Suwon shabu-shabu with pork neck or brisket choice: Sodamchon Jeongja

I went back to my favorite shabu-shabu spot — Sodamchon in Jeongja-dong, Suwon.

Where is Sodamchon Suwon Jeongja Branch, and where do you park?

Sodamchon Suwon Jeongja Branch is on the 4th floor of Gyeongseong Building, 171 Jeongjacheon-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea — the 4th floor of the Twosome Place building. If you park at Seonil Parking Building (Rostime building) floors 3 or 4, across from Lotteria, you get 90 minutes of parking support.

I love shabu-shabu, but eating just meat feels a bit lacking, and ordering separate side dishes is a hassle. What I liked about Sodamchon is that the self-bar has a wide range of ingredients ready to go, so you can just help yourself to as much as you want.

The weekday lunch special: spring roll shabu set for 15,900 won

Best of all, you can choose your own broth and meat, so you can eat exactly to your taste! We visited on a weekday for lunch and ordered the (lunch special) spring roll shabu set — spring rolls & shabu + shabu meat (70g) for ₩15,900 — three servings.

Does half-and-half broth cost extra at Sodamchon?

At Sodamchon you can choose between clear broth and spicy (red) broth. I couldn't pick just one, so I ordered half-and-half — at other places that's usually come with an extra charge, but at Sodamchon there's no extra fee for splitting the pot.

One side is clean and mild, the other a bit spicier and punchier, so it was fun switching back and forth between the two flavors. If you're dining with a group with different tastes, ordering the half-and-half broth is a great option.

Choosing your meat: pork neck or beef brisket

For the meat, you can choose between pork neck (mokshim) and beef brisket (yangji). The thinly sliced meat, lightly cooked in the broth and eaten with vegetables, was light and clean — and it also worked well wrapped in spring roll vegetables. One of the best things about shabu-shabu is that you can balance meat and vegetables however you like.

The four sauces that come with the set

There are four basic sauces: lime, peanut, chili and ponzu.

The self-bar also had everything ready for making extra sauce mixes on your own.

What's on the Sodamchon self-bar?

The self-bar is the thing you can't skip at Sodamchon! Alongside the various vegetables and mushrooms to add to your shabu-shabu, there's also a full spread of spring roll vegetables, and you can just help yourself to as much as you like.

There's also fish cake, dumplings, rice noodles and kalguksu (knife-cut wheat noodles), so we kept adding new ingredients throughout the meal.

At first I told myself I'd just bring over a modest amount, but as I kept adding things one by one, the table quickly filled up.

After eating our fill of the shabu-shabu, we could finish it off with kalguksu or rice noodles, which made for a really filling meal.

The self-bar isn't just shabu-shabu ingredients, either. There's also salad, bread and soup, so we could snack on those in between bites of shabu-shabu. It would be especially good for families — kids can pick noodles, dumplings or fish cakes while the adults focus on vegetables and meat, each enjoying it their own way. With so much variety, it felt like ordering one shabu-shabu set got us several different meals in one.

Was the meal worth it, and where to get coffee after

I liked that at Sodamchon you can choose everything yourself, from broth to meat to vegetables and sides. I also liked being able to enjoy the clear and spicy broths half-and-half, and the self-bar had so much variety — not just vegetables and spring roll greens, but noodles, dumplings, fish cake, salad, bread and soup — that we left completely satisfied.

It's still hot out, so I hesitated a bit about eating something warm, but once I started eating, it was delicious anyway. If you're a shabu-shabu fan, this is a place worth visiting regardless of the season. Across from the waiting area, there's a café where you can get plum tea, coffee and even ice cream after your meal, so you don't need to go somewhere else for dessert.

If you're looking for shabu-shabu near Starfield Suwon, head to Sodamchon in Jeongja-dong and enjoy a generous meal with all the ingredients you want🙂

Sodamchon Suwon Jeongja Branch / 4th floor, Gyeongseong Building, 171 Jeongjacheon-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si / Daily 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:20)