I just recently went to Xin Chao Steamboat. The restaurant is downtown, just down the street from the regular Xin Chao and Gallery Zone. For 15,000 won, you can choose one of three sets. The set I chose had no seafood as I was dining with someone with an aversion. It came with a huge plate of veggies, another plate of pork and beef. These were for boiling in the hot pot and then dipping into one of the four sauces available. The sauces were delicious, they were a Korean sesame garlic, Thai Fish sauce, Lebanese cream sauce and a Chinese chili sauce. We also received a green papaya salad as our appetizer. The salad was wonderful; spicy and tangy. We then received Vietnamese wraps. Rice paper and veggies which you wrapped yourself and which you could add the boiled meat into if you wished. Lastly we got rice noodles to put into the water to make a warm-hearted soup. Along with all of that we also got a glass of dry red wine. I highly recommend this restaurant.
Published by Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson
2nd (pronounced ‘two-N-D’) is a great addition to the ever-changing Samdeok nightlife scene. Billing themselves as an ‘ethnic-style’ restaurant and bar, their Mediterranean-esque interior certainly sets that kind of vibe. The menu has a range of influences, such as Spanish, Italian, Mexican, and Western.
Some other notable menu features:
Calzone
Chicken and sausage burrito
Teriyaki chicken kebab
Ribeye steak and veggies, with balsamic vinegar
Jumbo shrimp in hot chili sauce
Into is a very small, European restaurant located in downtown Daegu. Into has been around for 10 years, yet still only has 4 tables and has an open kitchen right in the room, giving it a cozy feeling like you’re eating in someone’s villa in Italy. They have a very small menu with a pasta and soup that changes every week, and also has 3 kinds of baguette sandwiches to choose from (smoked salmon, curried chicken, and tuna salad).
The owner/chef is a former chef at an Italian restaurant in Seoul’s Hilton Hotel, and also happens to operate the restaurant, Dijon, located next door.
Source:psycholjy’s blog
As we mentioned earlier this summer, the popular Korean BBQ franchise, Bulgogi Brothers, has continued its aggressive expansion outside of Seoul and has finally opened up in Dong-A Department Store in Suseong-gu. Great place for wine-lovers to get their drink on while gorging on the succulent Australian beef grilled at your table.
If you haven’t tried it already, you need to have a big helping of Kimchi-jjim while in Korea. Big hunks of braised pork mixed with kimchi and simmered for hours. The most popular place for this in downtown Daegu is at 한옥집, across from the northeast corner of Gukchaebosang Park. If you know where Galbijjim Alley is, its on the same side of that street, but before you get to the sign pointing to the alley. For everyone else, easiest way to get there is to go the corner with bell to your back, head north across the main road (should be at KT building on the left now) and then turn and go east across the other street. Then turn left once on the other side. Look for the sign on the right leading down a small alley. A perfect place to start your evening and within stumbling distance of your 2nd stop, wherever that may be in downtown. Only 5000 won per person and comes with unlimited ramen!
In Korea, barbeque pork restaurants are ubiquitous; however, Don-yah Barbeque stands ahead of the pack. Located just behind the Suseong-gu Government Office subway stop, across from the LG store in Beomeo-dong, Don-yah is a small restaurant easily identifiable from the amazing smell of meat and wood fire wafting from it.
Like many pork restaurants, Don-yah is self-service. Vegetables offerings such as lettuce, carrots, peppers and cucumbers are available as well as a couple of other side dishes. There are a variety of sauces such as soy sauce and wasabi, sweet mustard, and chili sauce. However, it is the wood fire that makes Don-yah different. The fire is situated in the middle of the back wall. It looks like it would be more comfortable at an Italian pizza place, but it has found its true calling. Once you order, the owner places the meat in the oven. The meat is cooked, and infused with the smoky flavor of the wood. Just before it is fully cooked, the meat is removed and vegetables like onions, kimchi, and garlic are added to the pan. The meat is brought to your table and cooked for the final minutes before your eyes.
Menu items include your regular pork offerings of samgyupsal and moksal in a soy or hot marinade. For me, though, if I’m indulging myself, it is the ribs. A row of baby back pork ribs with a spicy smoky marinade might be the thing that dreams are made of. You can get a half or full order. They are a little on the pricey side at 18,000 won an order, but in my opinion are well worth it.
By Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson
Cafe Lucid is yet another new entry to the growing cafe district of North Rodeo, just down from Jin’s and the recently opened Cafe Kori.
While most of the franchise restaurants are dominated by foreign multinational companies, Korean franchises are now hitting back. Equipped with affordable prices, fast chain networks, and thorough knowledge of Korean tastes, many Korean franchises are destroying the fortress of foreign companies. Surprisingly, it is the mid or small sized companies that are leading the assault, instead of the big companies with their large capitals and name recognition.
Starbucks and Coffee Bean’s weak performance in Daegu
Da Vinci, Sleepless in Seattle, Coffee Myungga, Han’s Coffee, and Ahn Espresso were all franchises started in Daegu and so far they have gained significant popularity. They own about 120 coffee shops, representing 70% of all the coffee shops in Daegu.
Starbucks currently has only 8 stores in Daegu; Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, only one.
The reasons for the popularity of these Korean coffee brands are affordable prices and high quality products. These coffee shops offer such things as Caffe Latte and Americano 30% cheaper than their foreign competitors do. Da Vinci Coffee strictly limits the expiration date of its coffee beans to 10 days after the beans have been roasted, and Coffee Myungga serves coffee made from beans that president of the company, Mr.Baristein, purchased directly from thirty different countries.
Caffe Bene, which opened up this April, donates part of its profits to the community instead of paying loyalty to its headquarters. As a result the company differentiates itself by having values such as unique taste and atmosphere, as well as social contribution.
Chain Store system has advantages in expansion.
Started in August, 1985 and advertising with the slogan ‘fun in exploring delightful tastes’, Baskin Robbins currently is the No.1 brand in the ice cream market. It occupies 65% of ice cream market and has approximately 700 chain stores.
Caffe Ti-amo, a Korean ice cream brand which started 3 years ago, challenged the ice cream giant. It offers easy requirements for the new business owners to open up a franchise location and now it has over 200 stores. The company added an “edge” by making ice cream in each store instead of receiving deliveries from headquarters.
Some critics say that chain store system is good for expansion, but lacks uniformity and service compared with direct management system used by foreign companies.
Na Se-Chul, the market manager for Bonjook, says that the Korean franchises are trying to improve their weaknesses by having regular training sessions for employees and quality-maintenance officers.
In the fast food market, Korean franchises are stepping up against McDonalds and KFC.
A chicken and burger restaurant named Mom’s Touch advertises with an image of mom’s hearty meal and operates in over 200 restaurants across the country. Concerned with Korean customers’ need for healthy food, Mom’s Touch is also taking charge in managing its food ingredients.
Kraze burger, although has only 25 restaurants so far, operates a made-to-order system and is getting a positive response for its successful differentiation from other foreign burger restaurants.
In contrast to the success of new Korean franchises, McDonalds and KFC have been decreasing the number of restaurants they operate. McDonalds went down from nearly 300 to 231 stores; KFC, from 200 to 173. Kang Byung-Ho, the chief of FC foundation Korea, says that there were about 2200 Korean franchises by the end of year 2005, and through many failures and success, the franchises have been gaining skills and popularity to compete against foreign franchises.
Source: Dong-A
Translated by Lee Joon-Yeob
Proofed and edited by: Michelle Van Balkom-Nicholson
Still attracting droves is Kraze Burger in the east side of the downtown core. Something magical must be going on if the cooks can find the right recipe that attracts both foreigners and Koreans, without having to stray into any funky fusion to appease the taste buds of everyone.
The Suseong-gu district of Daegu is often referred to the local equivalent to Seoul’s Gangnam, due to its residents, good education environment, congregated office buildings and financial institutions. Most of all, it has maintained its popularity due to easy access by subway and good road conditions. Prestigious high schools are in abundance; particularly, the international school that will be set up in 2009.
Deurangil, which connects Dusan-dong and Hwanggeum-dong, has been representing the vital cuisine area of Daegu for years. There are over 100 restaurants, each with more or less 330 square meters with parking space, along the 8-lane roadside.
Its food arranges from handmade knife-cut noodles(칼국수), to potato stew with pig backbone(감자탕), to Japanese and western food.
The rents are on the steep side. A premium location runs for about 100 million ~ 300 million won, of which a deposit of 50 million ~ 100 million won is required and the monthly rent would be 2 million ~ 3 million won. If you start a business in Deurangil, you’d ideally need at least 300 million won to work with.
The owner of a Korean beef restaurant says ” A person pays 30,000won for a meal here, we make 55 million won a month on average. On a good day, we have about 50 groups of customers and most of them are our regulars.”
A Japanese restaurant where a deposit is 100 million won and monthly rent is 4 million won, usually receives 35,000won per person, earning 1.7 million won a day. The owner says “Deurangil is one of the most famous food districts in Gyeongbuk province. There are many people who come all the way just for the food. It is also popular among office workers to have dinner parties.” He adds, “The sales have decreased by 10 percent this year, but considering the poor economy of the overall city, it’s not so bad”.
“Bin”, a pasta restaurant, says “Suseong-gu itself has often promoted restaurants here through local festivals and it’s a good thing”. Adding, “each restaurant has its own specialties but most customers drive here, so restaurants with less then 330 square meters are not doing so well.” This restaurant is 500 square meters, survives by maintaining a 100 million won deposit and pays 2 million won monthly. They make twice as much on weekends as on weekdays because of couples coming for a date. (Each person ranges between 26,000 to 30,000 won.)
Supported by regular customers, restaurants along Deurangil are making stable earnings, however, small restaurants and clothing shops in the side streets tend to operate in the red, seeing only 3 or 4 groups of customers a day, due to being overshadowed by the bigger ones. 20 percent of those smaller locations are currently up for rent. The clothing shops mainly target women who work at nearby entertaining establishments, so they usually close their business on weekends.
Recently, there are new buildings and apartment complexes being built up in the vicinity, such as Daewoo World Trump (1,000 units) starting next month, and Lotte Castle (4,300 units) which are already completed and with families moving in. This trend is causing speculation on the area’s transformation from an eating-out & entertainment area to a more resident-focused, and neighborhood-friendly area.
Source article from Naver News. Translated by Aesook Shin.
