Unlimited barley gangjeong at Daegu Korean restaurant Cafe Dongi

When I'm craving a neat, proper Korean set meal, I go to Cafe Dongi — so I visited the newly opened Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch this September.

Where is Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch? Parking and hours

Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch is located at 122 Daemyeongbokgae-ro 4-gil, 1st floor, Nam-gu, Daegu, about 300m from Exit 1 of Daemyeong Station. Hours are 11:00–21:00 (break time 15:00–16:30), and there's parking for up to 2 cars in front of the store.

This Daemyeong-dong, Nam-gu, Daegu Korean restaurant sits in the alley right behind the Anjirang post office building. There's parking for 2 cars in front, and even when that's full there's alley parking nearby, so it wasn't too inconvenient.

I visited early, but by lunchtime most of the tables filled up fast. Since Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch serves full set meals, turnover is pretty quick, so even if you end up waiting, a cool glass of gugija tea out front should have you seated in no time.

Inside Cafe Dongi: seating options and baby chairs

Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch is a single-floor, spacious restaurant with a variety of seating — solo seats, 2-person tables, 4-person tables, and group tables. Baby chairs are also available, making it good for visits with kids.

This branch is more spread out on a single floor than other Cafe Dongi locations, so the table setup is varied — solo, 2-person, 4-person, and group seating are all there.

The bar-style counter seats are positioned so solo diners can eat comfortably without worrying about anyone else — I'll definitely come back alone next time I'm craving a meal someone else made for me. Haha.

The restaurant is spacious and pleasant, making it good for visiting with kids, and baby chairs are available too.

They use quality ingredients like premium-grade gold rice grown in the clean DMZ area of Gimpo, and offer unlimited fried egg, five-grain rice, and barley snacks — it caught my eye as a sign the owner cares more about giving customers a delicious, generous meal than maximizing profit. Cafe Dongi is a great-value spot where you can get a hearty home-style meal for around ₩10,000-20,000.

Heads up — disposable aprons are available at the counter, so check for those!

Free-refill self-bar: fried egg, five-grain rice, seaweed and barley gangjeong

At Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch, fried eggs, five-grain rice, seaweed, and gugija tea are all unlimited refills. The barley snacks set up near the water dispenser are also unlimited.

Such a generous deal at Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch. Whether you're an adult or a kid, a fried egg and some seaweed alone can polish off a whole bowl of rice, haha.

The area around the self-bar was really neat and tidy too, which put me at ease. The barley snacks by the water dispenser are unlimited as well.

After the meal I scooped up some barley snacks for dessert — they had a nutty, mild sweetness that was really good.

Cafe Dongi menu prices and the ₩4,900 kids menu

For the main dishes, you'll mostly be choosing between the 1-person Korean set and the 1-person Dongi basic set — we went with the grandma-style stir-fried jjukkumi (webfoot octopus) set and the charcoal-grilled pork set. The charcoal-grilled pork and Dongi bulgogi sets are currently on a special promotion, so you can enjoy them generously at a low price.

New and seasonal menu items rotate regularly, so there's fun in visiting each season. The side dishes are as high quality as the mains — personally I'd recommend the nuruk-aged sweet and sour pork. The tasting-size mini sweet and sour pork is light enough to pair with a main, so we ordered one extra.

Cafe Dongi's kids menu is also really well put together, and you can get it at the surprising price of ₩4,900. Available for ages 3 to 7, with a choice of bulgogi or sweet and sour pork. Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch is a great Korean restaurant to visit as a family.

How do the jjukkumi and flame-grilled pork set meals taste?

We got the grandma-style stir-fried jjukkumi set, the charcoal-grilled pork set, and the tasting-size sweet and sour pork, plus three rice-thief side dishes. The 1-person Korean set comes with doenjang stew by default, switchable to kimchi stew for an extra ₩1,000.

In this era of high prices, being able to eat generously for around ₩10,000-20,000 without worry means I'd come back 1,000% for sure. The three rice-thief side dishes come along too.

The 1-person Korean set comes with doenjang stew as standard, and you can switch to kimchi stew for an extra ₩1,000.

The plump jjukkumi and vegetables came with a nice smoky char — it was really delicious.

If you like it extra spicy, pairing it with the mayo sauce makes it even better. The doenjang stew that comes as standard was so generously packed with ingredients, you could really feel the generosity of Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch.

The charcoal-grilled pork came with the same set composition. The thinly sliced pork was tender rather than chewy, and the generous vegetables gave it a good texture too.

To finish the meal, sujeonggwa (cinnamon-persimmon punch) is served as a palate cleanser.

Cafe Dongi's signature nuruk-aged sweet and sour pork

The crispy fried nuruk (fermented grain) tangsuyuk is Cafe Dongi's signature dish, so it's definitely worth trying at least once.

It uses no flour at all — instead it's aged for 72 hours with traditional rice nuruk and freshly fried, so it didn't sit heavy after eating, which I liked.

Dipping the crispy nuruk-aged tangsuyuk into the sweet and tangy sauce — how could that not be delicious!

If you sign up for the Dongi membership, you can get a free mini-size portion of the delicious nuruk-aged tangsuyuk, so be sure to try it along with a hearty home-style set meal. There's also lemonade for a review event, so grab all the deals and enjoy a great meal at Cafe Dongi Daemyeong Station Branch.