Yongin Korean buffet on a Sunday: hand-fried chicken at Daedong

I went to Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak, a Korean buffet restaurant located in Jubuk-ri, Yangji-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin.

There's a spacious parking lot right in front of the building, so you don't need to worry about parking at all! Weekday or weekend, breakfast or lunch, this Cheoin-gu Korean buffet is always packed with customers.

What was on the buffet line at 2pm on a Sunday?

I visited around 2pm on a Sunday. At Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak there's always a meat side dish on offer, every single day.

If you're curious what side dishes are out on a given day, just search "Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak" on Naver and check the store info page — they update the meal chart regularly! The side dishes aren't the same all day either; breakfast and lunch each have their own menu. So even if you visit twice, morning and lunch, you can eat different side dishes each time.

That day there was kimchi fried rice in one of the side dish trays. If you'd rather have plain white rice or multigrain rice, there's a separate rice cooker nearby — just scoop out whichever you prefer.

Chicken fried in-house at Daedong, not frozen

Fried chicken, dumplings, tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cakes). The chicken wasn't fried from a frozen product — it was fried fresh in-house at Daedong Korean Buffet! I hate that distinct smell frozen fried food gets, but this chicken had none of that off-smell and was genuinely delicious. Looking at other blog reviews, it seems like they fry their own sweet and sour pork too — I'd like to try that next. Fried menu items at a Korean buffet are almost always frozen, as a rule. Making an effort to be different in this area is exactly why the place draws so many customers. Sometimes the fried item is meat like this, sometimes it's fish.

You can check the meal chart and pick a day based on which main side dish you're in the mood for.

Side dish trays still full 30 minutes before last order

Jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles) and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles). Last order is 2:30pm, and I arrived close to 2pm — even then, nothing was running low, every tray was fully stocked.

Sundubu (soft tofu stew) topped with seasoned soy sauce, and a crunchy oi-gochu (cucumber and chili pepper) side. Kimchi and salad are always available. Today's soup was miyeokguk (seaweed soup).

Isn't this really a lot of side dishes? Meat, noodles, vegetables, soup. Everything freshly made every single day, nothing skipped.

But that's not the end of it. Leafy greens for wrapping and rice cakes are always available too.

They alternate between janchi-guksu (banquet noodle soup) and buckwheat noodles. That day it was janchi-guksu!

Free ramyeon, toast, cereal and sikhye at Daedong

Ramyeon, toast and cereal, all free! Some Korean buffets offer toast, but this is the first Yangji Korean buffet I've seen offer free ramyeon too. You cook it yourself, self-serve style, and there are two options — Jin Ramen mild and spicy.

Right next to that, there's even sikhye (sweet rice punch) with a layer of ice slush. A Cheoin-gu restaurant serving everything from a full meal to dessert. Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak.

I tried to fit one of every side dish that came out that day onto my tray, but there wasn't enough room, so I missed quite a few. This Yangji Korean buffet has more side dish varieties than there is space on the tray.

Window seats for solo diners and a roomy dining hall

Just as spacious as the parking lot, there are plenty of tables inside too. There are also plenty of solo-diner seats, so you can eat alone without feeling out of place. Solo diners aren't tucked away in a corner either — you get to sit by the window looking outside, so if you're planning to eat alone at a Korean buffet, come here.

Since it was the weekend and the whole family had the day off, I came for lunch with my parents — my dad even cooked himself a bowl of ramyeon.

Sikhye and coffee good enough to sell on their own

I really thought the sikhye at Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak was delicious. Genuinely good enough to be sold on its own. It's not sickly sweet in a way that stings your tongue, just sweet in the right amount. Cafés charge a few thousand won per cup for a small amount of sikhye, but here you can drink as much cool, sweet sikhye as you want, at this Yangji Korean buffet.

Besides sikhye, there's also a range of coffee you can pour yourself, from Americano to sweeter coffee drinks. I think the sweet coffee here is hazelnut, and it's also really good. A Cheoin-gu Korean buffet where you can eat a full meal with all kinds of side dishes and then pick a drink for dessert.

Daedong Korean Buffet & Dosirak, a Cheoin-gu, Yongin restaurant, is located at 8 Jubuk-ro 94beon-gil, Yangji-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 1st floor.