Pork shabu-shabu restaurant in Byeongjeom: Mansu Shabu Kalguksu

I went to the newly opened Mansu Shabu Kalguksu (만수샤브칼국수). I love shabu-shabu, so I tend to check out new spots whenever they pop up, and this one caught my eye because you can get pork shabu-shabu instead of the usual beef. It's close to Mangpo and easy to reach from Byeongjeom or Dongtan, so if you're looking for a Mangpo restaurant, Byeongjeom shabu-shabu, or Dongtan shabu-shabu, this place is great!

What is the wait and the dining room like at Mansu Shabu Kalguksu?

You can join the waitlist remotely through Catch Table. That's a lifesaver on hot days like these or in freezing winter, when standing outside waiting is genuinely rough. Register ahead and just show up when it's your turn — much more convenient. It sounds small, but once you actually use it, you really appreciate it, haha.

Shabu-shabu tables tend to get cramped once all the ingredients and dishes pile on, but the tables here were nice and roomy. Great for family meals or a bigger group sitting together at one table!

Being a newly opened place, the moment I walked in it felt clean and fresh. The restaurant is really spacious and the tables weren't cramped at all! Great space for work dinners, family gatherings, or meetups with friends.

Self-serve coffee corner and the in-house noodle room

After eating, there's a self-serve corner you can use. There's coffee of course, plus a variety of tea bags to choose from depending on your taste. After eating your fill of shabu-shabu and kalguksu, you kind of crave an iced coffee, haha. It was nice being able to grab coffee or a warm tea right there without going to a separate café to wrap up the meal. I also liked that there was a spot to sit and chat a bit over coffee instead of getting up right after eating.

On one side of the restaurant there's a dedicated noodle room where they make the noodles and meatballs by hand. After finishing the shabu-shabu and eating the kalguksu at the end, I noticed the noodles were chewy yet soft with a springy bite — no wonder, since they're made fresh in-house. Not just the noodles but the meatballs too, so everything felt really fresh and delicious. Being able to drop freshly made noodles straight into the shabu-shabu broth is one of the things that makes Mansu Shabu Kalguksu special.

Extra broth at the self-serve corner is lightly seasoned

The self-serve corner has extra broth, various sauces, and side dishes you can grab as needed. They mentioned that the extra broth is seasoned a bit more lightly than the broth you start with. As shabu-shabu simmers, the broth reduces and can get saltier, so adding a lighter broth helps keep the flavor balanced all the way through — a thoughtful touch. It was also nice being able to grab more sauce or side dishes anytime without feeling awkward about it, haha.

What we ordered: spicy beef shabu-shabu plus extra pork

The most recommended menu item is the spicy pork shabu-shabu. We ended up ordering the spicy beef shabu-shabu first and adding pork on top! Looking at the menu, there were also plenty of side dishes to pair with the shabu-shabu, so it seemed like a great combo for a group — order a generous shabu-shabu, add a few sides, and it'd also work well for an evening out with friends or coworkers with a drink or two.

This is the spicy broth we ordered, since it's said to pair well with pork.

The beef, vegetables, and freshly made kalguksu noodles we ordered.

The basic table setting that comes with the order. Handmade meatballs, vegetables, side dishes — all looked clean and fresh! The corn salad especially was so good! Haha, I want to go back just for that.

Kids can shape their own noodles, too

There's a fun little activity for younger diners. They let kids shape the store's own fresh noodles into whatever form they like before the meal. It's a nice way to keep kids entertained while waiting and let them have a small hands-on experience. Getting to shape the very noodles they'll actually eat sounds like something kids would really love, haha.

For sauces, there's ponzu sauce, chili sauce, and wasabi.

Beef and meatballs in the spicy broth

As soon as the broth started boiling, I piled in the vegetables and tried the beef first — and I loved that there was minari (water dropwort) in there. I already like minari, and in the spicy broth it added great fragrance and paired perfectly with the beef.

Once it started boiling, I added the meatballs too! They float to the surface when they're cooked through, and that's when you eat them. Bouncy, springy, no gamey smell at all — really delicious!

How was the pork shabu-shabu?

I'd heard the pork shabu-shabu here was really good, so out of curiosity we added an order!

Pork shabu-shabu is common in Japan, but there aren't many places serving it in Korea! The pork here was thin, had no smell at all, and was much softer and more savory than the beef. It paired beautifully with the spicy broth, and cooked through it was genuinely delicious. Maybe because we ate the beef right before, the difference stood out even more — to us, the pork was savory, tender, and just so good! I slightly regretted not ordering pork from the start, haha. I always thought shabu-shabu = beef, but here I think I'll order pork every time going forward.

The texture of the freshly pulled kalguksu noodles

Then, after finishing all the meat, came the kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) we'd been waiting for! Having seen the noodle room on the way in, I was even more curious about the flavor.

The noodles here are genuinely delicious! Chewy yet soft, with a springy bite when you chew. It's exactly the noodle texture I love, so even full, my chopsticks kept going back for more, haha. After simmering the meat and vegetables for a while, the broth had deepened even further by the time the noodles went in, and it paired perfectly with the kalguksu. Usually kalguksu is just treated as the closing course after shabu-shabu, but here the noodles themselves were good enough that I wanted to come back just for them. Now I get why they make the noodles in-house, haha.

Would I go back to Mansu Shabu Kalguksu?

Overall, Mansu Shabu Kalguksu had fresh ingredients and a spacious, clean dining room, making it a comfortable place to eat. The beef was tasty, but the pork we added later turned out to be even better than expected, and it's still on my mind, haha. On top of that, the chewy in-house kalguksu noodles were totally my type. We were too full for the fried rice, but I bet that's good too — a bit of regret there.

Since it's a new place, I was curious and went to check it out, but next time I'll order the spicy pork shabu-shabu from the start, haha. Highly recommend it for anyone looking for Byeongjeom shabu-shabu, and it's also close enough from Mangpo or Dongtan if you're searching for a Mangpo restaurant or Dongtan shabu-shabu. Especially if you like pork shabu-shabu, you really have to try it here. I think I'll order pork again on my next visit too :)