Korean BBQ in Daejeon: garlic short rib over coal briquettes at Untan

If you're looking for a good-value sogalbisal (short rib) restaurant in Daejeon, I'd recommend Untan in Taepyeong-dong. Personally, sogalbisal is one of my top three favorite cuts of meat — I love its distinctive savoriness, and how it's sometimes tender and sometimes has that nice chewy bite. It goes great with rice, and it goes great with naengmyeon too.

Where is Untan Taepyeong in Daejeon?

Untan Taepyeong is at 33 Yucheon-ro 132beon-gil, 1F, Jung-gu, Daejeon, near Taepyeong Market. Hours are 16:30–23:00, with last order at 22:30.

Untan Taepyeong sits near Taepyeong Market. Its signature move is grilling meat over patented eco-friendly charcoal, and you can get a 300cc draft beer here for just ₩1,900.

Inside Untan Taepyeong: pojangmacha-style interior and self-serve bar

Inside, Untan Taepyeong has that street-tent (pojangmacha) feel with blue interior and round tables. Ventilation was good, so almost no meat smell stuck to my clothes.

Here's the interior. The first thing I noticed was that distinctive street-tent blue color scheme. Add the round tables and the pojangmacha vibe was in full effect — it kind of reminded me of a 2010s-style bar atmosphere.

Ventilation overall was solid. That meant almost no meat smell soaked into my clothes, which I really appreciated. Sometimes after Korean BBQ, the smell gets into your hair, your ears, even under your fingernails — none of that happened here.

The self-serve bar was well organized too. Perilla leaves, lettuce wraps, onion, egg, corn salad, garlic — all sorts of side dishes neatly laid out. A tidy self-serve bar really does improve your impression of a place. The sauce containers were clean too.

Untan Taepyeong menu and prices: what we ordered

The menu at Untan Taepyeong is divided into sogalbisal (short rib), toshisal (skirt steak), and galmaegisal (skirt meat), all available either marinated or plain. That day we ordered the Uiseong garlic sogalbisal for two (₩31,800), mul naengmyeon (₩6,000), beef-packed cheonggukjang (₩6,000), and four draft beers (₩7,600).

Here's the menu board. I photographed both the paper menu and the digital menu board — the digital one has a slightly wider selection.

The sogalbisal is marinated with Uiseong garlic. It comes in sogalbisal, toshisal, and galmaegisal, each available marinated or plain. There's also charcoal-grilled chicken as a specialty item — sometimes I get a craving for grilled chicken, but today I went with the classic of classics, sogalbisal.

• Uiseong garlic sogalbisal for two: ₩31,800
• Mul naengmyeon: ₩6,000
• Beef-packed cheonggukjang: ₩6,000
• Four draft beers: ₩7,600

Draft beer is currently ₩1,900 a glass. Whenever the price of a draft beer starts with a 1, I basically have no choice but to order it (though honestly I'd order it either way).

Side dishes and frying your own egg on the grill

The basic side dishes at Untan Taepyeong include white kimchi, green onion kimchi, corn salad, dried radish strips, lettuce wraps, onion sauce, and even mukguk (acorn jelly soup). You can fry your own egg, with both cooking oil and perilla oil set out for you.

The side dishes come out pretty generously. The presentation was nice too — starting with white kimchi, then green onion kimchi, then corn salad.

Dried radish strips, lettuce wraps, and onion sauce followed. I noticed the dried radish strips were noticeably bigger than before — maybe the supplier changed their drying method. Funnily enough, the radish strips at my office lunch that same day were huge too, so who knows.

Then ssamjang, sesame oil sauce, salt, and wasabi were set out, and mukguk rounded out the basic side dishes.

You can also fry your own egg here. When two guys come for a meal and drinks, being able to fry up eggs or pancakes yourself adds a certain irresistible charm. Both cooking oil and perilla oil are provided. Perilla-oil fried egg with draft beer — I simply cannot resist that combo, haha.

Draft beer for 1,900 won a glass

We ordered draft beer along with our food. With side dishes and a fried egg already on the table, we drained a glass before even starting the meal.

How was the Uiseong garlic short rib for two over coal briquettes?

Untan Taepyeong's Uiseong garlic sogalbisal for two costs ₩31,800 and arrives with a big pile of chopped garlic on top. The gentle charcoal heat meant it cooked evenly without burning.

And here's the garlic sogalbisal for two. The reason I prefer garlic sogalbisal over the plain version is simple — with all that chopped garlic piled on top, it just looks about 15 times more delicious at first glance.

And it feels healthier too, as a bonus.

So we started grilling. My friend, who's a grilling master, jumped right in and got started.

The color was gorgeous. With all that garlic piled on top, I was already excited.

And on top of everything, the fact that it was charcoal made me even more thrilled inside. Charcoal fire and meat together is a combo that could put Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat to shame.

The charcoal heat was gentle, so it cooked well without burning. Of course, my friend's grilling skills helped too.

And here's the sogalbisal, cooking beautifully.

We ate some plain, just dipped in salt, and some with the onion sauce. The pairing of onion sauce and sogalbisal was fantastic — I first discovered how great that combo was back in elementary school, and it's still my favorite way to eat it today.

Mul naengmyeon and beef-packed cheonggukjang to finish

We wrapped up the meal with mul naengmyeon (₩6,000) and beef-packed cheonggukjang (₩6,000). The naengmyeon noodles weren't tough and had good bite, and the broth was refreshingly cold.

We ordered mul naengmyeon for our meal. It was a hot day, so something cool really hit the spot. The noodles weren't tough and had good bite, and the broth was refreshingly cold.

We also ordered cheonggukjang since we felt like we needed a little more. True to its name, it was packed with plenty of beef.

Finishing with cheonggukjang left us satisfyingly full. Adding beer on top was the icing on the cake. If you're looking for a great sogalbisal spot in Daejeon, or a good restaurant in Taepyeong-dong, I'd recommend Untan Taepyeong.