Korean buffet dinner at 7:30pm with yuzu soy fritters, Suwon: Boriook

Korean buffet restaurants seem to be having a comeback lately. I've been going to a lot of them myself, actually. And that's how I found out about a Suwon Korean set-meal place called Boriook that opened near my house.

A Korean buffet near Mangpo Station with its own parking

Boriook Main Branch is a Korean buffet in the restaurant row behind Mangpo Station, and it has parking. That whole area behind Mangpo Station is lined with good restaurants, but honestly, not many of them have parking. On that front, Boriook passes with flying colors!

It opens at 11am on weekdays, last order is 8:30pm, and it closes at 9pm, so don't go too late. We got there around 7:30 and it was still packed.

You order by headcount at the kiosk, then pay at the counter on your way out. They give you a free neobiani (grilled beef patty) if you leave a Naver receipt review, so definitely do that. Honestly, once you eat here, you'll want to review it anyway haha.

Boriook Main Branch menu prices and what we ordered

• Barley rice set ₩13,000
• Grilled mackerel set ₩15,000
• Grilled soy sauce pork set ₩16,000
• Grilled gochujang pork set ₩16,000
• Ages 6 to 12: ₩5,000

We ordered the grilled mackerel set and the grilled gochujang pork set. The mackerel was moist but had a slight fishy smell. Still, half a fish for ₩2,000 — I'll take it! On the other hand, the gochujang pork, which I wasn't even expecting much from, was genuinely shocking haha. That smoky grill flavor is the best. I'm definitely ordering it again. Next time I'll try the soy sauce version too haha.

Inside Boriook: the dining room and the self-serve bar

Boriook Main Branch has a very spacious dining room, and they have high chairs too. There's gochujang (red chili paste) and sesame oil at every table, and when ours was missing them, they brought some over right away. Really kind staff. I think this might be the friendliest of all the all-you-can-eat barley rice restaurants I've been to in Suwon.

For anyone who wants more rice, they have both barley rice and white rice ready, and various namul (seasoned vegetable side dishes) that are all seasoned quite mildly. There are plates under the namul section, so grab a big or small plate depending on how much you want.

There's also lettuce for wraps, so grab some ssamjang (wrap dipping sauce) if you need it, and don't forget the seasoning sauce for the acorn jelly!

Vegetable fritters with yuzu soy sauce

These vegetable fritters totally won me over — seriously delicious. Fresh out of the fryer, with a whole variety of vegetables: chili peppers, lotus root, sweet pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant. You just pick whichever you like, and the soy sauce next to it is the real game-changer — I think it was yuzu soy sauce. I wanted to buy some to take home... though honestly we barely eat fried food at home, so it probably would've just sat there.

Then there was the spicy braised tofu (genuinely spicy) and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), a must at any Korean buffet. The japchae was a bit underwhelming to me, but my husband loved it. I guess it passed for a true japchae fanatic.

Dessert at Boriook: sungnyung, rice puffs and coffee

I was surprised they even had sungnyung (scorched-rice tea), so instead of water I finished up with a cup of that.

There are rice puffs for the kids as dessert too. It might work better if they fried small batches at the entrance and let people take them on the way out, since when they're just left sitting out like that, the flatter puffs on the right go stale quickly. Still, it was nice that they had that option — a Korean buffet really needs a dessert to finish with. Usually it's rice puffs or yogurt drinks, right, haha.

There's also coffee and plum or peach drinks if you want something to sip.

A lot of people were still sitting with a cup of coffee long after their meal. Maybe there's no time limit...?

Doenjang jjigae like cheonggukjang, plus the grilled pork

Anyway, the rice and stew get set on your table right when you order. I figured they'd bring it whenever, so I went straight for the buffet first haha.

The doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) here is something else. It's less like a regular doenjang jjigae and more like cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew) — the beans have such a great bite, and the stew isn't salty at all.

Then the dishes we ordered came out... I'll say it again, definitely order the grilled pork. It's genuinely delicious.

All these namul went onto my plate. I'm not sure I can eat it all, but we'll be sharing so it should be fine haha.

And so we went through it — rice gone in no time, mackerel gone in no time, and the meat, well, devoured haha.

And the infamous vegetable fritters, which we went back for four whole plates of haha. Even writing this now makes me want more, argh. Honestly, it'd be a better deal for the two of us to just come here and order two set meals than to buy side dishes from a banchan shop when we've got nothing to eat at home.

Restrooms, and would we go back to Boriook?

On our way out, we checked the restrooms at Boriook Main Branch — very clean, and it's nice that they're indoors. Above all, the staff were so kind that I'd definitely go back. If you're looking for a good restaurant near Mangpo Station, this one's a must-try!! Highly recommend.