Sangin-dong izakaya in Daegu with free pear slush: Toriaejeu skewers

My truly precious best friend recently went through something really painful, and it weighed on me a lot ㅠㅠㅠㅠ To comfort her even a little and listen to what she was going through, I called her over to my neighborhood — same day, even (she was really struggling ㅠㅠㅠ and since we're such an old, been-through-everything-together kind of friend, it weighed on me even more ㅠㅠㅠㅠ).

Since I needed to really listen to her troubles, I figured somewhere too loud and chaotic wouldn't do — I wanted somewhere quiet where we could sip on drinks over a skewer or two and have a real heart-to-heart. So we went to Toriaejeu Sangin Daegu Branch.

What are the seats like at Toriaejeu Sangin Daegu Branch?

The inside of Toriaejeu Sangin was completely cozy — perfect for talking one-on-one with a friend. There's the bar table where we sat, just the two of us, and there's also a room-style seating area inside (I couldn't get a photo of the room because it was already completely full of people — that's how popular that spot seems to be).

Ordering yakitori by writing it on a paper slip

This is the Toriaejeu menu, and there are so many kinds of skewers ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ With this many options, I had no idea what to pick. So we ended up searching the menu and putting our heads together to figure out which skewers to get, and jotted down a few ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

That analog charm of writing down the skewers you want to eat on paper to order!!! These are the skewers we picked after some genuinely deep deliberation ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

How do the charcoal pork belly, skirt meat and tsukune skewers taste?

Golden-brown pork belly and seasoned thigh meat, skirt meat, tsukune, and skin skewers — look at that visual!!!! Maybe because they came out fresh off the charcoal grill right after we ordered, every single skewer was so juicy inside and crispy outside ㅠㅠ.

These skewers were genuinely so good ㅠㅠㅠ Honestly I came to comfort my friend, but I ended up too busy inhaling skewers while listening to her talk.. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That's how delicious they were!!!

My friend, working hard to cut the skewers into bite-sized pieces for me while I was busy taking photos ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

We especially got to choose the sauce, and we went with the seasoned one! It was a bit spicy but insanely good ㄷㄷㄷ — good enough that I wanted to know the sauce recipe.

Enoki mushroom and negima added with a glass of soju

After we'd worked through a good amount of skewers, it was time to sterilize our stomachs with soju ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. That day we both drank faster and more than usual — neither of us gets drunk easily normally, but for some reason we both got tipsy way too fast that day ㅋㅋㅋ (I think between the two of us we said absolutely everything there was to say while drinking ㅋㅋㅋㅋ).

The skewers were so good, and drinking made us crave more, so we added an extra order ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅌㅌ. You might be wondering why there's a rice ball out of nowhere — that was my pick ㅎㅎㅎㅎ. Eating only skewers the whole time gets a little much, and that day the rice ball just caught my eye, so I ordered it.

Enoki mushroom and negima, crispy outside and juicy inside!!! Actually the enoki mushroom wasn't something I ordered! Do you really think a picky eater like me would order mushrooms myself ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. My friend suddenly said she wanted enoki mushroom and I was like ??? I said I hate mushrooms, they're not tasty — made a whole fuss about it — but she convinced me it'd taste different if I tried it, so we ordered it ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. But it barely tasted like mushroom at all and it was delicious! Probably because the sauce was so good ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

What does the yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball) taste like?

Can you see the golden-brown, crispy-outside-soft-inside yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball)? ㄷㄷㄷㄷ Perfect nutty grilled rice ball for a carb refuel ㅠㅠ. We would've regretted not ordering it! Passing soju back and forth, the grilled rice ball (yaki-onigiri) had a crust like scorched rice on the outside and a soft, moist inside — great for filling us up properly!!!

As for the flavor, it's not just simply nutty — the outside is crispy with a sweet sauce flavor, and inside it's moist and soft ㅎㅎㅎ. This was my first time trying Japanese-style rice balls, and it was such a different taste from Korean-style rice balls that it felt novel ㅎㅎ.

Saero soju and free pear juice slush

Out of all the soju brands, my friend and I always drink Saero ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Saero goes down really smooth!!!! And what's in front is a pear juice slush! You know pears are good for hangover relief, right?! Whether the owner of Toriaejeu Sangin Daegu had a sense for this or not, they had this pear slush machine set up, so I got to walk over and refill my pear slush comfortably again and again ㅎㅎ (to the point my friend told me to stop already ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ).

A Sangin-dong bar in Daegu for a night of quiet conversation

Over tasty skewers and a drink, comforting my friend's sad heart and having a deep conversation with her, I could see her mood get noticeably lighter somewhere along the way — and it made me feel so relieved and proud, honestly a great day!!!!

For a day when a friend, like mine, is going through big sadness or exhaustion — a day when you want to gently feel better rather than get seriously drunk — this place is really perfect. For anyone in Sangin-dong who wants tasty skewers with a refreshing drink and a deep conversation with someone close, I genuinely recommend Toriaejeu Sangin Daegu Branch!