Nowon shabu-shabu restaurant à la carte: brisket, sirloin, yuzu ponzu

Today I'm sharing my visit to Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch, a shabu-shabu and pyeonbaek-jjim (cypress-steamed dish) spot in Junggye-dong, Nowon, where I had the shabu-shabu brisket + sirloin.

Where is Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch, and what are its hours?

🏡Location: 29 Dongil-ro203ga-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Brownstone Junggye 101ho, South Korea ⏰Hours: 11:00–22:00 🚗Parking: Free parking available in the building

Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Branch, a Japanese restaurant favorite in Junggye-dong, is a 10-minute walk from Junggye Station Exit 4 and a 10-minute walk from Hagye Station Exit 4. It sits right between the two stations, so it was easy to reach by public transit.

Here's the exterior of Hana Shabu Shabu, a shabu-shabu favorite near Hagye Station. The outside was full of Japanese sensibility from the start and had a clean feel, making it a good place to bring my parents.

Bar seats for solo dining at this Junggye-dong shabu-shabu restaurant

Here's the interior of Hana Shabu Shabu, a shabu-shabu favorite in Junggye-dong. The restaurant had a good mix of tables and group seating, plus bar-style seats, making it a great pick for solo dining in Nowon too.

Above all, the owner greeted us so warmly and explained how to eat everything step by step, so it felt welcoming even before the meal started haha.

Why the owner steered us from the course to a single à la carte order

Here's the menu for shabu-shabu and pyeonbaek-jjim at this Nowon shabu-shabu favorite. I originally planned to order a course, but the owner told us the shabu-shabu portions were generous enough on their own — to try it first and add more if we were still hungry!

Unlike other places that push you to order more and more, being told to try it first and decide made me trust the place even more haha.

At Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch, the table setting was neatly prepared too, with salad and side dishes served alongside, and clean tableware all set up.

Three sauces at Hana Shabu Shabu: yuzu ponzu with cheongyang chili

At this Junggye-dong shabu-shabu and pyeonbaek-jjim spot, three sauces were prepared to enjoy alongside the meal.

• Chili sauce
• Yuzu ponzu
• Sesame sauce

Personally, dipping the shabu-shabu meat in yuzu ponzu with cheongyang chili mixed in was the tastiest for me :)

How does the black angus brisket and sirloin taste?

🍽️Shabu-shabu brisket + sirloin

Here's the shabu-shabu brisket + sirloin I ordered at Hana Shabu Shabu, a favorite near Nowon Station! Hana Shabu Shabu's shabu-shabu is a Japanese nabe-style dish using black angus beef and a broth made with 24 kinds of Japanese-style vegetables, lightly blanched before eating.

Setting the broth to boil, adding the vegetables one by one, and lightly blanching the tender black angus beef — it really melted in my mouth. Maybe because it was black angus, the meat wasn't tough at all, and eating the vegetables together with the meat kept me reaching for more.

Finishing with udon noodles instead of kalguksu

After finishing the shabu-shabu, Hana Shabu Shabu, a favorite in Junggye-dong, added udon noodles into the pot. I'd always finished shabu-shabu with kalguksu noodles before, but udon noodles turned out to go surprisingly well too!

After eating plenty of meat and vegetables, the broth had deepened in flavor, and adding the udon noodles brought out even more savoriness :) The owner said the shabu-shabu alone would be filling, and after the meat, vegetables, and udon, I was truly stuffed by the end haha.

Tadaki served free for a photo review

Hana Shabu Shabu, a shabu-shabu favorite in Nowon, also had a Naver receipt review event posted. They said writing a photo review would get you a free tadaki, so I joined right away haha.

🍽️Tadaki

The owner came over to our table with equipment and blasted the torch flame right in front of us — it was so fascinating and cool to watch haha.

I managed to capture the moment the flame roared up, and even looking back at it, it's such a mesmerizing moment to just stare at haha.

If the shabu-shabu was clean and light in flavor, the tadaki was spicy with added smokiness from the flame, making it a great in-between bite. Finishing off the meal with shabu-shabu and then tadaki made for a very satisfying, filling end — a restaurant I was quite happy with overall.

Who is Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch best for?

That wraps up my visit to Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch, a shabu-shabu favorite in Nowon. The black angus meat was really tender, and being able to enjoy a variety of vegetables made it a solid shabu-shabu spot for bringing parents or for a date in Nowon. If you're looking for a shabu-shabu restaurant in Junggye-dong, I'd recommend visiting Hana Shabu Shabu Junggye Main Branch in Nowon :)