Gajeong Station shabu-shabu buffet with my son, chili sauce: Shabuway

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch near Gajeong Station: a weekend dinner date with my son

A new shabu-shabu (hot pot where you swish thin meat and vegetables in broth) spot, Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch, opened near Gajeong Station, so I went on the weekend with my son. Not only is the shabu-shabu unlimited, I heard the salad bar has a huge range of items too, so I figured kids would love it.

I don't usually eat many vegetables, but with shabu-shabu I end up eating loads. It's honestly the only food where the vegetables taste better to me than the meat, haha. It's hard to match schedules with my son on weekdays, so we used the weekend for a date :-)

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch hours and parking

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch is on the 2nd floor of Ruwon Top Plaza, 11 Yeomgok-ro 464beon-gil, Seohae-gu, Incheon, and is open daily from 11:30 to 21:30. The break time is 15:30-17:00, but there's no break on weekends, and you can register for parking in the underground garage.

Weekend dinner at Shabuway: when is it less crowded?

If you're going on a weekend without a reservation, early evening before 6 PM is best. We went without a booking at a slightly early weekend dinner time, so it wasn't crowded, which was great, and by the time we finished, a little after 6 PM, it was almost completely full. Keep that in mind when you plan your visit :)

Since it's a newly opened branch, it felt luxurious and clean right from the entrance!

Shabuway atmosphere and seating

Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch has a hotel-buffet-style, upscale interior with a really large number of tables, plus separate rooms. I think it would be good for company dinners or group gatherings. There's a manager on site and plenty of staff, so they keep refilling the food so it never runs out :)

We were seated close to the salad bar. It was reasonably separated from the seats behind us, so we could eat in a fairly private atmosphere.

What's in the Shabuway salad bar?

Once you've got your seat and chosen a broth, you head off to fill your plate at the salad bar :) It's designed in a curve, so it's easy to move around and you can see all the food at a glance. I took photos of everything to show how varied it is, so let me introduce it piece by piece 🫶

Appetizer salads, meat dishes and mala xiangguo

There are salads that work well as appetizers, and meat dishes like smoked duck and pork ribs to try. What's unusual is that there's also mala xiangguo (Sichuan numbing-spicy stir-fry), so people who like mala dishes will probably enjoy it, haha. I'm not a mala person, so I passed,,

Cold dishes on ice and shabu-shabu vegetables

The cold dishes freshly displayed on ice were varied too. I'm a seafood lover, so I mostly picked salmon salad and soy-marinated shrimp :-)

At the shabu-shabu vegetable section you can bring back as many more vegetables as you need. I like mushrooms, so I got extra mushrooms and bean sprouts :) You shouldn't leave food behind, and since it was just me and my kid, I didn't get greedy at the start, haha.

The fried food corner kids love

The fried food comes in lots of varieties too. Even small kids who find shabu-shabu unfamiliar can eat chicken, pizza and tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork), which makes Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch a good place to visit as a family. My son and I brought back chicken, tangsuyuk and fried shrimp :-)

3 self-serve refill meats: beef chuck, brisket, pork neck

You can bring more shabu-shabu meat and broth yourself. There are three kinds of meat, beef (chuck and brisket) and pork (neck), and you can pick the cuts you want more of. Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch says it uses premium-grade beef, and maybe because of that, it tasted good with no gamey smell.

Rice paper wraps and the sauce combination guide

There are also Vietnamese-style rice paper wraps (wolnamssam) to enjoy with fresh vegetables. I like them too, but there was so much to eat that I didn't make any this time, haha. Next visit I'll try one. There's a wide range of sauces, and a guide to tasty sauce combinations is posted too :)

Self-serve kalguksu and porridge corner, plus add-ins

After the shabu-shabu you can also make kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and juk (porridge) yourself! There are lots of add-ins too, like dumplings and rice cakes, so you can eat shabu-shabu generously. Before eating I thought I could even manage the porridge, but I was just too full.. haha. Next time I'll come with my husband, who eats a lot, and we'll definitely finish with porridge ㅠㅠ

Drink and coffee machines and soft serve

At the drinks and dessert corner you can get drinks and coffee from vending machines. There's soft serve too, so dessert was covered as well. The salad bar at Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch really is varied.

Trying half shiitake broth, half spicy broth

For broth I ordered the basic shiitake broth and the spicy broth half and half. The meat and vegetables for shabu-shabu come out at first in all three kinds, in this order: pork neck, beef brisket, beef chuck.

I like spicy broth, but the basic shiitake broth at Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch was so rich and deep that I kept reaching for it. My son said the broth was really delicious too 🤭

The chili sauce combo and mildly seasoned soy shrimp

I always eat shabu-shabu meat with chili sauce, no exceptions. The meat was tender so it just kept going down, haha. You can add chili peppers to the chili sauce too, so I put in plenty for a spicy kick :)

The soy-marinated shrimp from the salad bar was sooo good.. hahaha. Soy-marinated shrimp is normally a side dish for rice, so it's salty, right? At Shabuway Ruwon City Cheongna Branch, it seemed like they deliberately made the seasoning mild so you can eat the shrimp on their own! My son likes shrimp too, so we both kept bringing some back, haha.

We also had the fried dishes, tangsuyuk and fried shrimp~ They go so well with chili sauce :-)

Meat refills: which cut was the best?

After finishing the 3 plates of meat they gave us at the start, I brought back one refill plate of each, haha. This one is the pork neck :-) Even though it's pork, it tasted good with no gamey smell.

For me, the beef chuck was the best! It's low in fat but not tough.

If you move empty bowls to one side, the staff clear them quickly. With so many staff members there's no waiting, so we could eat comfortably :)

Dessert: soft serve with toppings

After eating, I can't resist dessert ice cream, haha. You can add toppings, and I only put on cookie crunch and chocolate :) It was dinner time so I skipped the coffee, but during the kids' school vacation I'm planning to come for a weekday lunch.

A shabu-shabu buffet with a varied salad bar and a clean, brand-new interior