Hanok café in Daegu: the order to eat Dento's open sandwiches

I stopped by Bongsan-dong for lunch^^ and heard that a new café with amazing sandwiches had just opened right nearby — how could I not go check it out, haha. So I dropped in at Dento, the new brunch café near Banwoldang Station. Let me tell you about my time at Dento: five uniquely flavored bite-size sandwiches, a cozy and quiet vibe perfect for chatting, and a staff member who kept things tidy and hygienic throughout ^^

Where is Dento, and what are its hours and parking?

Dento 📍42-5 Bongsanmunhwa 2-gil, Jung-gu, Daegu, South Korea (Bongsan-dong 136-50) ⏰ Daily 10:00–20:00 / Last order 19:00 Closed every Monday 🅿️ No parking lot

Dento is about a 3-minute walk from Banwoldang Station Exit 9, heading toward Gyeongbuk National University Affiliated Elementary School, so it wasn't a hassle to get to. Good morning, Dento^^ I got curious and looked it up — 'Dento' apparently means 'tradition' in Japanese. With its clean, no-frills exterior on a corner spot, it was easy to find^^

There didn't seem to be a dedicated parking lot, so you'd need to use a nearby paid lot instead — places like Daegu Paid Private Parking Lot, Segi Paid Parking Lot, Bongsan Private Parking Lot, and so on.

Inside Dento: a Bongsan-dong hanok turned café

Since Dento is a modern space renovated from an existing hanok (traditional Korean house), the interior felt like tradition and modernity blended into one cozy atmosphere. Open seats filled up fast during weekday lunch hour, but turnover was quick too, with plenty of guests coming and going, haha.

What's on Dento's brunch menu?

The signature menu at this new Banwoldang brunch café is sandwiches! True to its reputation as a Banwoldang brunch spot, Dento has the five bite-size open sandwiches, a triple cheese sandwich with tomato soup, a grilled shrimp sandwich with mini salad, an omelet ham cheese sandwich with mini salad, and beyond the hearty sandwich sets, there's also baby potatoes, tomato soup, and French toast — brunch items good either as a full meal or a light snack. Since we'd just eaten lunch, we kept it simple, haha — we ordered the intriguing bite-size open sandwiches along with drip coffee.

On one side of the counter was a note about today's coffee and beer, written in neat handwriting.

Since Dento is known for its sandwiches in Bongsan-dong, there wasn't a single table that hadn't ordered one — and I wondered how there was no cooking smell at all, but it turned out they'd set aside a separate space inside the store for that~ 👏 While waiting for our order, I looked around the interior again — fresh gerbera flowers set on the self-bar counter and on my table added a touch more atmosphere.

Dento's five bite-size open sandwiches and the order to eat them in

Five bite-size open sandwiches x1.2 Drip coffee x0.4*2

Since we were at the new Banwoldang brunch café Dento, ordering brunch was a must, haha. Among the many sandwiches, the one chosen for us haha was the five bite-size open sandwiches!

The open sandwiches were: pan con tomate / avocado salmon / romesco grilled vegetables / shrimp rémoulade / truffle ricotta. Each one was explained kindly, and we were told the recommended eating order was pan con tomate through truffle ricotta — and tasting them, it really did seem to go from light and refreshing to rich and heavy^^

• Pan con tomate
• Avocado salmon
• Romesco grilled vegetables
• Shrimp rémoulade
• Truffle ricotta

The pan con tomate started things off with the fresh, tangy flavor of real tomato, while the avocado salmon sandwich had smoky salmon paired with zesty, refreshing avocado and capers.

Personally, my favorite was the romesco grilled vegetables ♡ — the subtly nutty romesco sauce. I looked it up out of curiosity and found it's a Spanish sauce made from red bell peppers, tomatoes, nuts, garlic, and olive oil, often served with calçotada (grilled spring onions). It suited Korean tastes really well and brought out the flavor of the grilled vegetables~🫶💕

Shrimp rémoulade and truffle ricotta: the richest bites

Rémoulade sauce, usually paired with seafood, was savory yet tangy and matched the shrimp well — and the crisp celery mixed in added texture, aroma, and flavor to the shrimp rémoulade. And finally, the truffle ricotta — recommended as the last bite, and true to that suggestion, the truffle aroma was intense even before taking a bite, and the flavor was definitely rich and heavy.

Great looks aside, these open sandwiches let you enjoy a range of distinctly different flavors^^ If you want to try the sandwiches Bongsan-dong is known for, or if it's your first visit like ours, I'd definitely recommend trying them at least once~!

How was the drip coffee at Dento?

For our drink to go with the sandwiches, we picked two cups of drip coffee. It had a clean, refreshing finish that paired well with the sandwiches — actually, it seemed like the kind of drip coffee that would go well with just about anything^^

Sandwiches in a variety of flavors, easy to eat, paired with mellow drip coffee, all enjoyed in a quiet atmosphere — that's Dento, the Banwoldang brunch spot. Next time, I'd love to try knocking out the three sandwiches I haven't had yet^^