-ro Main Branch is about a 7-minute walk from Jungangno Station, so with the cooler weather it was a great walk over. For parking, you can use the alternative "Dongseong-ro Parking Lot" — ₩1,500 for 30 minutes (subsidized), plus ₩500 per extra 10 minutes. (After your meal, just tell the staff and they'll register your parking.)

Inside Donggok Jemyeon: atmosphere and seating

The store has an overall wood-tone interior, giving off a clean but calm vibe. It's cozy for eating as a pair, and there's also group seating, so it looked great for gatherings too.

Salt, pepper, and chicken salt are set out so you can season to taste, plus kimchi and a spicy soybean paste side dish that pair perfectly with kalguksu.

What we ordered at Donggok Jemyeon and what it cost

• Extra-rich chicken kalguksu (₩13,000)
• Chogye bibim kalguksu (₩11,000)
• Seafood chive pancake (₩15,000)

Extra-rich samgye kalguksu: 20-hour beef bone broth and half a chicken

At Donggok Jemyeon, they use beef bone broth simmered for over 20 hours, so the soup is rich and deeply flavorful.

It's a completely different flavor from the kalguksu broth you usually eat. Adding a bit of salt and pepper to taste made the rich, thick broth even more delicious — if I hadn't been so full I would've wanted to mix in rice, haha (rice refills are unlimited!)

The kalguksu comes with half a chicken in it, so you get to enjoy soft chicken meat along with the broth.

Pulling the meat off the bone like this~

And eating it with the noodles,,🤍 the chewy kalguksu noodles and soft chicken meat go really well together.

How do the in-house noodles at Donggok Jemyeon taste?

Donggok Jemyeon's kalguksu noodles are homemade, made in-house with just flour, water, and salt — no other additives. They don't get mushy in the broth, so you get a nicely chewy texture, and it also sat easy on my stomach.

Some restaurants disappoint with kimchi that's way too spicy, but Donggok Jemyeon's kimchi isn't overly spicy — just the right amount of spicy-salty, which went really well with the kalguksu.

Chogye bibim kalguksu: sweet, tangy chilled noodles

And then, the chogye bibim kalguksu (cold mixed noodles with tangy chicken sauce), which was even more delicious than I expected.

Piled generously with yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi) and shredded chicken, the textures and flavors came together really well. The sweet and tangy chogye sauce whets your appetite, and since these are homemade noodles too, they're wonderfully chewy. Even for someone like me who doesn't usually eat bibim naengmyeon, the sauce was so well-balanced and delicious. Highly recommend the combo of hot, savory chicken kalguksu with the sweet-tangy chogye bibim noodles ⭐️⭐️

Seafood chive pancake loaded with shrimp and squid

And then there was the seafood chive pancake that had me marveling the whole time I ate it.

Thanks to the owner's thoughtfulness in providing both soy sauce and vinegar-chili sauce, you can dip it however you like, haha.

It was piled high with plump shrimp and big chunks of squid, giving it a great texture, and I ate it generously right to the end. The pancake was so crispy too — the kind of flavor you keep thinking about.

I've had chive pancake at plenty of other kalguksu restaurants, but personally, this was the best I've had, haha.

And then there's even the yogurt they give you for dessert!!

Who knew there was such a delicious kalguksu place in Dongseong-ro,,🤍 This is definitely a place I want to come back to next time, haha.