Bongdam, Hwaseong Japanese lunch with ₩990 Pororo juice: Sindong Lab

Bongdam lunch spot, Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch, a place worth visiting with kids in Hwaseong

After a kids' field trip in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, I searched for a good lunch spot in Bongdam and ended up at Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch, a yes-kids-zone restaurant. It has its own kids' menu and lots of trendy dishes, making it a great Bongdam restaurant for the whole family.

Parking and waiting area at Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch

There's a small parking area right at the entrance of Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch, but it fills up fast — don't worry though, there's a bigger lot a bit further down. The restaurant itself is decorated with a full Japanese vibe.

At the entrance there are photos of the Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch menu, showing a range of Japanese dishes, which makes it easy to plan a visit with kids.

This is a Bongdam restaurant with waits during peak hours, but they've thoughtfully set up a comfortable waiting area with sparkling water, so even the wait feels pleasant.

Book ahead for a partitioned table with One Piece figures

Because I booked ahead through Naver, we got a nice spacious table — and if you walk in without a wait, you'll be seated right away too. The tables are quite roomy, so group visits shouldn't be a problem!

Since we booked ahead, we got a table sectioned off by a partition, decorated with One Piece figures — fun to look at while waiting.

You can order and pay conveniently through the table-order system, and there are plenty of free kids' menu items — plus the Pororo juice is only 990 won, which is such a nice touch!

What we ordered at Sindong Lab Bongdam and what it cost

The most popular dishes at Sindong Lab are gyukatsu, cream udon nabe, tonkatsu curry-don, salmon set, and sukiyaki. You can order them as full sets or as single dishes.

Gyukatsu (breaded beef cutlet) comes in a regular or jumbo size, and can also be ordered as a side dish, so you can pick what suits your taste.

• Jumbo gyukatsu 190g ₩21,900
• Sukiyaki set ₩14,900
• Yakitori-don ₩9,500
• Extra gyukatsu ₩11,900
• Pororo juice ₩990

Order complete!

Leave a review and you get a free Starbucks coffee! You can also get wafers served with the ice cream!

On the table there's Japanese-style seasoning, plus a hair tie and bottle opener — such cute little details!

After ordering, while we waited, soup and omija tea (schisandra berry tea) were served according to the number of people — perfect as an appetizer.

Jumbo gyukatsu set with ricotta cheese salad, ₩21,900

Ordering the jumbo gyukatsu + ricotta cheese salad set brought out a neat full spread: ricotta cheese salad, rice, soup, 190g gyukatsu, and a personal grill — so tidy!

On the personal grill, Japanese-style rice cakes are set up to grill alongside, and you can add extra meat — I added some since I wanted to eat plenty. The outside comes fried and you re-grill it on your personal burner, which kids love.

Grilling up the gyukatsu to suit the kids' taste~

Dip the well-grilled rice cake in honey, and the gyukatsu is great dipped in steak sauce, eaten plain, or even topped with just a bit of wasabi!

Sukiyaki set for one, ₩14,900

I wanted something warm and soupy, so I ordered the sukiyaki set! As a full spread, it's clean and enjoyable like shabu-shabu — a dish that pretty much everyone likes.

Put the meat and vegetables into the personal burner, add udon noodles, boil it all together, then mix in a raw egg and dip the meat and vegetables in it :)

Yakitori-don (grilled chicken rice bowl), ₩9,500

My husband's order, yakitori-don! It's a rice bowl made with good-quality chicken thigh grilled over open flame in Sindong Lab's special sauce — exactly the kind of hearty one-bowl dish guys love!

Free kids' menu, ₩990 Pororo juice and free ice cream

From the kids' menu, we added rice, seaweed, and ham toast — and all of that is free~~~ The Pororo juice is only 990 won too, so you can drink a few without feeling bad about it.

After a satisfying meal, even the ice cream dessert was free! This is a Bongdam restaurant that just keeps giving. Lots of people were ordering the cream udon too, so next time I'll have to try the cream udon set :-)