Cold salmon soba lunch at a Daejeon Japanese restaurant: Choi Dining

Hi, this is Hwan. I finally took a trip out to Gwanpyeong-dong after a long, long time! Taking bus 705 toward Sintanjin again since quitting my job felt oddly strange and nostalgic haha 😭

I used to love watching the scenery go by and just letting my mind wander on the bus, but now that I'm studying for exams, sitting there with a book felt a bit pathetic 😳 (but I started this, so I'll see it through). Still, the thought of studying at a café and then having a good lunch got me a little excited on the way over~

Where is Choi Dining Gwanpyeong, and what are its hours?

Choi Dining Gwanpyeong is a Japanese restaurant located at 20 Gwandeul4-gil, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 1F. Hours are 11:00–21:00, with a break from 15:00–17:00, and there are 3 parking spots available right in front of the store.

One reason I came today was to have some cool cold soba haha — plus, as a side, a futomaki stuffed with a fist-sized portion of yukhoe (raw beef tartare) sounded perfect ✨

I visited a Choi Dining in Jamsil about six years ago haha. Total throwback haha. This is exactly why I keep blogging.

What is the dining room at Choi Dining Gwanpyeong like?

First off, Choi Dining Gwanpyeong is really clean and comfortable, so I felt good the whole meal! It has a casual yet tidy vibe, making it an easy, pressure-free space to eat in.

Choi Dining's menu, and one drawback of the set meals

If you're into Japanese and Western-style food, you really should visit haha. There are plenty of options to choose from, and it's just fun picking — the menu is so full of good stuff that just looking at it makes you happy.

Since I was dining alone, ordering a set menu wasn't really an option for me ㅠㅠ If you're planning to visit with a group, though, ordering one of the recommended sets sounds like a solid choice! One small downside — the set menus always seem to include mazesoba! Personally mazesoba isn't really my thing, so it would've been nice to be able to swap it for something else. I guess mazesoba is their signature dish!

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Cold salmon soba: aged salmon and chewy noodles

In summer, nothing beats a cool bowl of cold soba, right 🙊

There was so much stuff packed in there that it looked generous just from the look of it! You could feel the care in how every ingredient was prepped, and having it all come together in one bowl made me happy the moment I received it.

True to its name, the cold salmon soba came loaded with plenty of salmon too 😉 Poorly handled salmon can taste really fishy and be hard to eat, but this one was so well aged that it was soft and clean, with no unpleasant taste at all.

The noodles had that chewy texture I like, and the tsuyu sauce had incredible umami — the kind of flavor that kept my chopsticks going back for more.

I really want to become a firefighter... Lately whenever I eat, I always end up watching firefighting documentaries, and every time I watch one, it just seems like such a genuinely cool job... It only makes me want it more, more desperately. I want to wear that orange uniform soon too 🥕

Yukhoe futomaki, 5 pieces for 14,900 won: is it worth the price?

Just having the cold soba felt like something was missing, so I splurged and ordered the yukhoe futomaki too!

5 pieces of gimbap (seaweed rice roll) for ₩14,900 works out to almost ₩3,000 per piece! A bit pricey, but each bite tasted good enough that I didn't feel any regret at all. Egg, fried shrimp, yukhoe, cucumber, pickled radish, and burdock root — the fillings were packed in without holding back, giving a satisfying full-mouth feeling with every bite 💗

You have to try the yukhoe futomaki! It's genuinely nutty and clean-tasting,,, 💛 Especially if you pop the egg yolk and dip each piece in it — the nuttiness gets even richer, making it a real standout. I piled on a ton of wasabi and it wasn't spicy at all!

Is Choi Dining a good lunch stop in Gwanpyeong-dong?

Overall, the food came out with such care and neatness that it was a really satisfying meal! If you're looking for a good lunch spot in Gwanpyeong-dong, Daejeon, I highly recommend Choi Dining 🤎