Naju shabu-shabu with free veggie refills and bar seats: Yuyu Shabu

I was looking for a clean, hearty shabu-shabu place in Naju Innovation City, and that's how I ended up at Yuyu Shabu Naju Innovation City branch (유유샤브 나주혁신점)! It's a shabu-shabu restaurant with unlimited fresh vegetable refills. I usually like shabu-shabu anyway, and with the wide range of ingredients and the veggie refills, I left pretty satisfied.

Parking and exterior at Yuyu Shabu Naju Innovation City

Yuyu Shabu is in Naju Innovation City and has a parking lot in the building. There's also plenty of parking space around it, so I could visit without worrying about parking.

The exterior was bigger and flashier than I expected, so it stands out even from far away. When you think of a shabu-shabu restaurant you usually picture something small and quiet, but Yuyu Shabu looked pretty big from the outside, which got me excited.

Yuyu Shabu menu and prices

The restaurant sells a range of menus, from basic shabu-shabu to half-and-half shabu and cypress-steamed dishes.

• Yuyu Shabu (per person) ₩18,000 — the basic shabu-shabu set
• Half-and-half shabu (per person) ₩19,000 — shabu-shabu with two kinds of broth
• Cypress steamer + mini shabu (per person) ₩24,000 — a set combining cypress-steamed food and shabu-shabu

Bar seats around the kitchen, plus rooms and group seats?

The seating wraps around the kitchen in a bar-style layout, and I was told there are also separate rooms and group seats. The first thing that caught my eye as soon as I walked in was this unusual interior.

Instead of tables placed in the middle of the room, the seats circle around the kitchen in a bar-style structure.

Besides these bar tables, there are rooms and group seats too. For groups, if you book ahead they set up the seating to fit your party size, so it seems like a decent choice for people in Naju Innovation City looking for a lunch or dinner get-together with coworkers.

How hearty is the Yuyu Shabu set for two?

I ordered the most basic Yuyu Shabu for two. The side dishes were very simple, just danmuji (pickled radish) and kimchi.

The ingredients came piled high on a plate, and it looked really generous right away. The bottom was packed with napa cabbage, bean sprouts and other vegetables, and on top were beef, mushrooms, fried tofu, fish cake, dumplings and more, nicely arranged.

There was even sweet potato rice cake, so picking through the ingredients one by one was fun.

Vegetables refill freely at the self-bar

Another thing I liked: at Yuyu Shabu you can refill vegetables freely at the self-bar! Sometimes when you're eating shabu-shabu you crave vegetables more than meat, and here you can just keep getting more.

The more the broth deepens, the more fun it is to keep adding vegetables, so veggie lovers will probably be even happier here.

What order should you cook shabu-shabu ingredients in?

I put the fish cake in first, then vegetables like cabbage, bean sprouts and mushrooms, and finally lightly cooked the beef one slice at a time. Boiling the fish cake in the broth first added its savory depth to the soup, and the broth felt richer.

Next I added the cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms and other vegetables in turn and waited for the broth to develop fully. Once the vegetables are cooked through and the soup is boiling, you finally swish in the beef one slice at a time and eat it just barely cooked.

Yuyu Shabu's signature tare sauce and peanut sauce

The thing to watch at Yuyu Shabu is the signature tare sauce that comes by default! Tare is a sauce often used in Japanese cooking, generally soy sauce with sugar or mirin added for savory depth and a mild sweetness. Dipping cooked meat or vegetables in it gives a salty, savory kick that pairs well with shabu-shabu.

Personally, I also strongly recommend the peanut sauce! Dipping the shabu beef into the nutty, rich peanut sauce is really delicious.

Extra rice paper and soy sauce egg rice

At Yuyu Shabu you can add rice paper for ₩1,000, and porridge is not included in the basic menu. Partway through the meal I suddenly craved wolnamssam (Vietnamese-style fresh rolls), and since rice paper can be added separately, I paid ₩1,000 and ordered it!

Normally I like finishing shabu-shabu with porridge, but the basic Yuyu Shabu menu doesn't include it.

So I ordered soy sauce egg rice (ganjang gyeran bap) separately. The taste was just so-so!!

🍜 And of course, shabu kalguksu to finish!

The basic Yuyu Shabu set includes shabu kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), so I didn't need to order it separately. Kalguksu is the proper way to end shabu-shabu! I put the noodles into the broth that had been simmered with the meat, vegetables and everything else.

I think the real charm of shabu-shabu is the kalguksu at the end, and the flavors from all the ingredients stayed right in the broth, so the soup tasted really good.

After finishing everything, I was really full and satisfied.

Overall verdict on Yuyu Shabu Naju Innovation City

Yuyu Shabu in Naju Innovation City has rooms and group seats too, so it looked good for all kinds of gatherings. The freely refillable vegetables are the biggest plus! The signature tare sauce and the peanut sauce were tasty too, and the kalguksu at the end made for a filling finish.

If you're looking for a hearty shabu-shabu place in Naju Innovation City, or you're deciding on a work lunch or a family meal, I'd recommend Yuyu Shabu Naju Innovation City branch.