Daegu Japanese restaurant sukiyaki nabe set, tendon: Ongijeong

I had lunch plans near Suseong Lake, so this time I went back to Ongijeong Suseong Lake Branch.

Where is Ongijeong Suseong Lake Branch, and what are its hours?

• Address: 9 Suseongmot 6-gil, Suseong-gu, Daegu, South Korea (1F, Ongijeong)
• By public transit: get off at Suseongmot Station on Daegu Line 3 (head down the alley between Woods Bakery and %Fahrenheit Bassett)
• Hours: 11:00–21:30

Ongijeong Suseong Lake Branch sits near Suseong Lake, with a big menu board displayed right in front of the store. Perfect for a quick scan before going in.

How many cars can park at Ongijeong?

One reason Ongijeong Suseong Lake Branch is easy to make plans at is the parking. Plenty of space, so driving there meant zero parking stress. Looks like it fits around 10 cars, and on weekends they even double-park, so there's plenty of room. Parking near Suseong Lake is usually a bit of a headache when eating out, but this place made it easy.

What Ongijeong feels like at 2pm on a weekday, and the seats

This place usually needs a wait on weekends, but going around 2pm on a weekday meant I could eat at leisure. There are cushy sofa seats too, so it was really comfortable to just sit and eat. The store has a clean, mostly wood-toned interior that gave off a Japanese feel. Tables were spaced out generously, good for chatting over a slow meal. They had baby chairs too.

Tendon, 12,500 won: what tempura comes on top

The menu ranged from tendon to nabe, donburi, set meals, and noodles — this time I ordered one tendon and one nabe set. Tendon ₩12,500, skyaki nabe set ₩16,000, ₩28,500 total. First, the crispy tendon.

The food came out faster than expected. There was quite a variety of tempura piled on top, with sauce served separately on the rice so you could combine them however you liked. Up close there's actually a lot of tempura — shrimp, sweet pumpkin, seaweed, mushroom and more, with a batter that's pretty crispy! Personally, the egg was surprisingly the best of the bunch! Light but paired really well with the fried bits.

Eating a lot of tempura usually gets greasy, right? But having the sauce with the rice cut through the richness. I set the tempura on the lid of the bowl beforehand so it wouldn't go soggy and ate it piece by piece, which kept it crispy all the way to the end.

Sukiyaki nabe set, 16,000 won: hot pot down to the udon noodles

The other order was the skyaki nabe set. Since it's a soup-based dish, pairing it with tendon worked out well. An unexpectedly great salad, too! Potato salad with yuzu underneath made for a nice palate cleanser.

Even though it's a nabe, the meat surprisingly had a smoky, grilled aroma! Dipping the meat lightly in egg yolk and laying it on rice brought out even more savoriness and umami — a really satisfying meal. The broth seemed to use tsuyu, with a deep, slightly sweet flavor that kept me coming back for more spoonfuls haha. The nabe was also packed with meat, fried tofu, tofu, and mushrooms, so by the end I was completely full.

Rice and udon were both included in the set, and the udon I ate after finishing the rice turned out to be a real treat. Once the broth had reduced down a bit, adding the udon noodles made it even tastier. They also lit a candle underneath, so it stayed warm the whole time I was eating.

The combination of warm soup and crispy tempura is so good that once the weather gets a bit chillier, I'll probably crave that hot broth and come back soon. Naver Reservation is available too, worth keeping in mind for weekend waits.

Pairing lunch at Ongijeong with a walk around Suseong Lake

I used to come here every year, and it made me happy to find the taste still holding up after a while away. Eat a hearty meal here, then walk over toward Suseong Lake, and you've got a perfect date course. It works well when you're craving a proper Japanese meal, for a date, or even for a small group gathering.