Daegu tuna restaurant for beginners: fried anago course, Jongno Darang

What is Jongno Darang?

Jongno Darang (종로다랑) is a place in Jongno, Daegu that does a tuna course properly. Honestly, I never really liked tuna, but after visiting Jongno Darang my whole view of tuna changed! It's the place that got me properly into tuna, and I'm already craving it again, so I really wanted to introduce it to you.

Jongno Darang location and opening hours

Jongno Darang is at 46-1 Jongno, Jung-gu, Daegu, and it's open every day from 15:00 to 01:00 the next day (last order 00:00). Reservations are possible, and groups are welcome too.

It's right on the Jongno main street, so it's not hard to find at all! It's close to Jungangno Station and close to Dongseongno too, so the location is great 🙌🏻

Is the seating at Jongno Darang private?

Most seats at Jongno Darang have partitions, so you can eat in private. The calm wood-tone interior felt like a high-end Japanese restaurant, and those partitions were what I loved most! The tables are spaced widely too, so it looked good for group dinners.

Jongno Darang menu and the course we ordered

The main menu at Jongno Darang is the bluefin tuna course and the bluefin + giant halibut course, and à la carte sashimi can be ordered after 21:00. If you order the bluefin course, you get a whole run of dishes, including chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard), herring roe tofu, yakisoba, anago (conger eel) tempura and seafood ramen 🤤

We ordered the bluefin course for two, ₩100,000!

Bluefin course starters: chawanmushi, salad and herring roe tofu

Chawanmushi

The first dish of the course was chawanmushi. It's made with a broth of many ingredients, so the savory depth was outstanding. Think of it as a very upscale Japanese steamed egg: soft as pudding, with a hint of shiitake mushroom.

Salad

A salad with a tangy dressing, with cherry tomatoes too. They say eating vegetables before a meal is good for you, right? ^^ So get your salad in before the main event~

Herring roe tofu

Next came the herring roe tofu, which you eat together with tofu, cucumber, herring roe and seaweed. The staff told us the roe isn't very salty, so we could pile it on generously.

You get the mildness of the tofu, the coolness of the cucumber and the spicy-salty pop of the roe all together. This was seriously good! The roe isn't just salty, it's pleasantly spicy and salty, so it went great with the tofu and cucumber.

Steamed abalone in sake and yakisoba

In the middle of the course comes abalone steamed in sake, with a gyeu sauce (made from the abalone's innards). Moist steamed abalone, the innard sauce and vinegared sushi rice are an absolute winning combination.

I liked that, since we were two, it came split onto two plates. Abalone can turn fishy, but this had no fishy taste at all and was clean and mild.

Just when I started craving carbs, the yakisoba arrived. That sweet-salty sauce is so appealing, right~ It didn't skimp on the basics like cabbage, onion and bonito flakes, and felt solid.

Yakisoba tossed in a sweet-and-salty sauce, with umami exploding everywhere! It tasted like Japan.

Which cuts of bluefin tuna does Jongno Darang serve?

The bluefin course for two at Jongno Darang came with four cuts split between us: akami (lean red meat), top-grade daebaetsal (fatty belly), baekkopsal (navel cut) and ulttaesal (a rare cut). The main event, the tuna! The color alone is gorgeous, isn't it..? It looks like it would melt the moment it hits your mouth 🫠🩷

They picked out only the tasty cuts for us,, so the tuna place to go in Jongno, Daegu is Jongno Darang..! Convincing, right? The tuna alone could easily be worth ₩100,000, and then there's a whole course on top.. what value, right?

They also gave us vinegared sushi rice, wasabi and radish sprouts to eat with it. And the amount of wasabi hahahahahaha, as wasabi lovers we were very satisfied..! It's awkward to ask for a refill, but they'd already given us plenty from the start. I was moved,,,

Akami (red meat)

This is the bluefin akami, the red meat. Compared with the fatty belly, its character is a chewier bite. There was no fishiness at all, just a rich, deep flavor.

Ulttaesal

This is the bluefin ulttaesal. It's a special cut that only yields a few slices, and I was so happy they gave us one piece each of such a rare cut. It has a chewy, springy texture that's really appealing.

Top-grade daebaetsal (fatty belly)

This is the top-grade bluefin daebaetsal. It's my absolute favorite cut,, 🩷 rich in fat and melts in your mouth. It can feel heavy, but they gave us vinegared rice, so I ate it in different ways.

• One piece as sushi!
• One piece wrapped with seaweed and radish sprouts!
• One piece on seaweed topped with white kimchi!

It went down so smoothly I never had time to feel it was heavy.

Pro tip for eating it as sushi! Don't dip the whole piece, rice and all, into the soy sauce. Dab soy sauce onto the pickled ginger and brush it only on the fish, and it tastes so much better :)

Baekkopsal (navel cut)

This is the bluefin navel cut. Its appeal is that crunchy, crisp bite! I heard the navel cut is best dipped in sesame oil sauce. I was so happy they gave us the special otoro cut too, matched to the number of people.

After the tuna: chicken soup, sea bream head and ankimo maki

After the tuna came dakgomtang (chicken soup)! It was mild and just right!

The grilled sea bream head looks amazing, right? Since it's a big fish, the head is enormous hahaha. The staff picked all the meat off for us, so it was easy to eat.

Ankimo maki is a roll made with rich monkfish liver. They call it the foie gras of the sea, hahaha. No fishy taste at all, just nutty and soft and wonderful 🧡🧡

Jongno Darang's whole fried anago and seafood ramen to finish

The anago tempura at Jongno Darang comes as a whole conger eel, deep-fried!! Crazy, right..? Other tempura like kabocha squash came out too, but the anago was number one by far, haha.

Jongno Darang, the Jongno, Daegu go-to, isn't just good at tuna, it's good at everything ㅠㅠㅠㅠ The batter was crisp, never soggy, and paired so well with the tender eel meat 💛

The seafood ramen finished things off~ Lots of clams, bean sprouts too, and the spicy ramen washed away the richness of the tuna~ I loved it, haha.

Is the Jongno Darang bluefin course worth going back for?

If you're looking for a good tuna course in Jongno, Daegu, I highly recommend Jongno Darang~! 🩷 Special tuna cuts and melt-in-your-mouth top-grade belly! Plus the course has 10-plus solid dishes, so it looks great for get-togethers too.

It feels extra special to me because it totally changed how I think about tuna..! Chance I'll go back: 58000% 🧡