Seafood miso soup with a whole crab & Korean bibimbap topped with lobster!

Text & Photos byLittle Dot Paine

After exploring the Dongpirang Mural Village, it was time to fill up, so I headed back to the guesthouse before searching online for nearby restaurants. I originally planned to just grab some street food in Tongyeong, but while at the guesthouse, I stumbled upon a place featured on “1 Night 2 Days” – ???.

It looked like they served really generous portions. I figured since I was alone, I couldn’t order a full set meal, so I’d go for bibimbap or seafood pancakes—but to my surprise, the set meals, which are usually for two, were available as single portions at the owner’s suggestion. That was amazing (though I went around 2:30 PM—don’t know if they’d do the same during peak lunch hours, because this place is super busy even off-peak with quite a few customers).

It’s only about a ten-minute walk from the guesthouse, not far, right across from the harbor. Follow the sign for the restaurant route, it’s at the back.

That’s when I spotted Daefeng Restaurant.

The A to C set menus all say “for two people minimum,” so I was planning to just get bibimbap or pancakes. But the owner straight-up said ordering a set menu was no problem!

I had originally ordered the seafood pancake, but the owner said the C set was fine. So she wrote “C1” on my table, meaning one-person portion of the C set. At the same time, a Korean girl sitting next to me also ordered a one-person C set, and we both got the same generous side dish portions (probably meant for two people). They started us off with eight different side dishes—I seriously wanted to ask the girl next to me if she wanted to share, because there was no way I could finish all that food. It would’ve been such a waste.

All the above side dishes are small accompaniments and can be refilled. There were some I didn’t eat, so I moved them to the corner of the table and proactively told the staff to take them back (though they didn’t seem to get what I meant). In the end, when I left, I saw the auntie pour all the leftover side dishes into the soup pot—I’m certain this is a restaurant that does not reuse side dishes!

This is what a full set looks like when served. How could one person possibly finish this!!!

I have to mention the bibimbap. Originally, the menu listed sea squirt bibimbap and ??? (a local famous dish), but I figured besides Koreans, few foreigners would enjoy the “super fishy” sea squirt and ???. So the auntie asked if I’d like to switch to lobster bibimbap instead—wasn’t that thoughtful!

Even though there was only a little bit of lobster meat, it still felt amazing.

I found this bibimbap to be a bit on the sweet side. They gave a generous amount of bibimbap sauce, haha, very bold flavors.

The seafood miso soup came in a huge pot (I was shocked), and it actually had a real crab in it.

The seafood pancake—I came here for this!

It tasted pretty good, though a bit too peppery, so it’s spicier. If you like spicy food, this goes great with rice or alcohol. And the texture of the pancake was excellent.

This is ??? Huaiwu, which I think translates to oyster salad?

It has oysters, and they’re definitely the star here.

The water here is served by the auntie in bottles from a water dispenser—not tap water!
Verdict: Despite me asking several times to take back the uneaten side dishes (because I really didn’t touch them—even for photos I only took distant shots), they still ended up pouring everything into the recycling bin. So, definitely a place that doesn’t reuse side dishes. Plus, the owner was kind enough to let solo diners order full set meals. I really recommend this restaurant!

??? Daefeng Restaurant
Address: ?懒皑衬 训?萝 蒸痢?1? 19
Korean Map
Coordinates: 34.843464, 128.427238

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