Deulanguil seafood restaurant in Daegu, mackerel kept hot: Geumdeungeo

This time I visited Geumdeungeo Deulanguil Main Branch (금등어 들안길 본점), a popular spot near Suseongmot Lake!

Geumdeungeo Deulanguil Main Branch: hours, address and parking

The address is 57 Deulan-ro, Suseong-gu, Daegu, South Korea, 2nd floor. It's open Monday to Saturday 11:00–21:20 and Sunday 11:00–20:40, with a break time of 15:30–17:00. For parking, you can use the 1st floor of the building or the mechanical parking.

• Wood-fired mackerel grill, 2 servings
• Added cockle salad
• Added stir-fried pork

What are the open kitchen and parking like?

Right after taking the elevator up, there's a spot with coffee and various drinks laid out. Behind that you can see the wood-fired oven and open kitchen — it felt wide open and spacious.

Keep the dining time in mind, since parking is free for that whole window. About 1 hour 30 minutes felt like plenty of time for a meal!

In one corner of the restaurant, they sell wood-fired mackerel and various side dishes to take home — how nice to be able to get mackerel that tastes like it's simply grilled at home. There's also corn snacks, seasoned laver crisps, gangnyeongi (fried snacks), and nurungji (scorched rice) too.

How you order and what the dining room feels like

There's a menu board at the entrance front desk too, but every table has its own kiosk, so ordering comfortably from your table is the way to go!!

After ordering, I looked around the restaurant a bit more! The tables were well separated from each other and spaced quite widely apart, making for a comfortable dining atmosphere. It seemed like a good place to visit with kids or as a gathering spot.

There was also a salad bar set up on one side! Extra side dishes were ready to grab, and they were displayed and kept so neatly that it was a pleasure to see.

Salad bar side dishes at Geumdeungeo

The side dishes were set out neatly first. The malva soybean paste soup that came with it could be simmered right at the table, so I got to enjoy it piping hot throughout the meal.

Overall, each side dish felt more like health food than strongly seasoned fare. Salad, lotus root salad, seokbakji (radish kimchi), green onion kimchi, seasoned balloon flower root — the variety was so wide I barely knew where to start.

How is the cockle salad (kkomak muchim)?

The sauce looked rich and sweet-and-sour, but the seasoning was surprisingly light, so the cockle flavor really came through! Eating it with the julienned cucumber made it even better — crisp and refreshing.

There was raw laver (gim) on the table, so I wrapped the cockle salad in it — so delicious. The savory taste of the laver and the chewy texture of the cockles paired really well.

Does the 450-degree wood-fired mackerel stay hot to the last bite?

Of everything ordered, the star was of course the grilled mackerel!

The mackerel is said to be grilled in a 450-degree wood-fired oven, and it looked mouthwatering with its golden, nicely browned surface.

There was an induction burner on the table, so I could set the mackerel on it and keep eating it warm the whole time. Adding the nuruk salt that came with it boosted the savory flavor even more!

Is the stir-fried pork (jeyuk bokkeum) worth adding?

The stir-fried pork had a spicy-sweet sauce well soaked into the meat, making it great with rice. It also came topped with julienned perilla leaves, and eating the meat together with the perilla added a fragrant note that made it even tastier!

On the way out, you exit through the same entrance you came in through! There are plenty of drinks there that are nice for a sip on your way out.

It seemed like a great place to eat with family, and also a comfortable spot to visit with kids or in a bigger group. I tried several dishes together — the grilled mackerel, cockle salad, and stir-fried pork — and overall it was clean and satisfying, especially the grilled mackerel.