Yongin shabu-shabu restaurant for a meal with Mom: Yun Ujae

Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu, a place I visited with both my baby and my mom

I recently went back to Yun Ujae Kalguksu, one of my absolute favorite restaurants. It is great for going with a baby, so I have visited often with mine, and this time I brought my mom along because she likes this kind of food.

There is quite a large parking area, but since this place is popular, there are times when no spaces are left. That is why they have parking guidance like this, too.

When there is a wait, you can register through Catchtable. The waiting system seems to be nicely organized, too.

There is also a clean waiting room for guests. When the weather is nice like it has been lately, waiting is manageable, but a waiting room is such a relief when it is hot or cold. You can sit comfortably while you wait.

They make their noodles in-house, so there is a separate noodle-making room and stacks of flour. I am not usually much of a kalguksu person, so I do not go to noodle restaurants often, you know? But the noodles here are so, so good. I am normally someone who only has juk (rice porridge) after shabu-shabu, but here I scrape up every last noodle.

Special sauce and spicy red broth

Once we had settled in, it was finally time to order. The table was clean, too. Since raising a baby, I have become much more particular about hygiene, and Yun Ujae Kalguksu is somewhere I can visit with confidence.

They have instructions on how to enjoy it. Honestly, when I come with my baby, I am so frazzled that I cannot follow them properly. But with only adults this time, we did it exactly right.

First of all, the special sauce here is amazing. Until now, since I had been eating with my baby, I had only used soy sauce—what was I thinking?

• Start with the soy sauce.
• Add wasabi, too.
• Then pile in plenty of ddaengcho (spicy green chili peppers), and that is it. It is truly a special treat.

And because I had only come with my baby, I had always eaten the white broth, but this time I tried the red one. I had really wanted to try it, and it was completely my kind of thing. I ordered the spicy version of the red broth, and it had such a pleasantly spicy kick.

A generous shabu-shabu spread with extra minari and mushrooms

The minari (water celery) and mushrooms were so good that we ordered extra. You can add them for ₩5,000, and look at that generous amount! I thought I did not really like mushrooms, but apparently not? I must have liked them a lot. I ate almost all of them.

And what is there even to say about the quality of the meat? Sometimes at shabu-shabu restaurants, you get roughly frozen meat, but here it comes fresh and delicious.

Following the instructions, we put in half the meat first.

It looked even more delicious as it bubbled away. As the weather turns cool, I find myself craving shabu-shabu kalguksu so much.

There is an hourglass, which makes it easy to keep track of the cooking time. It is easy to lose track while chatting over a meal, so I loved being able to check it like this.

There is a self-service bar and baby chairs, too. The table next to us already had a little guest. That baby seemed to be enjoying the food just as much as mine does.

Finishing with flat kalguksu and minari fried rice

Ta-da, it is ready. Does it not look so delicious? With my favorite flat kalguksu added in, just seeing the photo makes me want to go again.

The broth soaks into the meat and mushrooms, so they are delicious even without sauce—and dipping them in sauce doubles the flavor.

The flat kalguksu is amazing, right? Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu has delicious regular kalguksu noodles as well, and wrapping meat and vegetables around the flat noodles is really delicious, too.

It would be a shame not to have the finishing fried rice, right? Even at this price, the fried rice is incredibly generous. It comes topped with minari, and the minari aroma is amazing. I have never seen a shabu-shabu restaurant these days with prices this good and ingredients this good.

It was such a delicious, filling meal. For anyone craving warm food in this suddenly cooler weather, I recommend Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu in Gogiri, Dongcheon-dong, Suji-gu, Yongin.