Cold boiled pork with agaricus shabu-shabu for 3 in Gimpo: Homilwon

Baekro, the frost-white dew season. The day the term actually felt real on my skin — mornings and evenings finally showing a temperature gap. Days like this make me crave hot broth and meat at the same time. Must be baekro doing this to me.

This time I went to Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu Gimpo Main Branch in Geolpo-dong, Gimpo. I found it while looking for a good shabu-shabu spot in Gimpo — a place where you eat shabu-shabu in agaricus mushroom broth, then slurp down house-made rye kalguksu. On top of that, unlimited refills of beef mushroom mu-bap made with Gimpo Geumssal rice.

I'd passed by a few times but this was my first visit. That day we ordered 3 servings of agaricus shabu kalguksu, one plate of cold boiled pork, and a bowl of rice. Went in planning to just eat shabu-shabu and ended up with my appetite fully unlocked.

Location, hours, parking

Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu Gimpo Main Branch is at 142-17 Geolpo-ro, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do. Open daily from 11am to 9pm, last order at 8:10pm.

• Address: 경기 김포시 걸포로 142-17 가동 (142-17 Geolpo-ro, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
• Hours: 11:00–21:00
• Last order: 20:10
• Parking: private lot in front of the restaurant
• Baby chairs / group-friendly

Parking matters as much as the food when eating out with family. The lot is right in front of the restaurant, big enough for 20-plus cars. These days finding parking is a job in itself no matter where you go, but here we just pulled up and walked in. Even if a few cars show up together on a weekend family outing, parking shouldn't be a stress here.

Entrance garden and the mood inside

Walked in the door and there's a small garden right in front of the counter. Oh — a shabu-shabu place with this? A little garden greeting you right at the entrance puts you in a good mood before you've even sat down. First impression already different from your typical shabu-shabu joint.

The inside is tidy, wood-toned. Plenty of tables, and baby chairs are ready to go. A place this size would work well for a family outing with kids in Gimpo, or a meal with parents. When we visited there were family diners as well as a group having a work dinner. It was busy but the space itself wasn't loud, so nothing got in the way of eating.

This place was featured on VJ Teukgongdae (a Korean TV show), so one wall is lined with autographs from past visitors. Alright, let's eat.

Ordering 3 servings of agaricus shabu kalguksu and cold boiled pork

First visit, so we went with the basics: 3 servings of agaricus shabu kalguksu, one plate of cold boiled pork, one bowl of rice.

Agaricus shabu kalguksu isn't just shabu meat and vegetables and done — it continues into rye kalguksu and then finishes with perilla oil fried rice. Looking at the menu: shabu-shabu, then kalguksu, then fried rice. Oh, my appetite is really about to get unlocked today.

Starting with the unlimited beef mushroom mu-bap

While waiting for the pot to boil, the beef mushroom mu-bap came out first. Beef mushroom mu-bap made with Gimpo Geumssal rice, and it's unlimited refill. Had to try it right away.

Added the special seasoning sauce, plus fresh cabbage kimchi and yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi). A drizzle of sesame oil, mixed it up, one bite. Wait — this rice is actually good? Am I even the person who said she had no appetite? Low expectations going in, thumbs up coming out.

Once the seasoning sauce and kimchi went into the mu-bap, I couldn't stop eating. Hands busy, head nodding automatically. Came for shabu-shabu and my appetite got fully reset by beef mushroom mu-bap first.

Does agaricus mushroom broth taste medicinal?

Bean sprouts, bok choy, minari (water dropwort). Enoki, king oyster, oyster mushrooms. The pot was packed full of vegetables and mushrooms, with the yellow agaricus mushroom right in the middle.

Since it's called agaricus mushroom shabu-shabu, I worried it might taste strongly medicinal at first. Tried the broth first. Oh — it's fine. Not the flavor I was bracing for. With the minari and mushrooms in it, the broth tastes even better, warm enough to settle your stomach. Must be the fall thing getting to me — claiming I had no appetite while my spoon kept heading straight for my mouth.

Eat the meat together with minari. A piece of meat with a generous amount of minari — this combo really brings the appetite back to life. By the end I think I was fishing out more minari than meat. A sip of hot broth in between — ah, as the weather cools, this is exactly the flavor I want.

Cold boiled pork, more like cold jokbal

This tastes more like cold jokbal than boiled pork?

We also ordered cold boiled pork on top, since the kids wanted more meat. It came out piled high on a plate, layer after layer, with visible chunks of fat — so at first I thought it would taste quite greasy. Took one bite. Wait — this tastes like jokbal? I was expecting regular boiled pork but the flavor was on a completely different level. Served cold, so to me it landed as exactly cold jokbal-style boiled pork. No gamey smell at all, and not the least bit greasy.

Dipped in doenjang (fermented soybean paste) sauce with sliced cheongyang chili, and — ah, this is really good. Came for shabu-shabu, ended up falling for the cold boiled pork. Ordered it as an afterthought side dish and turned out to be the right call. Pretty sure I'll order this again next time.

The rye kalguksu I'd been waiting for

After the meat and vegetables, the rye kalguksu I'd been waiting for. The moment you see the noodles, the color already sets it apart from regular kalguksu — a grayish rye noodle, a completely different look from the smooth, pale wheat kind.

The broth, now even richer after all the meat, minari, and mushrooms, gets the rye noodles added in and given one more boil. Then, slurp. Mmm, I love this kind of noodle. Even better eaten together with the broth. The broth's flavor had built up more than at the start of the shabu-shabu, so getting to the kalguksu felt like starting a whole new meal.

We'd already had the beef mushroom mu-bap earlier. Had the shabu meat. Had the cold boiled pork. And yet the rye kalguksu still goes in. Guess there really is a separate stomach reserved for noodles.

Fried rice is supposedly the proper finish, but we were too full and left it untouched. They said it's made with hand-pressed perilla oil, and I was curious about the taste, but... next time.

Same order next time

Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu was my first visit while looking for a good shabu-shabu spot in Gimpo. Started with agaricus mushroom shabu-shabu and worked all the way through to rye kalguksu. In the middle we thoroughly worked through the Gimpo Geumssal beef mushroom mu-bap and even added a plate of cold boiled pork — a properly full meal that day. Fried rice at the end is the correct order of operations, but we were too full. Next time, I have to try the fried rice with the hand-pressed perilla oil.

The beef mushroom mu-bap, which I wasn't expecting much from, turned out especially good, and even now what comes to mind for the cold boiled pork is cold jokbal before boiled pork. No gamey smell, not greasy — a menu I want to order again next time.

Plenty of parking and genuinely clean baby chairs make this a solid option when looking for a family outing spot in Gimpo. And if I go back to Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu again? Agaricus shabu kalguksu with cold boiled pork. Probably the exact same order next time too.