Daegu shabu-shabu buffet with pork in garlic oil dip: Shabu20

What kind of place is Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch?

Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch is an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu, fresh spring roll, and salad bar restaurant near Iasiapolis and Daegu Airport, right by Gonghanggyo Bridge. Right before Chuseok, I wanted a healthy but hearty dinner, so I stopped by. I'd walked past it often when leaving Yongyong-nim's shop, but this was my first visit! It's popular for the unlimited shabu-shabu, fresh spring rolls, and salad bar, so waiting is basically required at mealtimes!

Parking and waiting at Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch

Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch has a parking lot for 30+ cars, plus the Gonghanggyo riverside park parking lot 3 minutes away on foot. On weekends and holidays, valet parking is even available. It was a weekday, but since it was right before the Chuseok holiday, the place was packed — still, we visited during dinner hours and luckily got in with no wait, so we could enjoy the Daegu all-you-can-eat buffet comfortably.

Shabu20 dinner price and broth choices

Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch runs an 80-minute lunch course and a 100-minute dinner course, with the lunch course available only on weekday lunches, excluding weekends and holidays. For broth, you choose 2 from original bonito, soybean, and spicy, plus special sukiyaki and hot pot. We went with the basic original bonito broth and the spicy broth, enjoying the 100-minute all-you-can-eat dinner course for ₩26,900 per person.

Once you pick your broth, they bring it out, and while it's coming to a boil, you fill your table bowls with shabu-shabu and fresh spring roll ingredients. If the broth runs low, you can freely self-refill it from the salad bar! On top of that, there's a generously stocked salad bar — Shabu20 Bokhyeon is truly a great find near Daegu Airport.

What's on the Shabu20 salad bar?

The salad bar at Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch has, besides shabu-shabu and fresh spring roll ingredients, sweet and spicy fried chicken (dakgangjeong), salad, spaghetti, fried rice, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), fruit, and rice cakes. It was overall really clean, which I loved. You can pair the salad bar food with the shabu-shabu and spring rolls, and it's great for eating something tasty while waiting for the broth to boil.

So many shabu-shabu and fresh spring roll ingredients! Since they keep restocking with fresh ingredients so nothing runs short, you can enjoy a generous, varied spread — a real find in Iasiapolis, Daegu. Yongyong-nim prefers shabu-shabu over spring rolls, while I prefer spring rolls over shabu-shabu, so we could each pick what we liked. Such a clean, satisfying Daegu all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu buffet.

Unlimited beef and pork, with pork dipped in oil sauce

Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch has unlimited beef AND pork! Shabu-shabu and spring rolls are usually paired with beef, and beef cooked shabu-shabu style or in spring rolls is soft and delicious. But the thin-sliced pork, cooked shabu-shabu style and dipped in garlic oil sauce, was a nice surprise too — soft and clean-tasting, like steamed cypress-box pork or thin grilled samgyeopsal.

Which sauces did we choose at Shabu20?

Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch has a wide variety of sauces! I went with my usual nutty sesame sauce, the garlic oil sauce for pork, and a sauce made following Shabu20's own recipe — three sauces in total. The basic sauce is tasty, but the mixed sauce made according to their recipe was even better. Personally, I highly recommend Shabu20's own shabu-shabu sauce!

Is the draft beer also unlimited at Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch?

At Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch, drinks, juice, coffee, and ice cream are all unlimited, and so — at no extra cost — is cold draft beer! We don't drink often, so unlimited draft beer felt like a novelty. You just set your glass on the machine, press the button, and out comes the beer — we enjoyed a light glass alongside the shabu-shabu and spring rolls.

Hitting the salad bar while the shabu-shabu boils

Once the broth boils, you add in the various shabu-shabu ingredients and let it boil again, then pile in plenty of meat for an even richer shabu-shabu! It'd be a shame to only have shabu-shabu, so we also loaded up on fresh spring roll ingredients to enjoy those too ★

Waiting around while the shabu-shabu boils is too hungry-making, so I kept myself busy with the various salad bar dishes in the meantime. Enjoying fried chicken, salad, and spaghetti while the shabu-shabu simmers meant the meal never had a lull — I loved that.

How do the bonito and spicy broths taste?

Of Shabu20's original broths, the bonito one is clean and mellow, while the spicy one is refreshing. The spicy broth is less spicy than you'd expect and leans toward a clean, refreshing taste rather than heaviness. Tender beef paired with crisp vegetables — that's shabu-shabu! The more you boil the meat and vegetables, the richer and tastier it gets, and then there are the fresh spring rolls with their mix of ingredients!

Wrapping various ingredients in rice paper with sauce for a fresh spring roll! It's a little fiddly and takes some effort, but the chewy texture of the rice paper is so good you can't give it up. The pork, cooked lightly shabu-shabu style just like the beef and dipped lightly in the fragrant garlic oil sauce, was clean-tasting and delicious — a real highlight at Shabu20 Bokhyeon.

Finishing off Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch with porridge and ice cream

Shabu-shabu and spring rolls have to end with porridge! I wanted to try the knife-cut noodles too, but personally I prefer rice over noodles, so I skipped the noodles and made porridge instead. Cooked with rice, vegetables, and egg in the shabu-shabu broth, it was nutty and delicious! Yongyong-nim was too full and ate the porridge alone, but it's the kind of porridge that's good even when you're stuffed. We finished it off clean and refreshing with ice cream.

A great find in Iasiapolis, Daegu, where you can enjoy delicious shabu-shabu, fresh spring rolls, and the salad bar all as unlimited refills. If you're looking for a good spot near Daegu Airport, I recommend Shabu20 Daegu Bokhyeon branch for its spacious parking lot and clean interior ★

• Business hours: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
• Last order: 8:50 PM