Home-style Korean lunch in Dusan-dong, Daegu: Cafe Dongyi kimchi stew

Starting my review of the weekday lunch date I had with my husband at Cafe Dongyi~~~!!

How long is the wait at Cafe Dongyi at noon on a weekday?

I came to Cafe Dongyi Branch 1 on a weekday at 12pm lunchtime and there were about 2 parties waiting, but it moved fast so I think I got in within 5 minutes haha. They thoughtfully had cool heotgae tea (hovenia fruit tea) ready in front of the store for us to drink while waiting~~!!!

Such a nice touch!

Inside Cafe Dongyi Branch 1: two floors and baby chairs

The store has about 2 tables on the 1st floor, and plenty of tables on the 2nd floor! We went up to the 2nd floor hahaha. There's a baby chair set up along the way up~ Apparently a lot of people bring their babies on weekends!

The free refill bar: five-grain rice, eggs and seaweed

Dongyi's charm is the refill bar!

• Five-grain rice
• Barley candy
• Eggs
• Seaweed

All you can eat haha. You can comfortably take as much as you want~! Every time we go, the fried egg duty falls to my husband hahaha.

The seaweed isn't the seasoned kind either, so it's good to feed to little kids too haha. Even just eggs and seaweed can make a meal that much tastier~!

What to order at Cafe Dongyi when you come as a group

Cafe Dongyi is a great spot for a neat, well-put-together spread! If a few of you are visiting, I'd especially recommend ordering a variety of dishes to share. Rather than just eating one meat dish after another, adding stews in between and finishing with tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) felt much more satisfying and varied.

With so many varied sides too, and each meal coming out neat like home cooking, it seemed like a place where all kinds of age groups come together often!

Ta-da! The dishes we ordered arrived!

Flame-grilled pork bulgogi at Cafe Dongyi

The grilled pork bulgogi lets you enjoy the meat's own flavor in a clean way — the char flavor soaked nicely into the meat, so it went great as a side dish with rice. Even among pork dishes, the seasoning and texture differ slightly, so it was fun eating them alternately. It has a different feel from jeyuk-bokkeum, so if you're going as a couple, I'd recommend trying different dishes too~

Flame-grilled jeyuk-bokkeum, kept hot on its own brazier

The grilled jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) had a subtle char flavor as the name suggests, so it went well with rice. The seasoning wasn't too light but also not overly spicy, making it just right to pile onto rice. The meat wasn't tough either, on the softer side, so eating one piece at a time naturally led to eating more and more rice!

In particular, the savory, slightly charred aroma unique to open-flame cooking gave it a different feel from regular stir-fried jeyuk. Cafe Dongyi's grilled jeyuk-bokkeum is definitely tastier than the one I make at home hahaha. And there's a brazier underneath so you can eat it warm throughout the whole meal, which makes it even better!

Aged kimchi stew, the deepest flavor of the meal

The aged kimchi stew was another rice thief. The sour, deep flavor unique to well-fermented kimchi had steeped well into the broth, so it paired nicely with the meat dishes. Especially dipping rice lightly into the kimchi stew broth and topping it with a piece of meat was really delicious.

I'm the type who doesn't keep old kimchi lying around at home — I just buy as much as I'll eat at a time — so I'd really been craving kimchi stew, and this was genuinely delicious~~~ Literally the textbook definition of deeply aged kimchi stew!!! The pork in it was tender too!

Country-style doenjang stew (soybean paste stew)

The country-style doenjang stew has a properly savory soybean paste aroma, good for a spoonful here and there between meat dishes. Rather than a harshly salty doenjang stew, it had a home-cooked, savory flavor that went well with rice, and having warm broth made the whole meal feel that much heartier. It tasted like a savory doenjang stew kids would eat well too!

Nuruk tangsuyuk: sweet-and-sour pork in a nuruk batter

I also ordered the nuruk tangsuyuk, and it was nice to have as a side amid a meal with lots of meat dishes. It had a slightly different feel from typical tangsuyuk, and the crispy batter paired well with the pork. Eating it with the sweet and tangy sauce revived my appetite, so my hand kept reaching for more.

The sauce wasn't too harsh either, which was really nice~ It's just the right amount sweet and tangy, so I strongly recommend the tangsuyuk!

Is Cafe Dongyi worth a home-style lunch date in Dusan-dong?

Cafe Dongyi even offers generous free parking! The jeyuk-bokkeum and pork bulgogi that go great with a bowl of rice, the savory country-style doenjang stew, the deep-flavored aged kimchi stew, and the crispy nuruk tangsuyuk — each dish had its own distinct character, making for a meal that was fun to pick and choose from. If you're thinking about a home-cooked-style date near Hwanggeum-dong, I recommend this place!