Buk-gu, Daegu beef lunch for two couples: Gogi 9dan seokcheong galbi

Why travelers from Pohang chose Gogi 9dan Chimsan for lunch in Daegu

Gogi 9dan Chimsan Direct Branch is a beef rib restaurant at 197 Chimsannam-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu. After a night at Interburgo Exco during our Daegu trip, we headed out for lunch the next day with a friend's couple!

I heard there was a spot famous among locals just 10 minutes by car from the hotel. Apparently a beef restaurant that's packed even at lunchtime!~ (In Pohang, where we live, nothing's busy from lunch onward.. most places focus on dinner!) So I wondered just how good a place has to be to draw a lunch crowd, and we decided to check it out!

Park on the first floor / the restaurant is on the second floor!

Parking and how to find Gogi 9dan Chimsan Direct Branch

• Gogi 9dan Chimsan Direct Branch
• Address: 197 Chimsannam-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu, South Korea
• Hours 11:00–21:50 (check Naver for Chuseok holiday hours)

There's a parking lot right on the first floor of the restaurant, so no driving around looking for a spot. That matters even more when you're bringing your parents along — the closer to the entrance, the better. At Gogi 9dan you just park and head straight upstairs~ The lot was spacious enough that we found parking even during the lunchtime peak.

The open butchery performance and the playroom for kids

Meat sliced the moment you order / plus a playroom

Right as you walk in, there's a head chef trimming meat^^ The interior was on the spacious side, but being lunchtime, the place was completely packed.

Things you notice once you're a parent — a "playroom." I love this kind of small consideration. There used to be plenty of beef restaurants with playrooms, but you don't see them much anymore. It's small, but the kids can sit and play. Since we brought our 10-month-old, they also gave us baby dishes and seaweed. In a few months she'll move on to toddler food, so thanks for the thoughtful touch.

What four adults ordered at Gogi 9dan, and what it cost

Let's order till the table's about to collapse!

The 700g seokcheong galbi platter for 94,000 won, and the ultimate value 9-course set for 18,000 won. Hanwoo beef + kimchi stew + jjolmyeon + wasabi sushi all come together in this signature set — nobody skips it!

Rice dishes (since it was lunch, we ordered rice dishes alongside the meat..!): mul naengmyeon ₩7,000 x2, doenjang jjigae ₩3,000 x1, rice ₩1,000 x3.

We wondered whether one platter would be enough for four people. We figured we'd order more if needed, since it was lunch..! None of us are light eaters (more like big eaters). But in the end we were surprised by the portion and didn't order anything extra.

Gogi 9dan side dishes: one free refill of the marinated raw crab

Is this the usual beef restaurant banchan, or hanjeongsik (Korean set-table meal) banchan..?

• Salad, green onion kimchi, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), yangnyeom gejang (marinated crab)
• Namul (seasoned vegetables), miyeok (seaweed), baek-kimchi (white kimchi)

You might think these are just the usual side dishes, but each one tastes as good as something from a top-tier banchan shop. The seasoning was spot-on across the board, the kind that gets your appetite going. Nothing was over-salted, and each dish felt like homemade banchan made fresh that day.

You could ask for more of the side dishes, and even the crab was refillable once. The crab was so good I wanted to wrap it up and take it home. Polished off a whole bowl of rice with it!

What comes in the 18,000-won 9-course set

Beef tartare, wasabi sushi, kimchi stew, jjolmyeon — a full spread. With prices these days, I'd understand if they sold the tartare alone for 18,000 won. Beef tartare from a dedicated beef restaurant is fresh through and through. A kimchi stew loaded with pork can't be bad.. Just those two dishes alone make the 18,000 won worth it?~ The jjolmyeon sauce, which I wasn't expecting much from, was amazing too!~ Chewy noodles with a spicy-sweet sauce that's just excellent!

They even brought out beef jeon (pan-fried beef) as a free extra.. We plopped it right on top of the wasabi sushi and ate it that way. A new combination.

Is 700g of seokcheong galbi too much for lunch?

Turns out beef tastes great even at lunch...?!?! And being beef ribs, it's tastier than pork ribs. A bite with green onion kimchi on top wipes out a whole bowl of rice in seconds. I usually don't eat rice with meat, but Gogi 9dan's seokcheong galbi is on another level..

Hahaha, our friends couldn't stop eating either. Conversation dropped off and everyone just focused on the food. The babies kept dozing off in our arms^~^

I thought the meat portion might not be enough, so we also ordered rice and naengmyeon — but by the end, we were even wrapping the ribs in the cold noodles to eat. As a lunch for four people, 700g was more than enough!

Looking back, we'd ordered both kimchi stew and doenjang jjigae. The doenjang jjigae is only 3,000 won but comes loaded with meat too — if you want a good-value finish, that would've been a solid choice as well.

The self-serve dessert bar and old-style patbingsu

Gotta have dessert before we go..!

Coffee, sweet iced coffee, plum tea, Americano made with Starbucks beans (they even had ice cups ready), ppeongtwigi and more, all self-serve right from the entrance without any hesitation. Even though everyone was already stuffed, we still sat there enjoying a plum tea and a sweet coffee drink..!

And then for dessert they brought out old-style patbingsu on top of everything..! And get this — not milk-based shaved ice. Real shaved ice made from actual ice blocks. Hadn't had this in a while, and it was sweet enough that we walked out completely full~! ★ Places that do well clearly have a reason for it!~ Next time I'd love to come back with my parents!