Anyang shabu-shabu with kids: special beef for 3, Ppongip Sarang

Anyang shabu-shabu spot 'Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch' Location: 4 Yesulgongwon-ro 154beon-gil, Manan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00

Today I want to introduce Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch, well known as a great Anyang shabu-shabu spot for eating out with kids 😍 Shabu-shabu is basically the perfect meal for fiber, protein and carbs all at once haha. This post is from a day we finished with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and fried rice and left the whole family stuffed 😉

Where is Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch, and where do you park?

Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch sits along the valley line of Anyang Arts Park. I'd walked past it so many times I kept telling myself I had to visit sometime 👍

Shabu-shabu is the main draw, but I've also heard the bossam (boiled pork wrap) and budae-jjigae (army stew) are good haha, so it seems like a great lunch option too 😉

For parking, there's room for 2 to 3 cars beside the restaurant, and there's also space in the inner block, so keep that in mind!!!! If even that's full, the Anyang Arts Park public parking lot is about a 5-minute walk, so park there and head up toward the park.

Inside Ppongip Sarang: seating and the self-bar

The interior of Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch is bright and clean — I think parents would really enjoy it too 👍 There are group tables, so it should work fine for big families or gatherings too.

There's a self-bar set up near the kitchen, so you can always grab more banchan (side dishes) if you run out. The radish pickles were so refreshing I honestly lost count of how many times I went back for more 🤤

Ppongip Sarang literally means "love of mulberry leaves," and true to the name, this shabu-shabu is packed with health benefits 👏 They say mulberry leaves have 27 times the calcium of milk, which is great for kids' growth, plus 3 times the fiber of green tea and detox effects against heavy metals. Honestly, sounds like something we should be stocking up on haha.

Menu prices and the weekday lunch at Ppongip Sarang

The menu at Ppongip Sarang Anyang Arts Park branch lets you build out the basic vegetables-and-meat set with bossam or seafood for a heartier meal. The weekday lunch, available until 3pm, is such good value that weekday lunch is really the way to go here.

The origin of every ingredient is clearly labeled, which put my mind at ease since we were eating with kids ✌️

If you spot a topping you like along the way, you can always add it, so pick whatever suits your taste ✌️ We went with the special beef shabu-shabu for 3 (we're a meat-loving family, so lots of beef haha).

What comes with the special beef shabu-shabu for 3

The special beef shabu-shabu for 3 arrives with a mountain of vegetables and Australian clean beef. We only ordered 3 servings, but it already looked incredibly generous just to look at 😉 (The basic side dishes come out first, so just use the self-bar for anything you run low on!)

On top of fresh vegetables and mushrooms, there's fried tofu, mulberry-leaf and mulberry-fruit rice cakes, and fish balls — no secret why all those extra toppings make it even better 😉 That vegetable with the red stem in there is the mulberry leaf!!!!! Its benefits are amazing, so make sure to eat every bit of it ^^

The Australian clean beef is genuinely high quality, and I fell for it all over again at just how generous the portion felt haha. Porridge and mulberry-leaf kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) come out too, so you can make them yourself at the end 🙏

Is the bonito broth too salty? Why it stays mild

First, vegetables go into a broth made with bonito flakes that's bursting with umami, letting it simmer into a rich stock. Once it starts bubbling, add the meat for an even deeper shabu-shabu flavor 😊 I was so hungry, and the beef cooked the moment it hit the pot — pure happiness haha.

The broth is just... wow 😊 Clean and light through and through, so pretty much anything you cook in it tastes great ^^ Shabu-shabu broth usually gets saltier the longer you simmer it, but at Ppongip Sarang the seasoning stayed just right, which I really appreciated.

Personally I love the meat in shabu-shabu, but the mushrooms and vegetables were even tastier here 🤤 I also tried the mulberry leaf — I worried it might be a little bitter, but it had zero off-putting taste and actually paired beautifully with the meat 👍

The egg-shaped fish balls in particular were really soft and delicious. If we'd ordered a bit less meat, I probably would've added more of those 😍 Even the kimchi mandu (dumplings) had a nice spicy kick that adults would enjoy too.

Finishing with mulberry-leaf kalguksu and porridge

The second act of any shabu-shabu is, of course, the kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) 😉 The mulberry-leaf noodles were fragrant and excellent, and the chewy texture set them apart from other shabu-shabu places ^^

And kimchi is always the perfect match for kalguksu — a classic pairing every time 👍

The porridge is really the highlight of any shabu-shabu, isn't it 😊 We like ours made somewhere between porridge and fried rice, and you know that face-scrunching-good feeling when you scrape up the crispy rice stuck to the bottom 😉

Even though we were about to burst, it was so good we kept eating until it was completely gone haha. I'm still thinking about that flavor, so I have a feeling we'll be back soon 😍

Is Ppongip Sarang worth it with kids? Final verdict

If you're looking for a good shabu-shabu spot around Anyang Arts Park, this is it ^^ With fresh vegetables, Australian clean beef and healthy mulberry leaf, there's no reason not to love Ppongip Sarang's shabu-shabu. Great for taking parents, great for eating out with kids — I think this is going to become one of our regular spots 😉