Corkage-free tuna restaurant with private rooms in Daegu: Hangil Tuna

Today I visited Hangil Tuna, a tuna restaurant in the Janggidong food alley of Dalseo, Daegu!

Hangil Tuna is run by a hotel-trained Japanese cuisine chef who has walked the single path of tuna for over 15 years in this same spot, carefully selecting only large tuna over 250kg to serve the best cuts.

The restaurant has a calm atmosphere with bar seating and private rooms, making it a great spot to unwind solo or with friends over premium tuna and a drink at the end of the week, or to visit for a work dinner or a couple's anniversary date.

Hangil Tuna Janggidong Food Alley Branch: the basics

• Hours: Mon–Sat 17:00–01:00 (last order 00:00), open as normal during Chuseok
• Closed every Sunday
• Address: Janggidong 566-8, Dalseo-gu, Daegu
• Parking: If parking near the restaurant is crowded, use the paid Janggi Public Parking Lot
• Bar seats and private rooms available
• Tuna can be refilled twice
• Corkage allowed (excludes drinks sold in-store, excludes solo visits)
• No-kids zone (under 13, including infants, not permitted)

Where is Hangil Tuna and where do you park?

Hangil Tuna is a 15-minute walk from Exit 4 of Yongsan Station by subway, or a 3-minute walk from the Janggidong Meokgeori Village entrance bus stop (buses 503, 623).

There's no dedicated lot, but parking in front of the restaurant looked possible, and the paid Janggi Public Parking Lot nearby was an option if things got crowded.

Inside Hangil Tuna and its floor-seating private rooms

We arrived as the very first customers right when it opened at 5pm on a weekday, and by the time we left at 7pm after dinner, solo diners and groups of friends were at the bar seats watching baseball on TV over drinks.

The indoor restroom was clean and gender-separated, which made it easy to use, and there was even a coffee machine in the hallway.

Behind the bar and hall tables were three private rooms — in total the restaurant had 8 bar seats, 1 four-person hall table, and 3 rooms each with two four-person tables.

There were slippers in the hallway in front of the seated rooms, handy for restroom trips, and once all the tuna course dishes had arrived, staff closed the door for a quieter atmosphere to chat and eat — great for a private date, and it also looked good for work dinners or group gatherings.

Hangil Tuna menu and prices

The refill menu (per person) runs Manager Special ₩58,000, VIP Special ₩80,000, Hangil Special ₩100,000. The bluefin tuna platter comes in Special ₩150,000, Premium Special ₩200,000, and Royal Special ₩300,000, while the assorted tuna sashimi platter (serves 2) is ₩100,000. There were also meal items like sushi, tuna sashimi rice bowls, and udon, plus a range of sake options like Dassai and Kubota.

On top of that, joining the review event gets you a 5% discount on your payment.

Course by course or all at once?

We ordered two servings of the Manager Special, and the owner asked whether we wanted it served as a course or all at once — we chose to have everything come out together.

First came the appetizers — abalone porridge and a fresh salad dressed with yuzu — which we ate while waiting for the tuna sashimi haha

Dishes came out one after another so fast the four-person table filled up in no time. Abalone porridge, fried egg, salad, tuna sashimi, sushi, grilled Chilean sea bass, freshwater clam soup, udon, braised tuna, fried shrimp — all arrived in sequence. If you choose the course option instead, the meal dishes like udon or fried shrimp come out only after you've finished the tuna sashimi.

Tuna sashimi with up to two free refills

The first tuna sashimi platter had two kinds of bluefin belly, gullet meat (uldaesal), and swordfish belly.

The bluefin belly melted in my mouth the moment it touched my tongue — a block of pure umami. The specialty cut gullet meat had a texture like raw beef sashimi, giving the pleasant illusion of tasting tuna and raw meat at once! The pure white swordfish belly (mekadoro) had a slightly chewy edge too, so we got to enjoy a range of textures haha

The umami-packed tuna got even better with a generous brush of sesame oil, adding nuttiness and aroma, and there was plenty of seaweed, aged kimchi, and radish sprouts to wrap it in — enough to keep going through two full refills without running short.

The tuna sushi at Hangil Tuna

The akami tuna sushi that came alongside the sashimi was eye-openingly good, properly aged sushi — this isn't just a place that's good at tuna alone, the sushi rice itself was on point too.

Free corkage: we brought a bottle of Hibiki Choice

Eating great tuna in a place with such good atmosphere — you can't skip the drinks, right? haha Since Hangil Tuna offers one free bottle of corkage, we brought a bottle of Hibiki Chita whiskey we'd picked up on a trip to Sapporo.

The melt-in-your-mouth bluefin and the chewier specialty cuts made fantastic pairings with pretty much any drink — sake, whiskey, wine, soju, beer, you name it!

For corkage: it excludes solo visits and drinks sold in the restaurant, and it's one free bottle per party — wine glasses and an ice bucket are not provided.

What comes with the Manager Special spread

So many dishes came out that the four-person table filled up completely — the clear broth loaded with freshwater clams was just right as a soup to sip alongside drinks,

and the grilled Chilean sea bass flaked apart like pudding — soft yet still chewy, with rich umami flavor. We really enjoyed it.

The braised tuna was something I'd never had before — at first I thought it was braised monkfish, but it actually tasted like tuna, with a sweet-savory sauce that kept pulling me back in haha Honestly I assumed a tuna specialist would only nail its main dishes, and sure, the sushi being great made sense, but even the grilled fish and braised tuna were amazing — good enough to polish off a bowl of rice on their own. A real find in Janggidong.

You know how at a good fried shrimp place, biting into the crispy batter releases a puff of heat and a burst of salty shrimp flavor? This was exactly that. The udon had plenty of seaweed flakes and fried tofu topping, and a really generous amount of noodles, making it a solid main dish.

Ordering our tuna refills

We pressed the bell and asked the owner for a tuna refill. The refill selection isn't fixed — it seemed like the manager picked whatever cuts were best that day. Our first refill came with two kinds of bluefin, plus the specialty cuts palate meat and fin meat.

Among the reddish cuts, the darker one is the palate meat. The darker-colored specialty cuts, which resemble raw beef, had less fat, so they were great for enjoying tuna's clean, chewy side.

Notice anything different from before? This was our second refill haha Since we chose to have everything served at once rather than as a course, we'd already eaten the meal dishes too, so we were already full after the first refill — but we couldn't resist asking for a second, just to see what would come out next haha

The final refill brought five kinds — bluefin belly, lean meat, palate meat, fin meat, and gullet meat — along with plenty of seaweed, aged kimchi, radish sprouts and other side dishes. We were thoroughly spoiled, clearing three full rounds of tuna sashimi!

At checkout, we even got to grab a tasty candy on the way out 😉

Final verdict on Hangil Tuna

At Hangil Tuna in Janggidong, we got to taste melt-in-your-mouth bluefin belly aged over 12 hours and a variety of specialty bluefin cuts with different textures — a real tuna specialist that has stuck to one path.

It wasn't just the tuna — every dish that came alongside it was delicious too, and since tuna can be refilled up to twice, we got to eat our fill of premium tuna without any regrets.

Who Hangil Tuna is best for

• If you want great tuna course dishes in a great atmosphere, Hangil Tuna in Janggidong is a solid pick for an anniversary date.
• If you're after a drinking spot that's a change of pace from your usual bar, it's a good choice in Daegu to enjoy aged tuna and a drink with friends.
• It's a good room-style restaurant in Janggidong for family gatherings.

Naver reservations are available.