Gimpo Korean restaurant shabu-shabu feast: Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu

On a weekday evening, why does cooking feel so bothersome these days? Haha. My husband and I walked around the grocery area in our apartment complex and spent ages debating whether to get some snack food to take home or just go out for a proper meal.

After a huge amount of deliberation, we chose shabu-shabu that day! I found a place where we could try not only shabu-shabu but also boiled pork and webfoot octopus, so off we went to Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu Gimpo Main Branch in Geolpo-dong, Gimpo.

Homilwon Shabu Kalguksu Gimpo Main Branch is a standalone restaurant in its own separate building, so it was easy to find, and there was plenty of dedicated parking in front. Parking is something I quietly worry about whenever we drive out to eat, so I liked right away that it did not feel like a burden here. It is listed as offering free parking, and apparently it is popular for family meals and group gatherings too.

Even though we came in the early evening on a weekday, there were quite a few diners. It felt like there would be even more people on weekends or at proper mealtimes.

Shabu-kalguksu with sanghwang mushroom broth and fresh rye noodles

What sets this apart from an ordinary shabu-shabu place is that its shabu-kalguksu is made with sanghwang mushroom broth and fresh rye noodles!

There was a wide variety of options, from basic shabu-kalguksu to sets with boiled pork or webfoot octopus. Since we had come out to eat anyway and wanted to try a bit of everything, we chose the menu that looked the most generous.

Special Full Table Sanghwang Shabu Kalguksu: ₩19,900 per person × 2 = ₩39,800. It includes shabu vegetables and beef, rye kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), and perilla oil fried rice, plus warm Korean pork boiled pork and fire-grilled webfoot octopus stir-fry. Shabu-shabu alone is filling once you add noodles and fried rice, but having pork and webfoot octopus too meant we could enjoy quite a variety for ₩19,900 per person.

Free beef mushroom radish rice before the main meal

As soon as we ordered, we went to look around the self-service bar. What caught my eye was beef mushroom radish rice made with Gimpo Geumssal rice.

We could not just walk past it before the main dishes had even arrived, so my husband and I went to serve ourselves rice first. Haha. The bar had kimchi, young-radish kimchi, seasoning sauce, gochujang (Korean red chili paste), and sesame oil to have with the radish rice, so you can mix it to your taste. The beef mushroom radish rice is free, which was nice because we could go back for more if we needed it.

We added seasoning sauce and plenty of sesame oil to the radish rice, then topped it with young radish kimchi and mixed it all up. It was tastier than I expected. The sesame oil made it nutty, while the radish and mushrooms kept it light; the young radish kimchi added a refreshing note, making it the perfect appetizer while we waited for the mains. The rice was so good on its own that I wanted to bring back more, but I held myself back thinking about all the food still to come.

Sanghwang mushroom shabu-shabu loaded with mushrooms and vegetables

After a short wait, the shabu-kalguksu was neatly set out.

The pot was generously filled with bean sprouts, minari (water dropwort), bok choy, several kinds of mushrooms, and vegetables. The thin shabu beef, fresh rye noodles, kimchi, and ingredients for the perilla oil fried rice came separately.

Once the broth began bubbling away, my husband put in the beef, cooked it, and placed pieces on my plate one by one for me to eat. Haha.

Because the beef was sliced thin for shabu-shabu, it was tender with just a quick cook. It was easy to enjoy lightly with the vegetables and mushrooms. The broth in particular was different from standard shabu-shabu: made with sanghwang mushrooms, it was clean yet pleasantly earthy. As the vegetables and mushrooms simmered, the broth grew deeper in flavor, and I kept spooning it up even before it was time to add the noodles.

Warm boiled pork, seasoned pollock, and fire-grilled webfoot octopus

While we were eating the shabu beef, the warm boiled pork, seasoned dried pollock salad, and fire-grilled webfoot octopus stir-fry arrived too. True to the menu name, the table was really filled to the brim. Haha. Instead of eating just one pot of shabu-shabu, we could have light beef, then a piece of pork, then spicy webfoot octopus in between, so there was no time to get bored.

The warm boiled pork was soft and light, and it paired well with the seasoned dried pollock salad, which added a tangy, spicy kick.

It was a different kind of meat from the shabu-shabu, so it felt like enjoying two styles of meat in one meal. And the fire-grilled webfoot octopus stir-fry definitely made its presence known! It was spicy with a distinct smoky char, perfect for eating between bites of the lighter shabu-shabu. It also went nicely with the beef mushroom radish rice, so thankfully I had not filled up on it from the start. Haha.

Rye kalguksu and perilla oil fried rice to finish

After eating a fair amount of shabu-shabu, it was time for the fresh rye noodles we had been waiting for. True to the name Homilwon, they use kalguksu noodles made with domestically produced rye rather than the usual white noodles.

Cooking the noodles in the sanghwang mushroom broth, now richer from the vegetables and beef, made for a lovely pairing of earthy broth and noodles. I can never skip kalguksu when I eat shabu-shabu, and I liked that the rye noodles made it feel a little different here.

And though it seemed like we were done, there was still the perilla oil fried rice. We were already very full after the beef mushroom radish rice, shabu-shabu, pork, webfoot octopus, and kalguksu, but it would have been a shame to finish without fried rice. Ending with fried rice fragrant with nutty perilla oil made the meal feel like a truly proper course.

Why it was a good choice for a Gimpo family meal

At first, we had considered just taking home some snack food, but in the end I was so glad we went out for dinner.

For ₩19,900 per person, the Special Full Table Sanghwang Shabu Kalguksu lets you try shabu-shabu, rye kalguksu, perilla oil fried rice, warm boiled pork, and fire-grilled webfoot octopus all at once, so it is an especially good set for anyone who wants to sample a variety of dishes. With free beef mushroom radish rice at the self-service bar too, I doubt anyone would worry about not having enough food. Actually, if you work too hard on the radish rice at the beginning, you might be full before you get to the noodles and fried rice, so I recommend trying just a little at first. 🤣

With its own building, parking space, and a clean interior, it was nice for a meal out with just my husband and me, but it also looked like a good place to bring parents or visit as a family.

We even finished with misutgaru (multigrain powder drink)! On a day when just one pot of shabu-shabu feels a little lacking and you want a generous spread of boiled pork, webfoot octopus, kalguksu, fried rice, and more, this is the Gimpo shabu-shabu spot I think I will remember.