Solo dining Korean restaurant near Dongdaegu Station: Hyangtaek's

When you want clean Korean food near Dongdaegu Station

My friend and I were trying to figure out where to eat near Dongdaegu Station, and I was craving something clean and unfussy rather than spicy, so we went to Hyangtaek's main branch near Dongdaegu. I sometimes get in the mood for tidy, well-balanced Korean food over anything too intense, and this place seemed to fit exactly that, so I was curious to check it out.

It's fairly close to Dongdaegu Station so it wasn't hard to find, and there were separate seats set up out front for waiting. Since this place can get busy during meal times, it was nice to see you could actually sit down while you wait instead of standing around.

Inside the restaurant and solo dining seats

The interior overall felt clean and cozy. With the wood-toned decor and neatly arranged tables, it was comfortable to eat here. There are 2-top and 4-top tables, and on one side there's bar-style seating for solo diners, so it looked like a place you could come to eat alone without feeling awkward about it.

They also run a receipt-review event where you can get a free grilled mushroom platter, so if you like mushrooms, it might be worth joining in on that.

The menu lineup

Looking over the menu, it's mostly clean, tidy Korean dishes. There are rice bowl dishes like mackerel gondre (dried aster greens) rice, eggplant and doenjang (fermented soybean paste) rice, and chamnamul (wild aster greens) squid rice, plus something more unusual like herring roe bibim noodles. Sides were varied too, with grilled mushroom platter and grilled short rib platter, so it was easy to order one main dish and add a side.

The basic side dish spread

After ordering, the basic banchan (side dishes) spread arrives neatly laid out. It comes with seaweed, pickled vegetables, and salted seafood, and every one of them paired well with the main dishes, which I liked. As you'd expect from a Korean restaurant, these were the kind of side dishes that go well with the food, so I found myself picking at them even before the mains arrived.

Herring roe bibim noodles, ₩13,000

First, the herring roe bibim noodles looked appetizing right from the visual. There's a generous amount of herring roe piled on top of the noodles, and you mix it all together evenly.

The herring roe was piled on generously, but they also added plenty of meat and perilla leaves.

Taking a bite, it wasn't as strong as I expected — instead there was a nutty seasoned flavor, with the herring roe popping and adding its distinctive savoriness. The perilla leaves especially brought the whole dish together. It felt different from a typically spicy bibim noodle dish, which made it interesting.

The noodles had just the right chewiness and the sauce had soaked in well, and the popping texture of the herring roe kept me coming back for more bites. It wasn't just an intense flavor — the nuttiness, the savoriness of the roe, and the aroma of the perilla leaves all came through together, and it was really delicious.

Mackerel gondre rice, ₩14,000

Mackerel gondre rice was personally the dish I was most looking forward to. Gondre and mackerel sit together on top of the rice, and it looked tidy and clean even just visually.

Again, the gondre rice's visual was no joke. A Korean restaurant this neat and tidy — I really loved it.

The mackerel flesh was flaked off softly, so it was easy to eat, and the flesh itself felt light and moist. You gently shred the flesh apart and mix it in.

The gondre's subtle aroma paired well with the mackerel's nutty flavor, making the whole thing easy to eat without feeling heavy. It's delicious just eating the rice and mackerel together, but adding a bit of the sauce that comes with it to adjust the seasoning made it even better.

Grilled mushroom platter, ₩6,000

The grilled mushroom platter comes out with several kinds of mushrooms grilled on a hot plate. I'd had this before, and it's genuinely delicious.

The outside is lightly seared while the inside stays moist, so you really get to feel the mushroom's texture when you chew. It was nice that the texture varied slightly between the different mushroom types.

Eating a mushroom in between the bold flavors of the herring roe bibim noodles felt like it cleansed the palate. Hyangtaek isn't really a place that pushes intense, bold flavors — it's more of a Korean restaurant that's good for a clean, tidy meal.

Visit information

• Hours: 11:00–20:00 (break time 15:30–17:00)
• Regular holiday: None
• Address: 158-7 Dongbu-ro, 1st floor, Dong-gu, Daegu, South Korea / lot number Sincheon-dong 384-12
• Parking: No parking lot
• Cost this visit (for two): herring roe bibim noodles ₩13,000 + mackerel gondre rice ₩14,000 + grilled mushroom platter ₩6,000 = ₩33,000