Suwon buffet birthday dinner with mushroom kalguksu: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan

Today's my birthday, so my husband and I went to Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon Branch, a place I've really been wanting to visit~!

Parking and reservations at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon

For parking, head down to the B1 level. Park in the spots marked "customer only." The lot is pretty spacious.

You can book through Naver Reservation. If you want a birthday banner, I recommend reserving ahead of time~~♡ They're open as usual on Chuseok too, so keep that in mind when planning your visit!

Once you get up to the 8th floor, Pyeonbaek Hoegwan is right there on the right.

How much is the all-you-can-eat set at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan?

• Weekday lunch special all-you-can-eat set ₩17,900
• Dinner, weekend, holiday all-you-can-eat set ₩20,900
• Child [elementary school] ₩12,900
• Preschooler [age 4–7] ₩7,900

Once you sit down, staff kindly explain how to eat~ and how to order too^^

The timer above the kiosk shows how long the cypress-steamed dish needs to cook~

After they set it up, they'll hit the timer for you. When it goes off, the owner comes to open the lid, so don't touch the lid yourself~!

What is on the self-bar?

At Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon's self-bar, the shabu-shabu vegetables and spring roll vegetables are kept separate. The vegetables are genuinely so fresh and neatly arranged.

The spring roll vegetable section has each compartment labeled with a name, so you just scoop the right veggie into each spot^^

There are aprons to the right of the shabu-shabu vegetables too~! Above the tongs, scissors, and ladle are ramyeon noodles and kids' spoons and forks~

The self-bar has shabu-shabu meat, gochujapchae (spicy stir-fried noodles), tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), salad, fried food, cold buckwheat noodles, fruit, and vinegared side dishes, all laid out neatly and looking great — and everything was genuinely delicious~ Wrapping the meat in the vinegared side dish is the best~!

They also have lemon water and americano ready, just so you know~!

How to eat the cypress-steamed meat and Vietnamese spring rolls

When the timer goes off, they open the lid for you^^ Dip the meat with the spring roll vegetables and various sauces~

We first ate through everything we'd brought over — salad, tteokbokki, and so on. Honestly, not a single thing was bad...hahaha

Kya~~~~~~~~~~ can you see how it looks??? These beef brisket friends are glowing, honestly~ Cooked just right.

Soak a rice paper sheet, add vegetables and meat, dip in sauce — pure bliss~♥ And the shrimp were so plump~

How many shabu-shabu broths can you choose from?

Once you finish the cypress-steamed meat, press the shabu-shabu swap button on the staff call panel and the owner comes to switch things over. There are five broths: bonito, spicy mushroom, doenjang chicken, beef bone mala, and beef bone tomato — I wanted the spicy mushroom broth and my husband wanted the doenjang chicken broth, so we ordered both.

Once they bring the broth, they bring the meat, various vegetables, and noodles while it comes to a boil.

I love fish cake, so I piled on plenty of fish cake and vegetables.

I'm the impatient type who throws everything in before it even boils... lol The fish cake cooked just right and was genuinely delicious~ The doenjang chicken broth had a clean doenjang taste with a subtle chicken flavor — personally I thought it was way better and cleaner-tasting than the bonito broth~ The spicy mushroom broth was a bit spicy for me since I can't handle spice well. But that's exactly why I chose it~!

Jjangalguksu: knife-cut noodles in the spicy mushroom broth

Ta-da~~ The kiosk kept showing a video of people making jjangalguksu (thick knife-cut noodle soup) lol. How could we not try it?? lol After eating enough, they added the kalguksu noodles and boiled it up nicely. They tried to add it to my husband's doenjang chicken broth too, but he said he was full, and since he likes jjangalguksu anyway, we just added the noodles to the spicy mushroom broth.

The broth turns really thick and rich once it becomes jjangalguksu — seriously, everyone, you have to order the spicy mushroom broth. The jjangalguksu alone made that broth earn its keep~! Mixed with the meat fat, it was so delicious~! I'm definitely ordering the spicy mushroom broth again next time~

They also have a Cass draft beer 2+1 promotion~ I really wanted it but... I drove, and I can't drink three glasses alone lol, so I'll save it for next time~

Is Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon worth a return visit?

On the way out there's a handwashing area~ When you're out with kids it's hard to take them to the bathroom, so having this right near the exit is really nice~

I'd say I've been to a lot of all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu places, and I don't think I've seen one with vegetables as fresh and clean as Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon~ The owners are constantly moving around tidying up. They're kind and take great care of the place, so of course the food is good~!

Frozen meat can sometimes have a gamey smell, but this meat was so fresh... no gamey smell at all, and it was really tender, so I kept going back for just the meat^^ I was still full by evening lol