Daejeon restaurant for mushroom bulgogi hot pot with kids: Boksakkot

Looking for a kid-friendly restaurant near Sutonggol

I go to Daejeon often but had never been to Sutonggol until a couple of years ago, when I first visited with friends — since then I've gone back for cafés and walks. It's close to Gongju so it's an easy trip, but I'd barely eaten at any restaurants there, so I went looking for somewhere kid-friendly and found a place that turned out to be perfect for our family!

Location, hours and parking

• Address: 238-34 Wongyesan-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 1st floor, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30 (last order 20:30)
• Parking: On-site restaurant parking
• Kids welcome: baby chairs and a kids' room available

What the restaurant feels like inside

The place was spacious and clean, which made it feel really comfortable. It was late evening so there weren't many customers, but most of them had kids with them, which told me right away this was a restaurant good for families.

So that's why — there's a kids' room! It's such a relief to have a kids' room when your children get bored waiting for food. I made sure to keep Saessak and Banjjak facing away from it though, worried they'd want to go play instead of eat if they spotted it first.

What's on the menu

The fire-grilled menu came in three types — octopus, pork, and long arm octopus — plus bulgogi, grilled short rib, and braised short ribs, a really wide range. There were also plenty of side dishes, many of them great for kids, so I spent a while deciding what to order. The generous menu made it clear again that this was a place made for families.

Eating the octopus, pork and mushroom bulgogi hot pot

We ordered fire-grilled octopus stir-fry, fire-grilled pork stir-fry, and mushroom bulgogi hot pot ✔️ I added cheese to my octopus stir-fry. Even though each of us ordered a different single-serving set, parties of two or more get a free pizza — so we could each pick what we wanted, which was great. And of course, we went with gorgonzola pizza.

Saessak had the mushroom bulgogi hot pot and pizza, while Banjjak ate rice with the seaweed soup (miyeokguk) that came as a side dish. The octopus and pork, seasoned with natural chili powder for spice, were both delicious, but surprisingly the mushroom bulgogi hot pot was the one that suited my taste, even though I'm not usually a fan of beef bulgogi. I kept reaching for the bubbling hot pot, but held back since it was meant for Saessak — if not, I probably would've eaten more of it haha.

What is the kids' room like?

It wasn't a kids' room with a jungle gym or slide — more of a play-house setup. It was filled with cute little toys, so it looked like it'd be fun even for a baby under one year old. I let Saessak play there for a bit before we left, and of course she wanted to stay longer — even though she has similar toys at home, playing in a new space is somehow more fun. We had to coax her out, promising we'd come back.

Free drinks and a palate cleanser at Dohwawon

You get a drink on your way out after the meal. I was surprised they even had a drink menu ready. There's plenty of variety, so you can pick based on your taste.

Before we went into the restaurant, I saw 'Dohwawon' next to the building and thought it might be some kind of annex, but it turned out to be a space set up for enjoying dessert. You get your drink at the restaurant, then head to Dohwawon for snacks and a palate cleanser.

I gave Saessak a paper cup and told her to fill it herself, and she happily scooped up the rainbow-colored snacks, saying they were delicious. Going to a café afterward is one kind of pleasure, but being able to enjoy a proper dessert right at the restaurant is convenient and makes the whole meal feel more complete. In that sense, it was a very satisfying dinner.

Would I bring the kids back?

With a kid-friendly menu and a kids' room on top of that, it was a great place to eat with children. A wide range of dishes the kids can eat means the adults get to eat what they want too, and having a kids' room means less effort spent entertaining bored kids before and after the meal. There's even a solid dessert experience to round things off, so you finish the meal in a good mood. Thinking of it as 'having a meal at Sutonggol,' this is a restaurant I'd go back to without a second thought 🥄