Byeollae shabu kalguksu set with herbal pork, ₩14,000: Onjeongban

I love shabu-shabu, so I go eat it fairly often. This time I visited Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu in Byeollae, Namyangju.

As the weather started cooling down a bit, I found myself craving something with hot broth. Since you can get both shabu-shabu and kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) here, it also works well as a family meal, so I went with my kid.

Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu Byeollae: hours, parking and the dining room

Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu Namyangju Byeollae Main Branch is at 14 Siksong 1-ro, 1F, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, and is open daily from 10:30 to 21:30, with last order at 20:30. Parking is free in front, beside, and at the dedicated lot.

• Address: 14 Siksong 1-ro, 1F, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 10:30–21:30
• Last order: 20:30
• Parking: Free in front, beside, and in the dedicated lot
• Reservations and group visits available / kids' chair available

There's a Table-ing machine at the entrance where you can register if there's a wait.

The interior was bright and clean, and there was a private room in the back. The restroom was also well kept.

Since I went with my kid, they brought out separate seaweed for her to eat. It might seem like a small thing, but that kind of thoughtfulness really matters when you're eating out with a child.

The QR roulette game before you order

There's a QR roulette event on the tables at Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu, so I gave it a spin before ordering.

There were prizes like extra shabu meat or dumplings, so I was a little hopeful, but the result was 'better luck next time...' haha. I got nothing, but it was fun to try while waiting for the order.

Gondeure rice and the self-serve bar while the shabu heats up

At Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu, while the broth is coming to a boil, you first grab gondeure rice (dried gondeure greens rice) from the self-serve bar. It's kept warm in a rice cooker, and there's seasoning sauce, sesame oil, and perilla oil so you can mix it to your taste.

I was already getting full just from the rice before the shabu even started, but once gondeure rice is there, you just can't pass it up.

The self-serve bar also had fresh kimchi, salad, and sauces, so you could take as much as you needed.

What the ₩14,000 shabu and herbal boiled pork set includes

The basic Onjeongban shabu kalguksu is ₩11,000 per person, and we ordered the Onjeongban Shabu + Eomnamu Hanbang Suyuk (herbal boiled pork) set for ₩14,000 per person.

The pot came piled high with vegetables — napa cabbage, bean sprouts, bok choy, water dropwort, mushrooms — and right in the middle was a big king oyster mushroom stamped with the Onjeongban name, which really caught my eye.

Once the broth started boiling, we put in the vegetables first, then cooked the beef piece by piece. Wrapping bean sprouts and water dropwort together with the meat and dipping it in sauce — that familiar taste really is the best taste!

The eomnamu hanbang suyuk (herbal boiled pork) included in the set came sliced thicker than I expected. Eating that in between bites of thin shabu meat gave a completely different feel, even though it's the same meat.

Are the handmade gulrim dumplings worth adding?

The handmade gulrim mandu (rolled dumplings) at Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu looked a bit different from what I imagined dumplings to be. Instead of being wrapped in thick dumpling skin, the round filling was almost fully visible.

I cooked them in the shabu broth — the skin wasn't thick so it didn't feel heavy, and the filling was packed enough that even one felt pretty filling. As someone who loves dumplings, I had fun fishing them out one by one while eating the shabu.

Kalguksu noodles first, then self-made porridge to finish

After eating a good amount of the shabu, we added the kalguksu noodles. Since the broth had been simmering with vegetables and meat the whole time, the flavor was deeper than at the start, and we slurped down the noodles too.

At the end, you can adjust how much broth is left to make it into porridge, or go for a fried-rice style instead. We left a little broth, added egg and other ingredients, and made a moist porridge.

We started with gondeure rice and ended up eating porridge too.

On the way out after the meal, there was coffee, slushies, and ppeongtwigi (puffed rice snacks) available, so my kid made sure to grab dessert too.

Verdict: is Onjeongban a good-value shabu spot to visit with kids?

The basic shabu kalguksu is ₩11,000, and the boiled pork set we had was ₩14,000, so it was a good find while looking for affordable places to eat in Byeollae.

Between the gondeure rice, the shabu, the kalguksu, and the porridge at the end, we really left feeling completely full.

With free parking, a private room, a kids' chair, and even separate seaweed prepared for my child, Onjeongban Shabu Kalguksu was a comfortable meal out with the family.