Weekday lunch add-ons at Geumdeungeo, a Dalseo hanjeongsik restaurant

A hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) restaurant worth knowing in Dalseo, Daegu Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch

My husband and I have a favorite hanjeongsik spot in Daegu where you can enjoy everything cleanly from the meal to dessert — it's satisfying every time. This was already our third visit, and every time we go we leave stuffed and with only good memories. Let me dig up the memories and write this post. Review start~!

Where is Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch, and where do you park?

Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch is located in Jincheon-dong, Dalseo-gu, Daegu :) It's inside Jincheon Food Town, so parking is well set up and easy to visit. Geumdeungeo has two locations — the Dalseo Branch and the original Deuranggil location — and both have clean interiors, making them great for visiting with parents.

It was a weekday lunch and the place was already bustling with customers — so just a heads up that this Dalseo hanjeongsik favorite might have a wait during weekend peak hours!

Open kitchen, wood-fired oven and private rooms at Geumdeungeo

True to its reputation as a grilled fish set-meal restaurant in Daegu, the big wood-fired oven catches your eye right away. When you think of a wood-fired oven you usually think pizza, but at Geumdeungeo they put mackerel in it to grill. It's an open kitchen too, which felt reassuring hygiene-wise haha.

The interior is fairly large. There are lots of room-style seats, perfect for gatherings. It seemed like you could also dine privately with family here.

Even outside of the rooms, there was plenty of hall seating, and it had partitions so even though it's open, it didn't get in the way of lunch much at all. There were also roll-down screens installed so you could lower them while eating. Such thoughtful attention to detail!

Geumdeungeo's pride is apparently that all the side dishes are handmade in-house. They set the table for you at first, and if you run out of anything, you just refill it yourself at the self-serve bar.

What's on the menu at Geumdeungeo Dalseo Branch?

This is the menu at Geumdeungeo, a favorite in Dalseo, Daegu. You can choose per person from the basic set with mackerel, pork, bulgogi, or gulbi (dried croaker) set. After that, you can add extra dishes à la carte.

The whole menu is available for takeout, and if a side dish suits your taste you can also buy it. They're also running a Naver receipt review event, so it'd be a shame not to take advantage of a chance like that!

The set for two with stir-fried pork and seasoned cockles added

• Geumdeungeo set x2
• Stir-fried pork x1 extra
• Cockle salad x1 extra

The reason I trust Geumdeungeo, a Dalseo hanjeongsik favorite, is that the food is never too heavy while still being clean and refined. Here's a shot of the plentiful spread first! You can feel the cleanliness right there in the photo~

Doenjang soup comes out right after ordering. You just boil it on the induction burner at your table. It has a savory charm that's different from the doenjang jjigae you get at a barbecue restaurant.

The basic side dishes were japchae, salad, seasoned laver, cucumber salad, dressed greens, and fried eggplant. The side dishes seemed to vary a little each time. The fried eggplant was surprisingly my style~~ Whatever runs low, you just refill at the self-serve bar.

How does the 400C wood-fired grilled mackerel taste?

This is the wood-fired mackerel, grilled for 5 minutes in a 400-degree oven. The color is on another level. Apparently they use nuruk salt made from rice nuruk (fermentation starter) packed with beneficial microbes to make an even more special grilled mackerel.

It was the textbook definition of crispy outside, moist inside — you could tell at a glance how carefully it was cooked, given that mackerel is the star of this Daegu grilled fish set.

It had just the right amount of fat, moist rather than dry — absolutely perfect. Mackerel alone is enough to make you eat bowl after bowl of rice haha. If you come to Geumdeungeo, I definitely recommend trying the grilled mackerel.

How spicy is the flame-grilled stir-fried pork add-on?

It feels incomplete without meat, so we added the stir-fried pork haha. Since it's charcoal-grilled pork, it has a subtle smoky char flavor too, which was totally my style. One extra portion was just right to go with everything.

The sauce itself really clings to your palate. It's not fully spicy, just a little bit of a kick. Eaten with rice, it's an amazing pairing haha. Definitely earns points for Geumdeungeo as a clean hanjeongsik spot in Daegu.

Seasoned cockles, hot-pot rice and sungnyung

We also added one extra portion of cockle salad. It was packed full of plump, chewy cockles. Mixed straight into your rice, it's absolutely delicious.

It's said to be seasoned deliciously with Geumdeungeo's special sauce. The sauce was sweet and tangy, and it really opened up your appetite haha.

Rice is essential at a hanjeongsik restaurant, and this rice itself was glossy and shiny, and I was very satisfied that it comes as hot-pot rice by default with no extra charge.

Putting a piece of mackerel on top of the pre-made scorched-rice tea and eating it that way is the real deal haha. We've been eating out a lot lately as a couple, so it felt satisfying to have a proper Korean meal for once.

For dessert, you also get baekseolgi-tteok (steamed rice cake mix), which is sweet and surprisingly special. From the meal to the dessert, Geumdeungeo, a Dalseo, Daegu favorite, pays attention to every detail.

Banchan for sale and snack tastings at the entrance

After finishing the meal, if you look around the entrance area again, they're selling a variety of products like side dishes and snacks.

The side dishes were also neatly packaged, with more volume than a neighborhood banchan shop and reasonable prices too. They give a discount if you buy 3 packs.

The fridge was also packed full of side dishes~ We had another schedule to get to so we couldn't look around properly, but next time I visit I should buy some myself.

There were also various snacks like ppeongtwigi (puffed rice snacks) and twigak (fried seaweed chips). You can sample them too, so if it suits your taste, you can just buy it.

There were also small events here and there that customers could join in on. Geumdeungeo, a Dalseo favorite, really seems to put thought into all sorts of little details.

Takeaway drinks and parking registration on the way out

On the way out, you can also grab a drink to go. They even have ice cups all set up. Sikhye (sweet rice drink), plum tea, lemonade, iced Americano, mixed coffee — quite the variety!

I got the lemonade, my husband got the iced Americano! We registered our parking and finished off with dessert, wrapping up a satisfying meal haha.

Geumdeungeo was a genuinely clean, well put-together hanjeongsik meal in Dalseo, Daegu. Since fish is the star, I'd especially recommend the grilled fish set or adding it as an extra. I'm not usually a big fan of fish myself, but I could eat it here without any hesitation haha. I think next time I'll bring my parents along. Booking again as a regular... that's it for now :)