Ulsan shabu buffet with dakgalbi and cream shrimp: Shabre Garden

Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch: prices and opening hours

Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch costs ₩24,900 for weekday lunch, ₩29,900 for weekday dinner and ₩31,900 for weekend lunch and dinner. It is open every day from 11:00 to 21:00, with a break from 15:00 to 17:00, and has no holidays. There is a parking lot, groups are welcome, and there are high chairs.

I went last weekend, and honestly, this was top tier among all the shabu-shabu places I've ever been to. So let me introduce Shabre Garden in a bit more detail. We went for weekend lunch :)

Weekend lunch wait: is arriving at opening time enough?

Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch had a wait even right after opening on a weekend. We bought some cleaning supplies at the nearby Daiso and arrived around 11:10, and there was already a Tabling (queue app) waitlist. I had also come on a Sunday evening before, but it was packed with a huge wait, so we turned around..? This time I thought, let's do an opening-time run for weekend lunch and left early, and wow, I realized there are so many hardworking people out there, lol

Overall, the place is really neatly kept. Above all, there were so many families with young kids that I thought, okay, this has already become the neighborhood favorite, lol. The size is overwhelming, but what overwhelmed me more was that this huge space was completely full.

Shabre Garden meat: unlimited beef brisket and beef chuck

The main event at Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch is the meat, with two kinds, beef brisket (usamgyeop) and beef chuck (umoksim), both unlimited. Personally I liked the chuck, while my boyfriend's top pick was the brisket (the fattier cut). Unlimited meat is just unreal 💖

If you run low on broth, grab more from the lower shelf of the meat fridge.

What's on the Shabre Garden salad bar?

The salad bar at Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch has sushi, salads, seasoned vegetable sides (namul), thin-crust pizza, fried food, Chuncheon dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken), fried rice, cream shrimp, assorted jeon (Korean pan-fried bites) and cypress steamer dishes. As the top shabu-shabu buffet in Ulsan, the salad bar is no joke. I've been to so many shabu-shabu places, but you have to eat at Shabre Garden, seriously, lol

Tableware, kids' plates and so on are next to the sauces.

Sushi: the standout of the Shabre Garden buffet

Shabre Garden's star lineup is the sushi. Seriously, there isn't a single weak hitter here, everything is delicious. Better than most sushi restaurants ㅠㅠㅠㅠ It was fresh and tasty, and with every bite I shouted "this is dangerously good!" lol. And so I filled myself up on sushi like a fool...

Sweet potato salad, seasoned greens and thin-crust pizza

Another one I recommend is the sweet potato salad. All the salads here are well made, so I couldn't skip tasting them. There were also seasoned vegetable sides that go well as banchan, thin-crust pizza that kids love, and all kinds of fried food!

I shot it vertically, then horizontally. Would you believe hotel-style buffet dishes exist in Ulsan? I saw it, I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!!

The fried food corner for kids and adults

The fried food corner that kids love most (adults too), lol. The chicken has that old-school sweet fried chicken (dakgangjeong) feel, like what they sold in front of elementary schools back in the day, and it was really tasty. The fries come as potato chips and Cajun fries like the ones at Mom's Touch. There are also gimmari (fried seaweed noodle rolls), cheese balls, cheese sticks and onion rings, so take as much as you can eat.

The porridge ingredients for a finishing dessert were also very fresh and clean. I'm a rice person, so I just brought plain white rice, lol. Sadly, I ate so much that I had no room left to make porridge ㅠㅠ

Chuncheon dakgalbi and ham and vegetable fried rice

Another personal favorite was the Chuncheon dakgalbi. Wait.. am I really supposed to clean out the whole salad bar at a shabu-shabu buffet? ㅠㅠ lol

Next to the Chuncheon dakgalbi is ham vegetable fried rice, which kids will love, haha. It was the nostalgic taste I always ate when I was little. It's the established view in academia that the Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch salad bar beats most wedding buffets.

My boyfriend's pick: cream shrimp, plus assorted jeon and cypress-steamed dishes

My boyfriend's pick was the cream shrimp! I wanted to try one of everything, but I sprinted on the sushi and then ate big on the shabu-shabu, lol

The assorted jeon wasn't too oily either, so it was perfect as an appetizer with the salad. I didn't bring the cypress steamer dishes since I was going to have shabu-shabu, but only now do I regret not trying them, lol

The shabu-shabu vegetable corner

Finally (?) I made it back to the shabu-shabu corner. I really love vegetables, so I went back and forth to this corner about 5 times, lol. The vegetables were all fresh and refilled right away, so I could grab them quickly with no waiting!

Is the draft beer at Shabre Garden unlimited too?

Draft beer at Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch is unlimited, while soju is charged separately. Un-lim-it-ed draft beer, is this real? Shabre Garden pulls off this hard thing!!! Honestly, alcohol is where restaurants make the most money, so unlimited draft beer is hard to believe even when I see it with my own eyes. Just note that soju is charged separately, lol

Desserts and drinks: bingsu, ice cream and affogato

Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch has a corner to make your own shaved ice, ice cream with toppings, unlimited soft drinks and an ice machine. Ice cream with toppings finishes the meal nicely. Even with my stomach full up to my chin, I poured a heap of Coco Balls cereal over my ice cream.

Basic drinks like soft drinks are unlimited and free too! (included in the price) What really showed good sense was the ice machine. I can't imagine summer drinks without ice, and filling a cup with ice and Zero Coke and Tomms Zero made my full stomach settle a bit, haha

Besides omija (schisandra) and plum drinks for after the meal, you can also brew coffee. Best of all, you can use the ice cream machine to make affogato too!!

Shabre Garden half-and-half broth: how is the jjamppong broth?

At Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch we chose half mild broth and half spicy jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) broth. It really tasted like jjamppong, and not just us, the table behind us went "Oh!!" too, lol

The beef chuck was really good ㅠ No smell at all! I don't usually like strong flavors, but Shabre Garden's jjamppong broth was exactly my taste, lol. If the mild broth is the kind that automatically cures a hangover, the jjamppong broth has a different, deep savory flavor that spreads right through.

Pull a vegetable stock out of the greens, then load in mushrooms (enoki, wood ear), bok choy and plenty of cabbage for shabu-shabu, and it's so good you'll faint ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I loooove shabu-shabu, I love it so much!

Like I said above, ice cream loaded with Coco Balls, lol. I added Dwaejibar crunch too ^^

Verdict: an Ulsan shabu-shabu buffet for all ages

Shabre Garden Ulsan Nam-gu Branch, my recommended all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu spot in Ulsan, is certified as a restaurant loved by everyone, men and women, young and old. I will definitely be going back :)