Dongtan Station shabu buffet, 2 p.m. lunch with my sister: Pyeonbaek

Can you book Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch the same day for a late lunch?

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch is an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu buffet at a reasonable price, so it works well for a Dongtan team lunch too. I was scrambling to find a spot for a date with my older sister, and I found a place that takes same-day Naver Reservation: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan! You can eat all the meat you want, plus unlimited cypress steam (food steamed in a cypress-wood steamer), so you'll leave properly full. Sounds good, right?

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch location and parking

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch is on the 2nd floor of the Dongtan Granvia Star building. I parked at Gate 1 on B2, took the elevator right in front, and the restaurant was right there. Remember this so you save yourself some walking! It's a Dongtan shabu-shabu place that's even been on TV, so I went in with high hopes! There was a Tabling machine out front too!

Atmosphere and seating at 2 p.m.

The restaurant felt clean overall, and even though 2 p.m. is a pretty late lunch, other customers kept coming in before and after us, which surprised me. There were plenty of staff, so service wasn't slow and we could eat quickly. At the very back there's a play room, so it's great for kids to run around, and there are seats set close together, so it works for a Dongtan team lunch too.

What if your companion is late? What about the cypress steam?

At Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch, you can get the cypress steam going first even if your party is late. I took a seat first and told the staff my companion hadn't arrived yet, and they said no problem and brought the cypress steam out first. Luckily the cypress steam timer is 10 minutes, so by the time I'd gotten ready, it lined up nicely with when my sister arrived! If anything, we got to dig in together quickly.

What's at the self-serve bar?

The self-serve bar at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch has rice paper wrap (Vietnamese-style summer roll) ingredients, shabu-shabu ingredients and hot dishes all together. Before my sister arrived, I went to the bar to bring back a bit of everything. The star of shabu-shabu is meat, sure, but it's vegetables too, right? I'm a half-meat, half-veggie eater, so the variety of vegetables caught my eye. There's cucumber, onion, carrot and Cheongyang chili (spicy green chili) for the wraps, and for shabu-shabu there's bean sprouts, dumplings, napa cabbage, sujebi (hand-pulled dough flakes), bok choy and kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), packed full.

On another side there were tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), dotori-muk bowl (chilled acorn jelly in broth), salad, tomato pasta and fried rice. I don't remember the muk bowl from my last visit, so maybe it's a summer special? Haha. Either way, I was happy to have these hot dishes besides shabu-shabu and wraps. I didn't get a photo, but you can also toast your own morning rolls, which looked great for feeding kids.

Filling the vegetables into the labeled compartments, each in its spot, made me oddly proud 😉 Above all, I think the biggest plus is that it has no break time, so you can eat here any time. There's also an E-Mart Traders and a Lotte Department Store nearby, so it's a good fit for combining with some shopping.

Rice paper and table sauces

Rice paper is unlimited too! Each table has a bottle each of chili sauce, peanut sauce and soy sauce, so you can refill sauces as much as you like without going to the self-serve bar. I love dunking things in lots of sauce and go through plenty of it, so this was a real plus for me.

I laid out a whole spread, and my sister still hadn't shown up, haha. Maybe I'll just start my mukbang (eating show) solo.

Cypress steam taste and refills

When the cypress steam timer goes off, a staff member comes and opens the lid, and if you want more, you just refill on the tablet. The meat and vegetables were laid out so neatly that I couldn't not dig in right away, so here goes a bite! The cypress steam meat comes out this generous from the start, and if you want even more, you just order a refill on the tablet. Amazing, right? The value is crazy.

I wrapped a piece in napa cabbage and the healthy flavor really came through. It's a hearty, healthy meal, so it looked fine for bringing older family members. And since it's cypress steam, there's of course nothing strongly seasoned, so you can eat here with a baby too.

My sister has arrived! She wrapped hers up just as eagerly. Since the vegetables are unlimited too, I didn't hold back and my wraps got pretty big. With rice paper wraps, a big bite, wahhh, is always the tastiest, I think.

Unlimited shabu-shabu meat, Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch

How do you order shabu-shabu broth after the cypress steam?

At Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch, you tell the tablet "shabu-shabu without cypress steam, please," and they serve the shabu-shabu you originally ordered. Okay, round two begins! We hadn't ordered a broth at first, so a staff member came back and asked us to, and we ordered katsuo (bonito) broth and spicy broth, half and half. I think there was also doenjang chicken broth and mala broth! Pick whichever suits you.

I'd just finished a whole round of cypress steam, but the spread felt like we were right back at the start! Since the meat is unlimited, greed kicks in and I keep bringing more than I need.

Dropping as much meat as I wanted into the bubbling broth was the best,,! I guess I'm built for all-you-can-eat. This is why I can never diet 😉 But meat doesn't make you fat! I tell myself, comforting myself as I keep on eating.

Finishing with porridge and a roasted-grain slush

We finished the shabu-shabu at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch with porridge made with furikake (rice seasoning), raw egg and seaweed flakes. Koreans run on rice, I declared, and made porridge, and with the furikake, raw egg and seaweed flakes added, it was out-of-this-world delicious!

The real finish? Pyeonbaek Hoegwan's misutgaru slush (roasted multigrain powder drink, slushy-style)! Sharing one between me and my sister, half a glass each, was just right. The machine keeps churning cold, so it's a nice healthy alternative to coffee. That was a full, eat-as-much-as-you-like Dongtan shabu-shabu meal at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch!