Barley rice buffet with a mother-of-pearl wall in Suwon: Boriook

I went to Boriook, an all-you-can-eat barley rice buffet and a well-known spot near Mangpo Station in Suwon. I usually love bibimbap, so I'd wanted to visit for a while.😆

It's a place where you can enjoy unlimited barley rice and a wide variety of side dishes, and I was very satisfied — I'd recommend it as a Mangpo Station restaurant in Suwon. 👍

Where is Boriook Main Branch, and is there parking?

The exterior of Boriook, a barley rice buffet near Mangpo Station in Suwon, was very clean, with a layout that lets you see inside.

There's a parking lot right in front of the building, so parking was convenient. There aren't many spots though, so if there are a lot of customers arriving by car, you might need to park nearby.

The mother-of-pearl wall inside Boriook Main Branch

The restaurant was nearly packed with people. The photos were taken avoiding people when the crowd thinned out a bit, so in reality it was even busier.

It has the typical vibe of a Korean restaurant, but clean and tidy.

A slightly unique touch was that one wall was decorated with mother-of-pearl. You don't see mother-of-pearl often these days, so having a whole wall covered in it looked really striking. Other customers were commenting on it too.

Boriook menu and prices

Ordering was done via table order (tablet).

• Barley rice set — ₩13,000
• Barley rice set + half mackerel — ₩15,000
• Soy sauce pork set / Gochujang pork set — ₩16,000 each

I was torn between the barley rice set + half mackerel and the plain barley rice set, but this time I wanted to focus on barley rice and namul, so I went with the 'barley rice set.'

What namul and side dishes are on the self-serve bar?

This is a Korean buffet where you can freely help yourself to all kinds of namul and side dishes to eat with the barley rice. Being self-serve, I loved that I could just take whatever I felt like eating. Everything was laid out neatly, and I saw staff tidying up regularly.

The self-serve bar had acorn jelly, wraps, kimchi, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), braised tofu, and vegetable fritters (sweet pumpkin, pepper, lotus root, sweet potato, and more).

There was also a great variety of namul for bibimbap — seaweed stem, bean sprouts, seasoned bellflower root, bracken, young radish greens, mushrooms, and more, which was really nice.

The namul was tasty, but I especially liked the fritters — crispy without being too greasy. I tried to limit myself, but they were so good I went back for seconds. 🤭🤭🤭

The braised tofu had a note saying it was a bit spicy, but even for someone like me who can't handle spicy food, it wasn't that hot.

I was also glad to get to eat japchae, which is difficult to make and takes a lot of effort — it wasn't just noodles, the ingredients were well balanced too.

Mixing the 13,000 won barley rice set, dish by dish

The basic barley rice set alone is already delicious and filling. Piling on the namul I wanted on top of the barley rice completed my barley bibimbap! 😆

Just add sesame oil and gochujang (Korean chili paste) and mix it all up.

Doenjang jjigae is also included by default. They bring it out freshly boiled and bubbling.

It tasted more like cheonggukjang than regular doenjang jjigae, which I actually liked even more.

Finishing the meal with yulmu-cha, sungnyung and ppeongtwigi

There was also coffee, yulmu-cha, plum tea, and peach tea. I especially loved the warm yulmu-cha and sungnyung.

Finishing off the Korean meal with some ppeongtwigi left me full but happy, feeling like I'd had a hearty yet healthy barley rice buffet.

There's an outdoor terrace next to the building, which looked like a nice spot to have a coffee after the meal. ☕️

I highly recommend this barley rice buffet to anyone near Dongtan or looking for a good restaurant near Mangpo Station in Suwon.