Baby-friendly shabu-shabu near Gongdeok Station, Seoul: Okjoban

I had a clinic appointment in Gongdeok and had lunch at Okjoban Gongdeok Station Branch afterward :) The vibe was great and the vegetables are unlimited refill, so I really want to recommend this Gongdeok Station restaurant~!

Where Okjoban Gongdeok Station Branch is, and how parking works

Okjoban Gongdeok Station Branch is on the 1st floor of Hyosung Harrington Square Building B. It's super close to the station, so it's really convenient to get to by public transit~ Parking around Gongdeok is pretty pricey, but eating at Okjoban gets you 3 hours of free parking!

Hours are 11:00–22:00 / break time 15:00–17:00 (except weekends and holidays)

Weekday lunch wait times and how to reserve a table

Okjoban Gongdeok Station Branch specializes in sukiyaki and shabu-shabu, but they also sell soba and udon~ Being in an office district, there seems to be a wait for weekday lunch.

You can reserve through CatchTable at the store entrance. Naver Reservation only opens at 1:30pm for weekday lunch, so we booked a 1:30 slot on Naver, but when we arrived at 1pm there was actually a table open, so we got to eat right away, good good 👍

Seating at Okjoban: good for group meals and dates

4-person tables are the most common. The corner and window seats feel a bit more private :)

Inside, the tables are lined up in a row and can be pushed together. There's room for group seating in the back, so I bet a lot of office workers come here for team lunches. Feels perfect for a Gongdeok gathering or a date spot~

Coming with a baby: baby tableware at Okjoban

Since we brought our second baby along, they gave us a cute bear-shaped bowl and a baby spoon and fork :) She's only 8 months old so she mostly just played with them haha.

The Okjoban menu and ordering the Lunch C set

The menu board at Okjoban, a Gongdeok Station restaurant :) There's sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, soba, and udon as mains, plus side dishes like garlic fried chicken, fried shrimp, and croquettes.

We ordered the Lunch C set shabu-shabu (chuck flap tail beef) for two, plus one extra order of beef shoulder. The staff recommended the chuck flap tail the most, so we ordered two portions of that, then my husband wanted more meat so we added the beef shoulder haha.

Side dishes and the three shabu-shabu sauces

The banchan (side dishes) at Okjoban were cucumber pickles, marinated tomato, napa cabbage kimchi, and cabbage salad. Clean and easy to eat.

The shabu-shabu sauces are chili sauce, sesame dressing, and wasabi soy sauce, and all three were tasty~ I don't usually go for sesame dressing, but this one has chili oil mixed in and isn't too thick, so I really enjoyed it!

A little guide on how to enjoy sukiyaki and shabu-shabu the best way~

What comes in the unlimited vegetable platter

The shabu-shabu vegetables include bok choy, green onion, oyster mushroom, shiitake mushroom, king oyster mushroom, sweet pumpkin, rice cake sticks, tofu, dumplings, crown daisy, mung bean sprouts, and napa cabbage. Not just varied, but plated so nicely with color that it looked even more delicious. The vegetables were fresh too!

Once the broth starts boiling, put the vegetables in first~ So colorful and pretty, right?!

How the staff-recommended chuck flap tail beef tastes

The marbling on the chuck flap tail was so good I understood immediately why the staff recommended it~!

Cooked in the shabu-shabu broth, the meat was so tender and delicious! Isn't the color of the chuck flap tail just gorgeous haha~ Expensive cuts really are the tastiest >_< haha

As soon as the broth started boiling again, they refilled our vegetables right away~! You can request vegetable refills through table order, but the staff kept coming around and refilling both vegetables and sauces on their own, so we never even needed to use the table order haha.

Scooping into our own bowls and digging in

Both the chili sauce and sesame dressing were delicious~ Honestly since the chuck flap tail itself is so good, it tasted great no matter which sauce we dipped it in!

My husband wanted to order more meat, so we added the beef shoulder and refilled even more vegetables~ While eating, he kept saying this place really is legit haha.

We have to come back to Gongdeok every two months for our second baby's dermatology appointments anyway, so I thought — having lunch here and getting 3 hours of free parking is really convenient. If anyone's stressed about parking near the dermatology clinics in Gongdeok, I'd say park at the Okjoban building, have lunch, then head to your appointment.

Finishing the broth with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles)

We finished the shabu-shabu with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) ~ The noodles were nice and chewy, and eating them with the kimchi was so good!

If you're looking for a Gongdeok Station restaurant, I'd recommend Okjoban Gongdeok Station Branch for fresh, delicious shabu-shabu 👍