Magok shabu-shabu with five-color rice finish: Yangcheon Shabu Son

I'd been craving shabu-shabu for a while. There are quite a few buffet-style or all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu places near my house, but even at a buffet I sometimes end up not eating as much as I'd like for the price, and a few times the meat quality was a bit disappointing. So this time I decided to go somewhere that isn't all-you-can-eat. That's how I ended up at Yangcheon Shabu Son Kalguksu while looking for shabu-shabu in Magok.

Yangcheon Shabu Son Kalguksu, Magok Main Branch: hours and parking

Yangcheon Shabu Son Kalguksu, Magok Main Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, with last order at 20:20 and no break time. For parking, you can use the underground parking at Magok Botanic Park Plaza, and after dining the restaurant supports up to 2 hours of parking.

• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:20, no break time)
• Parking: Underground parking at Magok Botanic Park Plaza, supported after dining (up to 2 hours)
• Tip: Free corkage!!

The first thing I noticed walking in was how clean the place was. It was bright and tidy overall, so it was comfortable eating with the kids, and the greenery visible out front was really nice too.

What the 12,000 won basic set includes

The meal menu requires an order of 2 or more, and you could choose from three broths: spicy, clear, or perilla seed. Our basic set was ₩12,000 per person, which came with broth, 50g of shabu meat, vegetables, black garlic hand-cut noodles, and perilla oil five-color rice. Considering how expensive eating out has gotten these days, ₩12,000 for all that seemed like a great deal. With kalguksu (hand-cut noodles) and five-color rice included, it felt like a solid single meal if you're looking for a lunch spot in Magok.

There were three of us, so we ordered three basic sets and added 200g of shabu meat plus 5 gulrim mandu (rolled dumplings).

The basic spread came out dish by dish. Since it doesn't end with just the shabu — there's still the kalguksu and five-color rice waiting after — I figured we shouldn't go too hard at the start and needed to pace ourselves, haha.

This is the black garlic hand-cut noodles we'd add in later. The noodles looked a bit thicker than regular kalguksu.

And the perilla oil five-color rice we'd eat at the end also came out together. It looked pretty just from the colorful visual alone.

We also added 200g of extra shabu meat, though visually the portion didn't look like a lot.

How spicy is the spicy broth with kids at the table?

For some reason that day I really wanted a spicy, fiery broth. So I wanted to order spicy, but the issue was the kids. When I asked the staff how spicy it was, they said about the level of Shin Ramyun. Our kids always complain that even that ramyun is spicy but end up eating it fine anyway lol, so I asked them and we went with spicy. I figured it'd be fine since we'd mostly be fishing out the meat rather than drinking the broth.

On top of the spicy broth there was a generous amount of minari (Korean watercress), mung bean sprouts, and mushrooms. The vegetables in particular looked really fresh.

Once it started bubbling I suddenly got really hungry lol. Tasting it, the spicy broth really lived up to its name — quite fiery. It was just right for my taste. Rather than a heavy, dull spiciness, it was a clean, sharp kind of spicy that kept me coming back for more.

As the vegetables cooked, their flavor slowly seeped into the broth, and eating them together with the meat definitely worked well.

Since we just fished out the meat for them, the kids didn't find it too spicy at first, but eating it repeatedly it apparently got a bit spicy for our first kid, who isn't great with spicy food. So partway through we added a bit of the clear broth, which made it much better. Our second kid, who handles spicy food well, said it was delicious and ate happily lol. The first kid managed to eat too, but drank quite a lot of water.

The shabu meat at Yangcheon Shabu Son Kalguksu

Honestly, the meat was the thing I cared about most that day — it was one of the main reasons I chose a regular shabu-shabu place over a buffet-style one. Bottom line: the meat was tender, and I liked it. Our second kid in particular doesn't eat well if meat is chewy, and isn't a huge fan of meat that's been boiled in water, but here she said 'the meat is delicious' and ate it up well. Success right there lol.

Picking up the tender meat together with a generous helping of minari and mung bean sprouts was genuinely delicious. With the spicy broth soaked in, it was much better eaten together with the vegetables than the meat alone. Honestly, as someone who loves meat, I thought it'd be perfect to order one more plate of meat and one more plate of those tasty vegetables too... but we still had the kalguksu and five-color rice waiting. Whoa, hold on lol.

Adding 5 gulrim mandu (rolled dumplings) mid-meal

We also ordered 5 gulrim mandu (rolled dumplings). I liked that they served gulrim mandu instead of regular dumplings.

Such a unique flavor! It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was basically tasty. It was good to eat in between bites of the spicy shabu.

Black garlic hand-cut noodles in the leftover broth

Once we'd eaten enough of the shabu, we added the noodles and boiled them in. As the kalguksu cooked, the broth thickened slightly — my husband actually said the broth tasted even better at this point, and ate a lot of it. Since all the flavor from the shabu vegetables and meat had seeped into the broth, it became spicy and rich, so he kept scooping more. Our first kid, who isn't great with spicy food, drank a lot of water and couldn't eat much of the noodles, but our second kid said this was delicious too and cleanly finished a whole bowl.

Perilla oil five-color rice, the best part of the meal

The perilla oil five-color rice looked pretty from the moment it arrived. With various finely chopped vegetables mixed in, it looked quite appetizing just visually. After finishing the kalguksu, we added this in at the end to fry.

Instead of adding a lot of broth to make it porridge-like, we added just a little and fried it. So it came out closer to fried rice than porridge.

But this was genuinely delicious. With the vegetables, rice, and broth fried together, it had a slightly sweet edge with the texture of the vegetables, and even though I was full, I kept eating more. When I eat shabu-shabu, I usually remember the meat most, but here the five-color rice ended up being surprisingly memorable too.

There was a separate self-serve kimchi corner, so you could just take as much as you wanted.

Finishing with the plum slush

And on the way out after finishing our meal, we discovered a plum slush machine. The kids were curious about what it was and scooped it themselves.

After trying a glass each, they said it was cool and delicious and scooped some for my husband and me too! It was refreshing and a great way to finish the meal.

Would I go back to this Magok shabu-shabu restaurant?

This time I really wanted a spicy shabu-shabu after a long while, so I picked the spicy broth, and I ate very well. What I liked most in particular was that the meat was tender, the vegetables like minari and mung bean sprouts were fresh, and the flow from kalguksu into the final five-color rice worked so well. If you're not the type who wants to eat a huge variety like at a buffet, properly eating the dishes you actually want this way seems pretty good too. Next time I think I'll add plenty more meat and vegetables lol.

This was my first time visiting as part of a sponsored campaign, but after eating I thought, 'I could come back here again whenever I'm craving shabu-shabu.' It also seems like a solid lunch spot in the Magok area, and I think as the weather gets a bit chillier I'll crave that spicy broth even more, so I'll probably drop by again whenever shabu-shabu comes to mind.