Ruwon City shabu-shabu buffet: 3 meats and peanut sauce at Shabuway

As the weather's gotten colder I've been craving hot shabu-shabu, and I heard there's a new premium shabu-shabu place in Ruwon City, so I went to check it out!

Where is Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch, and what are its hours?

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch is on the 2nd floor of Ruwon Tower Plaza on Yeomgok-ro 464beon-gil in Seohae-gu, Incheon. It's open Mon–Fri 11:30–21:30 with a break time of 15:30–17:00, and Sat–Sun also 11:30–21:30. Parking support is available for 2 hours.

What is the atmosphere like inside Shabuway?

Shabuway in Ruwon City felt a bit different from your typical shabu-shabu place! The moment I walked in, the atmosphere already felt quite upscale!

Even though I came for shabu-shabu, it felt very much like being at a premium restaurant, so I liked it right from the start!

The whole space was clean and the tables had plenty of spacing between them, so it seemed like a good spot for a family meal out too!

What's on the self-service bar: drinks, ice cream, sauces and buffet dishes

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch even had Cuckoo water purifiers for water! And the drinks were all-you-can-drink too!

There was ice cream too

They even had ice cream toppings ready!

You could also mix your own sauce however you wanted

There were also simple buffet dishes prepared

Everything from fried food to pasta — so much variety!

No shabu-shabu is complete without fresh spring rolls and self-serve porridge, and they had both!

There were even two kinds of kalguksu (knife-cut noodle)!

From Korean dishes

To various types of salad

And of course, the vegetables essential to shabu-shabu

There was such a wide variety prepared, it was so nice

There's also all-you-can-drink beer! But that has to be ordered separately!

And true to a premium shabu-shabu place, they had 3 kinds of meat plus extra broth ready in a variety of options

Weekday lunch set or 3-meat all-you-can-eat: which to order

At Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch, they first take orders per person, and you get to choose! On weekdays you choose between lunch and all-you-can-eat! The weekday lunch is 180g of meat plus the salad bar, while all-you-can-eat lets you eat 3 kinds of meat unlimited!

After thinking about it, I wanted to try different kinds of meat so I went with all-you-can-eat! For the broth I also chose half plain, half spicy! One side you can eat light and clean, the other side spicy, so even with the same ingredients the flavor changes and it doesn't get boring! Loading up on vegetables and mushrooms and lightly cooking the meat — shabu-shabu really is better eaten with vegetables!

Three meats, peanut sauce and two kinds of kalguksu

For the first round, the staff set up the meat directly! After that, it's a system where you go grab whatever meat you want yourself! There was prime-grade beef chuck, beef brisket, and pork neck, so I tried a bit of everything! The meat was tender and clean with no gamey smell at all, which was really satisfying!

You could also mix your own sauce, but I like the basics so I went with chili and peanut sauce! But the peanut sauce, oh my... it was so rich and nutty!!

They also had kalguksu (knife-cut noodle) ready! Two different kinds! The colors were different so I was curious what each would taste like, and it was nice being able to choose between two kinds instead of just plain white noodles! Finishing off by adding the noodles to the leftover broth makes for a hearty end to the meal! Honestly I wanted to try the porridge too, but I'd eaten so much of everything else that I was too full and had to skip it

Dessert at Shabuway: ice cream with toppings and coffee

I filled up plenty on shabu-shabu, but you still have to have dessert, right? Even when you're full, there's always room for dessert! I finished off simply with ice cream and coffee!!

Is Shabuway Ruwon City worth a visit?

Shabuway, a Cheongna shabu-shabu favorite, had a great variety of food overall, decent meat quality, and even an upscale atmosphere, so it felt a bit different from typical all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu places! Usually when you think all-you-can-eat, you think about value for money first, but here I felt like they took care of both meat quality and the restaurant atmosphere, which was really satisfying!

If you'd like to enjoy shabu-shabu in a clean, upscale atmosphere like I did, give Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch a try! The vibe is good for family visits too, so it'd be great for people looking for a place to eat out with kids or take their parents to!