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Cafés, restaurants and places in Gyeongbuk, written by bloggers who went there.
Tareudang is a dessert café on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju that sells fruit mochi and tarts. The writer ordered four flavors — fresh chocolate, fig, pineapple, and gold kiwi — but one was mistakenly packed as mango instead, and tasting it revealed something closer to a fruit sando (thin castella-coated bread) than chewy mochi. The unsweetened vanilla bean cream paired with well-ripened fruit made it a good match for coffee.
Gallilli Daegae Hoe Sikdang is a snow crab and live-fish sashimi restaurant in Jukdo Market, Pohang, run for more than 30 years across two generations of seafood wholesalers and retailers. The Bakdal snow crab set for two came as a course: flounder mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) to start, a sea bream and flounder sashimi platter, meat-packed Bakdal snow crab, then seafood ramyeon. Opening with mulhoe and closing with the hot ramyeon broth made Gallilli Daegae Hoe Sikdang an easy recommendation for eating crab and sashimi in one sitting at Jukdo Market.
Irojeong Gumi Geumosan Direct Branch is a Korean restaurant on Bakjeonghui-ro in Sangmo-dong, Gumi, Gyeongbuk, serving loach soup and black goat soup made with sanghwang mushroom broth, near the birthplace of President Park Chung-hee. On a rainy weekday visit with her parents, the writer ordered the boiled pork and sanghwang loach soup set for two, a sanghwang black goat soup with extra meat and a potato pancake, then added self-serve noodles to the broth. The black goat meat carried no gamey smell and the finely ground loach soup broth made Irojeong a satisfying restorative meal for her parents.
Buja Hodu is a takeout-only walnut pastry shop on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, where each pastry holds one whole walnut. The writer and her sister drove over and bought a 10-piece mix packed on the spot plus a 15-piece mix in a box, ate the freshly baked ones in the car, and carried the rest to their home in Daegu in a cooler bag. The low-sugar red bean, pea cream cheese and matcha were all worth it, and the leftovers went into zipper bags in the freezer.
Goyu is a Korean restaurant near the main street of Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. The writer reserved a table for the moment break time ended and ordered pork kimchi jjim (braised kimchi with pork), crispy hanwoo bulgogi and eggplant gangjeong, sharing them with an elementary-school child along with the beef radish soup that comes with the meal. Nothing was too spicy and the room was easy with a child, so Goyu is a good choice for a clean Korean meal on Hwangnidan-gil.
Cafe Dongi Yeungnam University Art Center Branch is a budget-friendly Korean restaurant that opened this year on the 2nd floor of the main hall at Cheonma Art Center, Yeungnam University, in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk. Stopping in to fuel up before a hike, the writer ordered the spicy baby octopus set meal for 16,900 won, the crispy whole shrimp Japanese-style curry set for 11,900 won and the mini nuruk-aged tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) for 9,900 won, with unlimited fried eggs, five-grain rice and hutgae tea from the self-bar. Tender baby octopus on a personal tabletop brazier and 4 hours of free parking made Cafe Dongi a filling, well-priced meal.
Bibibidang Gyeongju is a premium tea café inside the Uyang Museum at the Hilton in Gyeongju's Bomun Tourist Complex. The order was a gugija (wolfberry) tea set served with black sesame dasik (pressed traditional sweets) plus a green plum ade and seasonal grape konjac jelly set, and staff explained the tea as they poured it. Quiet and unhurried, Bibibidang Gyeongju is an easy place to sit with your own work for thirty minutes.
Gyeongju Tokyo Pie is a pie bakery in Hwangnidan-gil, Gyeongju, that bakes whole Korean Fuji apples into its pies instead of using apple jam. The display case was nearly empty at close to 4pm, but asking the owner still got a 6-pie gift set boxed up, and back at the guesthouse the pies kept their crisp apple bite and a gentle butter aroma. The sweetness is mild, which makes Gyeongju Tokyo Pie a Gyeongju dessert that works as a gift for parents too.
Ppwang Mulhoe is a raw fish restaurant right in front of Yeongildae Beach in Pohang, Gyeongbuk. Stopping by on a drive from Busan to Gangwon-do, the writer compared the half-and-half mulhoe (squid + flounder) against the 3-combo mulhoe (squid + flounder + mixed fish), plus squid pajeon, and worked through the self-serve side dish bar too. Thin-sliced fish and vegetables served with icy broth make this a solid pick for anyone craving mulhoe near the beach.
Dongyang Baekban Gyeongju Hwangridan-gil Main Branch is a Korean restaurant in a hanok-style building tucked inside Hwangridan-gil in Gyeongju, and it's the original branch where the Dongyang Baekban brand began. The writer ordered the eunibeoseot black-rice-crust chicken stew (은이버섯 흑누룽지 닭전골) with ttangcho bap (spicy beef rice bowl) and a mini perilla-oil beef jeon, and found the nutty broth with black sesame and rice crust paired with boneless chicken easy to eat. A solid pick for travelers on Hwangridan-gil looking for a slightly different take on Korean food.
Tareudang is a fresh-fruit mochi dessert shop on the main street of Hwangnidang-gil in Gyeongju. Visiting on a weekday afternoon with no wait, the writer took out both peach yogurt and mango yogurt Hwangnamdaewang mochi from the six-flavor lineup — the peach, made with juicy water peaches, burst with juice and hit the spot, while the mango's rice cake wrapper had gone a bit mushy though the fruit itself was extremely sweet. On fruit sweetness alone, Tareudang delivers.
Cafe Dongi Yeungnam University Art Center Branch is a Korean set-meal restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Cheonma Art Center main hall at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk. Adults order a solo-brazier grilled jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) set for 12,900 won or a baby octopus set for 16,900 won, while the 4,900 won Little Explorer bulgogi set for kids comes with juice, and the family added juicy pan-fried dumplings alongside the robot serving and self-bar the child loved. With 4 hours of free parking after registering at the end of the meal, Cafe Dongi is an easy choice for eating out with children.
