Korean restaurant by Daegu Maker Festa: spicy pork set, Cafe Dongyi

Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch: a Korean restaurant inside Samsung Changjo Campus

Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch is a Korean restaurant located inside Samsung Changjo Campus in Chimsan-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu. I'm honestly a long-time regular here :) I've been coming to this Cafe Dongyi location on and off since the COVID days, and this time I stopped by for a meal after checking out the Daegu Maker Festa at Samsung Changjo Campus over the weekend. With the event going on inside the campus, there were tons of families visiting, and it overlapped with an elementary school event too, so it was busier than usual.

Being a weekend, we couldn't get in right away and had a short wait this time too. But the wait didn't feel like a waste since there was plenty to look at, so the time flew by!

Cafe Dongyi hours, parking and how to get there

Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch is open 11:00–20:30, with a break time from 15:00–16:30. It sits inside Samsung Changjo Campus, and you can find it by walking slowly around the building. There were lots of families with kids, along with groups of friends having a meal, giving it the lively feel of a proper weekend outing spot.

Be sure to register your parking before you leave — you get 2 hours free.

They say they use 100% domestic napa cabbage kimchi!

The three dishes ordered for weekend lunch

We ordered the jeyuk hanjeongsik (spicy stir-fried pork rice set), the grilled bulgogi set, and mini tangsuyuk.

With all three laid out, the table filled up fast.

Jeyuk hanjeongsik: moist, tender spicy pork with side dishes

Ordering several dishes to share as a family is honestly the most fun part. We'd been walking around the Daegu Maker Festa all day so we were pretty hungry by then. We started with the jeyuk hanjeongsik set.

The seasoning on the pork wasn't sitting on top of the meat but blended right in, and it went down soft and easy. The whole dish had a nice moist feel to it.

Warm rice with a piece of the pork on top, plus the side dishes — yeah, Korean food really is the best for a Korean person haha.

Grilled bulgogi with a gentle smoky flavour

Can't skip the grilled bulgogi either. The thinly sliced meat was well seasoned all the way through, making it perfect with rice.

There was a gentle smoky char to it, and eating it with the vegetables it came with made the whole thing feel lighter. Glad we ordered both dishes together.

Mini tangsuyuk that arrives in generous pieces

It feels like something's missing without a side dish, right haha, so we added mini tangsuyuk too. It's called 'mini' but when it arrived the pieces were bigger than expected.

Crispy on the outside with thick, meaty pieces inside, cut into easy sizes to share. After eating meat dish after meat dish, popping a piece of tangsuyuk in between was so good!

Toasting your own gim and frying eggs at the table

At Cafe Dongyi you can grill your own gim (seaweed) and fried eggs, so on top of the fun of eating, there's the small extra fun of making it yourself haha.

You just grill it golden brown to your liking — and honestly, a fried egg you made yourself always tastes the best!! Eating it warm with rice was absolute heaven.

A regular's tips for visiting Cafe Dongyi on a weekend

Maybe because I've been coming here since the COVID days, Cafe Dongyi feels a little special to me.

If you're in Chimsan-dong looking for a hearty Korean meal with family and want a long-time regular spot like I have, keep Cafe Dongyi Chimsan Branch in mind.

And don't ever skip the gangjeong (sweet rice snack) on your way out!! Weekends can bring waits depending on events or time of day, so it's worth visiting with some time to spare. Even after a while away, it was still just as delicious — Korean food really is the best for a Korean person :)

And for those waiting outside, they even set out heotgae tea (raisin tree tea) separately. That kind of thoughtful touch for waiting guests was really nice too :)