Octopus shabu-shabu with free makgeolli in Yongin: Dongchundang

Dongchundang Shabu Kalguksu, located in Sinbong-dong, Suji, inside the Sinbong Oesik Town food street. We stopped by for dinner after visiting Dongcheon Natural Botanical Garden nearby. Being inside a food street, parking was huge and super convenient.

Business hours and parking

• 📍 Address / 336 Sinbong 1-ro, 1st floor, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (Sinbong-dong 639)
• ⏰ Hours / 10:00 ~ 21:00, Monday 10:00 ~ 15:00
• 🚘 Free parking available

We came at an awkward time, a bit too early for dinner, so the inside was really spacious and cool haha. About an hour later, right as we were finishing up and heading out around a bit past 5pm, the place got noticeably busier.

The self-serve bar setup

Kimchi, sauces, and broth are all free refills! Looking back now, they even had chili sauce... wish I'd grabbed some. Kimchi and cheongyang peppers were also laid out so you could easily help yourself.

Shabu-kalguksu price and composition

As the name suggests, the main dish is shabu-kalguksu. It comes as yeolmu barley rice + shabu-shabu + mugwort kalguksu (kalguksu, hand-cut noodle soup) + fried rice, orderable for 2 or more, at ₩13,000 per person. And there were signs at every table saying you didn't have to order exactly one per person. But we ordered 4 servings anyway, counting our kid...

Rather than chasing younger palates, they said they chose a broth that older bodies would find agreeable first — designed to feel gentle on the stomach afterward rather than going for bold flavor. Honestly... the older I get, the more my body seems to crave food that's easy to digest and gentle on the stomach.

Free unlimited makgeolli

Get this — unlimited makgeolli refills. Ordering the makgeolli itself is free. That's pretty wild. I would've had a glass too if I weren't driving.

Added octopus and tofu sandwich toppings

We added two pieces of tofu sandwich and a whole octopus as toppings. That chunky octopus alone was a huge visual upgrade.

An appetite-stirring barley bibimbap! One scoop at a time hit just right. Since the shabu-kalguksu takes a while to cook, it was nice to have something light to nibble on in the meantime.

The shabu meat also comes out. Looks like two plates' worth for two servings.

This one's for the fried rice after finishing the shabu-shabu! What's in it that makes the fried rice so good? It definitely tasted better than fried rice elsewhere.

Clear broth since we had our kid

The full shabu-kalguksu spread~ made even more special with the added octopus. Since we ordered 4 servings, it took a while for the broth to come to a boil. We switched to clear broth because of our kid, but looking around, the spicy red broth seemed to be the popular choice. I like the red broth too... if you like spicy, grabbing cheongyang peppers from the self-serve bar is a must!

The utensils come out sealed and hygienic along with the food. Feels a lot more reassuring than ones just sitting out on the table.

Mugwort kalguksu noodles and plenty of vegetables

The noodles are mugwort kalguksu, so they have a distinct color. There's also a bit of extra minari (water dropwort) piled on top.

The octopus comes pre-cooked, but it needs a good soak in the boiling broth to actually warm up. There's bean sprouts inside too, and the vegetables were super generous! We also added the tofu sandwich, which had a meat filling between the tofu, making it even tastier. My husband tried it and said he could see the point of it.

Unlimited mak-guksu too

Fed my husband a bowl haha. The mak-guksu was so refreshing! Why do they just give this out for free, and unlimited at that? Between not requiring one order per person and this, it's the kind of generous restaurant that's hard to find these days.

Final thoughts

The fried rice looked plain but was genuinely tasty, and the kalguksu noodles were incredibly tender! The noodles themselves were delicious and the broth was light and easy on the stomach. A place I'd like to try again with red broth once our kid is a bit older.

On weekdays they apparently also serve black sesame ice cream! Since we visited on a weekend, we got several kinds of puffed rice snacks instead. Free makgeolli, four kinds of free puffed rice snacks — this restaurant really doesn't hold back.