Suseong, Daegu Korean restaurant with tabletop grill sets: Cafe Dongi

Superchart-ers, what's your all-time favorite local restaurant??

Everyone's got a neighborhood spot they go to with their kid all the time, right? Haha. In our neighborhood, right before you cross Daebong Bridge, across from Hangaramtown, there's a place the kids actually like more than the food court inside Debaek Plaza — Cafe Dongi in Suseong-dong :)

Cafe Dongi

Cafe Dongi, the Suseong 1-ga restaurant locals bring their kids to

If you live in Suseong 1-ga, there's basically no one who doesn't know Cafe Dongi haha. After a class at the community center, after playing with friends at the playground, after daycare or kindergarten pickup, on nights I don't feel like cooking, or after a weekend morning sauna at Shinsegae Sporex — whenever I say "want to go eat at Dongi?" the kids say yes without fail haha.

We order delivery a lot when my kid's friends come over to play, but a few days ago the weather was nice on the weekend so we went out on kickboards and had lunch at Dongi instead haha.

Cafe Dongi menu: Premium Set vs Dongi Set

True to its name, Cafe Dongi's Premium Set comes with the main dish served on a personal tabletop grill! There are four options: Eonyang-style thin-sliced beef bulgogi, stir-fried baby octopus, grilled jeyuk (spicy pork stir-fry), or grilled bulgogi.

The Dongi Set menu makes you wonder if you'll find this kind of value anywhere else — beyond Korean favorites like doenjang jjigae, kimchi jjigae, jeyuk, or bulgogi, there's even Japanese curry, kimchi tangsuyuk nabe, and siraegi (dried radish greens) bibim rice, dishes you wouldn't expect at a Korean restaurant like this. Whether I'm eating with my kid's friends or my own friends, everyone just picks what they want and a full, well-set table appears — all I have to do is pick up my spoon haha.

What comes on the 4,900 won kids' tray

And here's the thing — the kids' tray is only 4,900 won, making it an extreme-value spot for kids haha. Just have one five-thousand-won bill ready, and they'll bring out rice, miyeokguk, side dishes, fruit, and juice, all put together in a way that hits every kid's taste — take your kid's friends along and everyone's combat power goes up.

My husband and I went together and got jeyuk bokkeum, the ultimate guys' favorite dish, and I got the bulgogi set. The kids' bento wasn't available that day, so we ordered fried shrimp and a taste of sweet and sour pork, which my kid loves, and shared it all haha.

Premium Grilled Jeyuk Set: a brazier under the stone plate

When you order Cafe Dongi's Premium 1-person Korean set, you get to choose your main dish plus side dishes and either doenjang jjigae or kimchi jjigae (+₩1,000) in a stone pot!

There's a grill underneath the stone plate, so it stays warm the whole time you're eating — total heaven for a jeyuk fanatic like me haha. The spicy-sweet seasoning with the well-cooked five-grain rice is so, so good haha. And since rice is free refill and the side dishes are so tasty, the rice just keeps going down haha.

Dongi Grilled Pork Bulgogi Set, miyeokguk included

The value-packed 1-person Dongi Set comes with the main dish, side dishes, and miyeokguk. Honestly, they make miyeokguk better than places that specialize in it haha.

Moms all love a table someone else has set for them. It's five-grain rice too, so even eating out it feels like a healthy meal!

Small sweet and sour pork and fried shrimp

Of course we thoroughly added a sweet and sour pork sample too haha.

Cafe Dongi also has fried shrimp, and since my son's all-time favorite is fried shrimp, he was over the moon haha.

You can even fry your own egg, so on the days we go, it's the one time my kid — who usually only eats mom's cooking — eats a side dish dad made, sprinkled with a bit of salt haha. To the left of the egg-frying station there's a rice cooker and dried seaweed too, and both rice and seaweed are free refill. Which basically means: any kid or any guy is guaranteed to love this place haha.

Why lunch here is easy with just one child

At Cafe Dongi, a favorite restaurant in Suseong-dong, ordering one kids' meal and one adult menu item isn't a big cost burden at all. Once kids pass around age four, it can feel awkward at restaurants — do you order them a full portion, or just add a bowl of rice and feel self-conscious? There aren't many restaurants in our neighborhood as easy to bring a kid to as Cafe Dongi.

It's great to go with my kid's friends too, but it's also perfect for those days when my husband gets home late and it's just me and the kid, and cooking feels like too much hassle! Whenever you're thinking, "I want someone else to make dinner today," I'd recommend Cafe Dongi's Suseong branch haha.