Weekday lunch shabu-shabu buffet with ice cream dessert in Yeosu

I got a recommendation from a Yeosu local for an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu place in Hakdong, so I went for lunch at Tongkeun Shabu (통큰샤브).

Finding Tongkeun Shabu on the 3rd floor of Yeosu Hakdong's main street

Tongkeun Shabu is located on the main street of Hakdong, Yeosu, and it's an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu restaurant.

It's on the 3rd floor of the building, right above Hana Bank,

and there's a big sign that says "all-you-can-eat Tongkeun Shabu," so it's not hard to find.

There was also a standing sign for Tongkeun Shabu at the building entrance. It said weekday lunch is ₩23,900 per person, and weekends/weekday dinners are ₩26,900 per person for all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu.

Since it's on the 3rd floor, hop in the elevator~

What are the business hours?

Arrived at Tongkeun Shabu!! The business hours were posted at the entrance. It's open daily from 11:30 am to 10 pm, but according to Naver, it seems to be closed on some public holidays. Worth checking ahead before you visit!

A spacious interior good for groups and company dinners

Walking in, the very spacious interior stood out right away. The seats are spaced far apart, and the whole restaurant is huge, so it seemed like a great place for group gatherings or company dinners.

Price list and kids' rates

The price list was right there too! Same prices as at the entrance, but it says elementary schoolers and preschoolers pay the same ₩14,000 and ₩11,000 respectively, whether it's a weekday or weekend.

Loyalty event and review event

There were events running too — a loyalty event where discounts apply based on how many times you've visited Tongkeun Shabu, and if you visit 31 times or more, you get a free meal voucher for one. If this were right in front of my house, I'd become a regular immediately...

After looking around the interior and taking a seat, the staff asked if we wanted to take part in another event — a review event — and I said yes right away. They said if you take part, you get a free plate of expensive premium beef, so it's a loss not to join~

They also asked what broth we wanted, and we said the basic broth. I like dipping meat from a plain broth into sauce the best, haha.

Snapped a photo of the rice paper wraps sitting on every table!! Rice paper wraps are also all-you-can-eat, and they kept refilling the hot water for soaking the rice paper right away, which was another nice touch. Now it's time to check out the self-bar!!

What's at the self-bar?

At the self-bar there was napa cabbage, bok choy, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, and king oyster mushrooms to add to the shabu-shabu. All the vegetables looked really fresh, so I piled on as much as I wanted.

Next to that were quail eggs, dumplings, kimchi, wood ear mushrooms, and noodles. I skipped everything else and just grabbed a few of my beloved dumplings, haha.

And then the ingredients for the rice paper wraps!! Cucumber, carrot, pineapple, onion, and perilla leaves were all cut into perfect bite-sized pieces for wrapping.

This is the self-bar beyond the shabu-shabu and rice paper wrap ingredients.

From jjolmyeon (chewy noodles), smoked duck, boneless spicy chicken feet, mala fried chicken, pork ribs, cream pasta, fried rice,

to sushi, rolls, pizza, yukhoe (beef tartare), salad, and even fruit!! At this point it's basically a buffet.

The shabu-shabu meat was also divided into two types — pork neck and beef brisket — and you could scoop up as much of whichever one you wanted, which was really nice. Not pictured, but drinks were also all-you-can-drink!!

The vegetables we brought over for the rice paper wraps

Sauces for dipping the shabu-shabu and rice paper wraps

• Chili
• Peanut
• Soy sauce (+ cheongyang chili pepper)

Trying the pork neck, beef brisket, and premium beef

First, we put in all the vegetables we'd brought to make the broth richer,

and while the shabu-shabu was boiling, we had the pizza, smoked duck salad, and chicken tender salad from the self-bar as appetizers!! The pizza was delicious, and the salad dressing was really my style too. Plus the salad had so much meat piled on it — you can tell from the photo alone that there was more meat than veggies... and there was still plenty of meat left at the self-bar. Amazing.

Here's the pork neck we picked as our first meat! Look at that color...

Once the vegetables were fully cooked, in went the meat right away!! No exaggeration, the meat was tender, had no smell, and was genuinely delicious. The vegetables were fresh, needless to say — they practically melted in your mouth the moment you ate them. The broth was tasty enough to eat on its own, and it also went great dipped in sauce.

Next up was the premium beef we got from the review event! Maybe because I knew it was better meat, but it felt even more tender than the pork neck. It even looked more delicious somehow...? I'd definitely recommend joining the review event just to get this meat~

After that we tried the beef brisket, and personally I liked it even more than the pork neck... It's best to try both and pick whichever suits your taste. It's all-you-can-eat anyway!!

Dessert corner: ice cream and chocolate fondue

After stuffing ourselves with shabu-shabu, rice paper wraps, and the self-bar, we headed to the dessert corner. There's coffee available as a basic option,

and there was also a soft-serve ice cream machine, so I scooped myself some, haha.

There were also tons of candy toppings you could add to the ice cream, haha. I put everything on except the cocoa balls.

There was chocolate fondue too, so I made some homemade Pepero (chocolate-dipped biscuit sticks).

Ta-da, here's the ice cream I made! Finishing off dessert this deliciously and this full made me really happy, haha.

I had no idea there was an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu place in Yeosu Hakdong, but it was so good — fresh ingredients and a wide variety at the self-bar — that I've decided to come back again. Highly recommend Tongkeun Shabu as the all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu restaurant to try in Yeosu Hakdong.