Baby-friendly pork belly restaurant in Suseong, Daegu: Matdongsam

A new pork belly restaurant popped up in Beomeo-dong, Suseong, so I rushed right over! As someone who genuinely needs to eat meat 2-3 times a week, seeing a brand new pork belly place gets me revving to go 🍙. Good pork belly restaurants are rare in Daegu, so let me start this super satisfying real review!

Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch location and parking

📍Address: 15 Dongdaegu-ro 74an-gil, 1F, Suseong-gu, Daegu 🕐Hours: 17:00-23:00, last order 22:00 Closed days are announced separately on Naver and Instagram

There are 2 parking spots in front of the restaurant, and you can also use the parking area next to the Korea Girl Scouts building. When we visited, the spots out front were all taken, so we parked in a nearby alley. ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ

Matdongsam newly opened near the courthouse in Beomeo-dong, Daegu. Apparently the name is short for "delicious / neighborhood / samgyeopsal" (pork belly) — delicious neighborhood pork belly! So cute... they really nailed the naming lol.

The entrance can be a little confusing, but the sign saying "powerful AC in operation" made it easy to find. Everyone, head toward the silver gate!

Renovated old house atmosphere and seating

The interior looks like a renovated old house — retro vibes right from the entrance.

They have plenty of tables, from 2-tops and 4-tops all the way up to group seating for 5-6 or more! Since you're constantly grilling meat at a BBQ place, there's inevitably smoke, right? ㅠ_ㅠ But Matdongsam's tables are spaced wide apart so you can eat cleanly and comfortably, which I really loved.

There's also a separate annex, so it's great for company dinners with Beomeo-dong office workers or family meals — highly recommend! In fact, there were a lot of families when I visited. It's not a huge, sprawling BBQ restaurant, but it's a clean, comfortable, cozy pork belly place in Beomeo-dong. Maybe because it's a renovated old house, it kind of felt like visiting my grandma's old place. I love this retro sentiment so much...

They also have baby chairs, so it seems like a good place to visit with a baby too~ (There's a baby menu here too! See below.)

Menu and prices, ₩2,000 baby rice tray

One serving of meat is ₩11,000. Isn't that so affordable? The gram amounts may vary a bit, but for teuk-ogyeopsal (premium pork belly), this is a reasonable price that satisfies both your wallet and your heart.

Anyone visiting with a baby, look here!_! For just ₩2,000, Matdongsam serves "baby rice" — rice, yonggari fried chicken, scrambled egg, and gim (seaweed) — on this adorable divided tray. The thoughtfulness is unreal. Serving it on a tray like that makes it easy to feed a baby, and it's so nice that there's a menu item babies can eat too. They also had a pork curry dish that looked like it would be great as a baby side dish too. In many ways, it seems like they really designed the menu with families in mind! The best.

Naver receipt review event — grandma's doenjang jjigae / ttukbaegi ramyeon / melona bar / one highball / one bottle of soju. They're running a receipt review event too, so make sure to participate and claim yours ^.^

They filled the ice cream freezer with tons of melona bars like this. Perfect for cleansing your palate after eating meat. Writing this is making me want a melona bar too lol.

The basic side dish spread

Bean sprouts, mul-kimchi (water kimchi), well-fermented sour kimchi, jaeraegi (fresh cabbage salad), potatoes, king oyster mushrooms, roasted salt, barley doenjang, herring roe, and jangajji (pickled vegetables). It's a clean, basic spread. They picked exactly the right things to pair with meat. The owner has such good taste...

The potatoes come thinly sliced and the mushrooms are cut into rounds, ready to grill.

The jaeraegi probably tastes similar everywhere, but the sesame oil aroma was so good! Rather than being super tangy, it was a clean tanginess that paired well with the nutty sesame oil flavor.

Three servings of teuk-ogyeopsal — how's the meat?

We ordered 3 servings of teuk-ogyeopsal, village-style doenjang jjigae, and 2 bowls of rice! Teuk-ogyeopsal is ₩11,000 per serving (120g).

Look at this visual... good pork belly restaurants are hard to find in Daegu, so I'm so happy I finally found one. As you can see in the photos, the meat quality is really excellent!!! It comes pre-cut into easy-to-eat pieces, so you don't need to cut it yourself — just put it straight on the grill. That's a plus too.

Golden-brown grilled ogyeopsal, the definition of old-school samgyeopsal! The part attached to the skin gets crispy when grilled, giving it a chewy texture, while the inner meat is soft and juicy! The moderate fat content means it's never dry or greasy, and the savoriness builds the more you chew. ( ˶˚ˑ˚˶ )

Definitely grill the sour kimchi

The sour kimchi served as a basic side was really deliciously fermented. Anything grilled in meat fat tastes good, but the umami of this kimchi is seriously the best. Make sure to grill the kimchi partway through eating the meat. The kimchi perfectly balances the richness of the meat! Grilled in the meat fat, the sourness mellows out into a nicely tangy, savory flavor that pairs perfectly with the meat. I think the kimchi itself being delicious plays a big part in that too.

House-made garlic sauce

I heard this garlic sauce is house-made — you put it on the grill too, and once it boils, you scoop it out from underneath. True to being a "nation of garlic lovers"... this sauce was totally my taste too. Most BBQ restaurants serve a lot of myeol젓 (fermented anchovy sauce), right? This had just as much impact in bringing out the meat's flavor, but with a cleaner taste.

The potatoes, grilled crisp in the meat fat, turn almost like potato chips — nutty and rich, a real delicacy. Grilled a little less, they have a nicely fluffy texture too.

The herring roe and barley doenjang combo

Every single bite is delicious at this Beomeo-dong pork belly spot, Matdongsam. The one I was most satisfied with was the herring roe and barley doenjang! The popping texture of the herring roe paired so well with the savory, salty barley doenjang. The barley doenjang is genuinely a hidden gem — salty with a nice chew, and rich and savory ㅠㅠ It's a side sauce I hadn't really seen at other BBQ restaurants, so it felt fresh and delicious.

Eating it with kimchi, then with herring roe, then with barley doenjang, plus potatoes and mushrooms — I loved being able to try so many different flavor combinations at Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch.

Grandma's doenjang jjigae (₩5,000)

The highlight of any BBQ restaurant — the doenjang jjigae. Rather than being intensely rich or spicy, it leaned more soft and savory, which made it great to spoon in between bites of meat. They're running a review event too, so make sure to participate and try it. Highly recommend! It also had big chunks of tofu, so my friend who loves tofu was very satisfied ㅎ.ㅎ

Grab some candy on your way out too~ Nostalgic plum candies — they were pretty good after not having them in a while.

Overall review

For anyone looking for a good pork belly restaurant in Suseong, an old-school samgyeopsal spot, or a place for a family meal or company dinner in Beomeo-dong, I fully recommend Matdongsam Beomeo Main Branch. The AC is blasting so there's no worrying about the heat, there's a wide variety of sauces and side dishes to pair with the meat, and above all, the meat quality is so good that I left completely satisfied!!! I'll have to revisit soon and eat again. (I'm someone who has to eat something twice if it's delicious...) Would definitely visit again.