Daegu grilled fish restaurant in a former café space: Geumdeungeo

A Deulanguil favorite called 'Geumdeungeo' 🐟 that I visited for dinner with a friend who came to help take care of my sick mom, after her treatment. Wanted to feed both of them something healthy, so this was my pick for dinner that night!! 😍

Geumdeungeo Deulanguil parking and opening hours

🚗 Parking: the building's own tower parking 🚌 About 15 minutes on foot from Suseongmot Station ⏰ Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–21:20 / Sun 11:00–20:40, break time 15:30–17:00

It's right on Deulanguil, so it's an easy-to-find mackerel restaurant in the area.

The old Cafe Pyeon space: order first, then get seated

It's a grilled mackerel place but it feels very upscale. Maybe because it used to be 'Cafe Pyeon,' there's still plenty of that café vibe~! 😁 Once you walk in, you order at the counter first, pay, and then they show you to your seat~!

Right next to the counter is a self-serve banchan (side dish) bar, and it's just as upscale and clean-looking. When you run low on side dishes, you just go help yourself 😆

And on one side there's a live grill area where they cook the mackerel right in front of you — in the back you could see them grilling the fish directly over the wood-fired oven~!

Just as life is live, so is Geumdeungeo.

Hahahaha, isn't that the most fitting line ever 🤣👏

Unlike a typical grilled fish place, it has a café-like feel, with high ceilings and a spacious interior, making it a comfortable place to eat at your own pace~!! The space is wide and the atmosphere is clean, so it seemed like a great spot not just for family dinners but also for gatherings with friends or larger group meetups 😁

Geumdeungeo menu and prices: what three of us ordered

• Wood-fired mackerel ₩19,000 x2
• Spicy pork stir-fry ₩20,000

Order done 😎

The banchan spread brought out by the serving robot

The serving robot brought out a full table of side dishes~!! 😆🍽️ Just as neatly plated as a hanjeongsik (Korean set-meal) restaurant — japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), salad, seaweed, green onion kimchi, seaweed soup ingredients, seokbakji (radish kimchi), stir-fried anchovies, seasoned balloon flower root, lotus root, and seed jeotgal (salted seafood) — quite a variety, and it's great that you can easily grab more from the self-serve bar if anything runs low 😁👍

How the nuruk-salt wood-fired mackerel and spicy pork tasted

Soon after, the main dishes arrived — spicy pork stir-fry and the wood-fired mackerel!!🐟🔥 The name 'Geumdeungeo' apparently comes from the pairing of nuruk salt (fermented rice-based salt) and mackerel, and I could tell why the restaurant emphasizes the nuruk salt so much. The salt itself just tasted different somehow~?! Not overly salty, more mellow, and somehow it just felt... healthier, you know what I mean?! Hahaha 😆😆😆 Healthy salt meets mackerel!!!

And it seems like they also make spicy pork stir-fry for people who aren't big fish fans, like my friend 'momo c' — and honestly, what a surprise,,,😳 The spicy pork was spicy with a strong charred flavor, and it was genuinely a powerhouse of flavor!!!😋😋😋 Good enough to run a dedicated spicy pork restaurant!!!👏🔥

The mackerel was well-seasoned even on its own, but dipping it in the nuruk salt that comes alongside was great too! The mallow soybean paste soup that came with it was also clean and mellow, perfect with rice 😁

Verdict: a family dinner spot that works even for non-fish eaters

I figured it would be mostly about fish since it's a grilled mackerel place, but the spicy pork ended up being just as delicious~!! Upscale, clean atmosphere, a great variety of banchan, and overall a tasty Deulanguil favorite, 'Geumdeungeo' 🐟 I'd recommend it not just to people who love grilled fish, but also to people like my friend momo c who isn't a big fish fan — everyone can eat well here 😆 Both my mom and my friend enjoyed the meal, which made the whole dinner that much more satisfying and left us all in a good mood~!! 😆❤️