Shabu-shabu restaurant in Seohae with fried chicken: Shabuway

A return visit to Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch

I went back to Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch. I was so pleased that I could enjoy everything from shabu-shabu to a great variety of hot food and desserts in its spacious, comfortable setting. It was especially lovely for an easy meal with a child.

The moment you enter, it feels a little different from a typical shabu-shabu restaurant. The open layout and neatly finished gray-toned interior give it a polished, clean feel overall.

The tables are generously spaced too, making it well suited to family meals, get-togethers, and group dining.

At the center is a long oval self-service bar. There is plenty of space on both sides, so it does not feel crowded when you are filling your plate, which I also liked.

What shabu-shabu ingredients are at the self-service bar?

🥬 Freshly prepared shabu-shabu ingredients

The self-service bar has fresh vegetables that are perfect for shabu-shabu, including bok choy, napa cabbage, kabocha squash, and mushrooms. Since you can take as much as you like, it was especially appealing to us as big vegetable eaters.

Beside them were plenty of other ingredients for the pot, including wood ear mushrooms, konjac, colorful noodles, and fried tofu.

There is also a separate wolnam ssam (Vietnamese rice-paper wrap) station, so it was nice to be able to add as much rice paper and fresh vegetables as we wanted.

Rice, eggs, roasted seaweed flakes, and everything else needed to make juk (rice porridge) at the end of the meal are also prepared, so you can take care of the whole meal in one place from start to finish.

Hot food that was just as satisfying as the shabu-shabu

🍗 Hot food just as satisfying as the shabu-shabu

Across from the shabu-shabu vegetable section, there were more warm dishes than I expected.

There was perilla oil pasta, warm suyuk (boiled sliced meat), and smoked duck with a nicely sweet-savory seasoning.

My husband especially kept going back for the flame-grilled marinated galbi. The meat was nicely thick, and the marinade was neither overly sweet nor salty, so it was easy to enjoy.

There was ratatouille too, which was nice for enjoying vegetables and cheese together.

The mala xiang guo was not too spicy, and with sausage, tofu noodles, rice cakes, and a variety of other ingredients, I found myself reaching for it more often than expected.

And the fried items are what I especially want to recommend here. The chicken had a thin, crisp coating, and the tangsuyuk (sweet-and-sour fried pork) was more satisfying than at many Chinese restaurants.

The meat was thick and the coating thin, giving it a great texture. Both sweet and spicy sauces were available, so you could choose whichever suited your taste.

Dishes that were easy to enjoy with a child

🍕 Dishes that were easy to enjoy with a child

The pepperoni pizza had a mild enough flavor for a child, so we naturally went back for it several times.

Beside it were mushroom soup, croutons, and garlic-bread-style snacks, all nice to have alongside.

There were Cajun chicken salad and fruit salad as well, which were great for freshening up the palate now and then.

From side dishes to fruit and drinks

🍊 Plenty of choices, from side dishes to fruit

The side-dish section had kimchi, spicy mixed noodles, pickled gungchae stems, and seasoned chili peppers, all good alongside shabu-shabu.

On the other side were passion fruit, oranges, Shine Muscat grapes, salmon salad, soy-marinated shrimp, and caprese salad.

Starting with three meats and two broths

🥩 Three meats and two broths

The three meats—beef chuck roll, thinly sliced beef belly, and pork neck—were each prepared neatly on their own plate. You can refill the broth as much as you like too, which is convenient.

The drink station had freely available soft drinks including Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, and Fanta, along with maesil (plum) juice and orange juice.

Louis chocolate was available for dessert too.

Our course from shabu-shabu to kalguksu and juk

🍜 A full course of shabu-shabu, kalguksu, and juk!

You can choose one shabu-shabu broth or order a half-and-half pot. We chose spicy broth and shiitake mushroom broth.

They bring the three kinds of meat and vegetables to start, and after that you can take whatever you want.

There is a separate sauce station too, so you can mix and match all kinds of sauces to your taste.

Time to start adding vegetables and meat to the broth!

So light and seriously delicious!

Then we properly loaded up a plate with salad and fried food too. I think we went back for them so many times.

Honestly, the fried food here is a work of art!

After having plenty of meat and vegetables, we finished with kalguksu (knife-cut noodles). Cooking the noodles in the richly flavored broth was filling, like having a whole different dish.

It felt like such a shame to stop after the kalguksu, so we made sure to have juk too.

Even the nutty rice porridge was so delicious, seriously?!

Finishing with fruit and soft-serve ice cream

🍦 Finishing with fruit and soft-serve ice cream

After the meal, we started with some fruit.

And for the real final course, soft-serve ice cream. My child loved being able to add as much cereal, chocolate, pretzels, and other toppings as they wanted.

A place I would like to revisit for a family meal

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch is a place where you can enjoy shabu-shabu, Vietnamese rice-paper wraps, hot food, salads, fruit, drinks, and desserts all together. Above all, every hot-food item was such good quality, and the pleasant space made it comfortable to eat there. I definitely want to recommend it for a family meal or gathering.