Soup curry set lunch at a Gwanpyeong-dong Japanese spot: Choi Dining

I went looking for lunch in Gwanpyeong-dong, Daejeon and ended up at Choi Dining Daejeon Gwanpyeong.

Gwanpyeong-dong has so many restaurants that it's always hard to decide what to eat, so this time I picked something more filling than my usual — rice bowls and curry instead.

How many cars fit in Choi Dining Daejeon Gwanpyeong's parking?

There was a parking area out front. When I visited, it looked like there was space for about 3 cars beside the restaurant.

Parking isn't exactly spacious, so if you're driving, it's worth keeping in mind.

Inside Choi Dining Daejeon Gwanpyeong: seating and baby chairs

Walking in, the whole place had a wood-tone interior.

There were several tables plus seats along the wall, so there were decent seating options.

The overall atmosphere felt warm too.

On one side there were cute little display items, and several baby chairs were set up too.

When eating out with a kid, I always keep an eye out for baby chairs, so having them ready like this was convenient.

Kiosk ordering and the three dishes we picked

Orders were placed through a kiosk at each table.

There was a wide range — from futomaki to noodle dishes, rice bowls and katsu — and you could check the drink menu at the same time.

After looking through the menu, I ended up ordering the cube steak rice bowl, the soup curry set, and lemon cream shrimp.

While hunting for a good place to eat in Gwanpyeong-dong, I wanted to try something a bit different from my usual order, so I picked these three.

There was also a menu board on the table showing what you could order and how the set menus were put together.

You could order single dishes or go for a set combining several items, which looked handy for a group with different tastes.

We mostly ordered single dishes that day and tried them one by one.

On the table there were also instructions for eating maze soba (mixed noodles) and info about a review event.

Cube steak rice bowl, 14,000 won

The first thing to arrive was the cube steak rice bowl.

One bowl came generously loaded with rice, steak and a variety of vegetables. On top was a soft egg, along with seaweed, wasabi and pickled ginger.

Right from the first look, the bowl felt like a solid, well-put-together meal.

The steak came in big cube-shaped pieces, which went well with the rice.

There were also several vegetables mixed in — onion, mushroom, bean sprouts — so instead of eating steak the whole time, I could mix in different textures.

The portion overall was generous, so it felt filling as a full meal.

Eating the steak with the rice, the pieces were quite thick for a single bite.

Combining the meat, rice and vegetables gave a nice range of textures, and adding a little wasabi changed things up again.

Soup curry set, 15,000 won: how is it different from regular curry?

Next up was the soup curry I'd been a little curious about.

The soup curry came as a set with rice, and there was a good amount of chicken and various vegetables in the curry.

It looked noticeably different from the usual thick curry, which felt a bit novel at first glance.

Inside the soup curry, besides chicken, there was carrot, eggplant, lotus root, bell pepper, mushroom and more.

This was actually my first time trying soup curry in Korea — before that I'd only had it in Japan — and the broth was thinner than I expected.

It felt somewhere between regular curry and a soup dish, so scooping it up with rice was a bit different.

The vegetables especially were cooked until soft.

Ingredients like carrot, eggplant and lotus root — not things you usually see in curry — made it fun to pick through one by one.

The curry itself wasn't intensely spicy, which I actually appreciated since it was easy to eat.

Being able to try a dish like this made it a great pick when hunting for somewhere a bit different to eat in Gwanpyeong-dong.

Lemon cream shrimp, 9,900 won

Lastly, I ordered the lemon cream shrimp.

Several fried shrimp sat on top, with shredded cabbage underneath. Lemon came on the side, ready to add if it got too rich.

Each shrimp was fairly large, so the portion was better than expected for a side dish.

The shrimp had a crispy batter topped with cream sauce, which made it easy to share alongside the rice bowl or soup curry.

Rather than just eating the main dish, adding a side like this let us taste a few more things together, which was nice.

What should you order at Choi Dining Daejeon Gwanpyeong?

The cube steak rice bowl was great when you want a filling meat-and-rice meal, and the soup curry was worth trying when you want something different from regular curry. The lemon cream shrimp worked well as a side.

If you keep ending up with the same kind of food when looking for lunch in Gwanpyeong-dong, splitting up an order like this could be worth trying.

If you're visiting with a kid, baby chairs are available, so that's worth knowing. Parking out front isn't very spacious, so if you're driving, it's good to plan ahead for that too.

Overall the menu had plenty of variety, so if you're looking for a good place to eat in Gwanpyeong-dong, it's worth browsing the menu board and picking what suits you.