Friday night shabu-shabu self-bar closing time in Wirye: Dadam

My boyfriend and I were trying to figure out what to eat this weekend, and this time we were craving something a little healthier. Just meat felt like too much, but just salad felt lacking, so while looking around we found Dadam Shabu Shabu & Wolnamssam Wirye Branch, where you can eat shabu-shabu and wolnamssam (Vietnamese rice paper wraps) together.

This place lets you refill everything from vegetables to beef to wolnamssam ingredients as much as you want, so you can just take whatever you feel like eating. Plus there's a cafeteria inside where you can grab coffee and ice cream after the meal, so you don't even need to go find another café. If you're searching for restaurants near Namwirye Station and like all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu or wolnamssam, here's my firsthand account.

Where is Dadam Shabu Shabu in Wirye, and where do you park?

Dadam Shabu Shabu & Wolnamssam Wirye Branch is about a 5-minute walk from Namwirye Station, and you can also walk there from Wirye Central Tower. We came by car! You can use the G&G Plaza underground parking lot, and the first 3 hours are free, so driving there was fine too.

After parking underground, we took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, and the restaurant was right there as soon as we got off, so it wasn't hard to find. Parking space was fairly generous too, so parking wasn't stressful.

I visited with just my boyfriend, but I saw quite a few families there too. Some came with kids, and the restaurant had kids' chairs and a waiting area ready. However, you can't bring strollers or kick scooters inside the restaurant. We were told there's a storage space next to the women's restroom where you can leave them before going in.

How to order at the kiosk and what comes to the table

At Dadam Shabu Shabu Wirye Branch, each table has a kiosk, so once you sit down and choose 2 broths for your party size, staff prepare them right away. The basic table setting is already in place, so you can just bring back ingredients from the self-bar and start eating.

They had bowls for wolnamssam, a bowl for meat, a bowl for shabu-shabu ingredients, and small plates all set up, so you could start eating right after bringing back ingredients from the self-bar! Since it was our first visit, we were curious how it worked, but a staff member explained everything really kindly. At all-you-can-eat places, it can be confusing the first time — how to use the self-bar, how to pick broths — but they explained it well from the start, which made things easy.

What is on the self-bar at Dadam Shabu Shabu?

Before really digging in, we walked around the self-bar first. There were way more varieties than I expected. Dadam says they bring in vegetables selected daily from Garak Market, and looking at them, the vegetables really did seem to be in good condition. Most of all, I liked that with so many varieties, you could pick a little of this and that while eating shabu-shabu.

I especially liked that there were so many kinds of mushrooms. I like mushrooms when eating shabu-shabu, so I brought a little of each kind, and boiling them with the vegetables was delicious. There were also things like dumplings and shrimp balls, so instead of just eating meat and vegetables the whole time, it was fun to throw in different ingredients here and there.

What I liked most about Dadam Shabu Shabu was the condition of the ingredients on the self-bar. As we ate, the vegetables were fresh overall and the meat was cleanly prepared. Since shabu-shabu has so many different ingredients, you end up eating a lot of vegetables, and since you can take as much as you want, my boyfriend and I could each pick what we liked. The beef options were beef brisket and beef neck, so there was no worry about running out of meat after eating too many vegetables.

At first we brought back small amounts, but once we found something tasty we kept going back to the self-bar. Being able to take as much as we wanted meant our different tastes didn't really matter. We also made wolnamssam as much as we wanted while eating shabu-shabu. Wrapping shabu-shabu ingredients in rice paper for wolnamssam gave the meal a whole different feel.

The three sauces: chili, peanut and soy with green chili

• Chili sauce
• Peanut sauce
• Soy-chili sauce

You just pick whichever sauce you feel like dipping into. I like chili sauce and also enjoy a bit of spice like the soy-chili sauce, so I alternated between them. Eating only shabu-shabu can start to feel a bit monotonous, but since you can also make wolnamssam unlimited, changing up the way you eat kept things interesting.

Coffee and affogato at the in-store café corner

Living up to its reputation as a good restaurant near Namwirye, Dadam Shabu Shabu has a separate café corner! After shabu-shabu, you usually start wondering, "Where should we go for coffee now?" right? But here, you can get coffee and even ice cream right in the restaurant.

We tried an americano and an affogato. The affogato is vanilla ice cream with espresso poured over it, and it made a nice sweet finish after the meal. For families with kids, having ice cream after the meal could be part of the fun too. We didn't have to move anywhere else after eating — we just had coffee right there before leaving. So on days when you want to handle both the meal and the café in one place, this seemed pretty convenient.

Visiting in the evening? Check the 8:40pm self-bar closing time

We visited around 7:30pm on a Friday. Luckily we got seated with no wait, but right after we sat down, a bit of a line started to form! So if you're visiting in the evening, it might be good to head over a little earlier.

Especially for people like us who eat for a long time, it's good to know the self-bar closing time ahead of visiting. The evening self-bar closes around 8:40pm, and staff let us know in advance before closing. They also told us to grab anything else we needed before then.

The thought of needing to finish and leave by 9pm made us rush like crazy haha! It didn't get in the way of enjoying the food, but if you're the leisurely, long-meal type like us, I'd recommend visiting a bit earlier in the evening.

Junhee's date-night verdict on Dadam Shabu Shabu

I went looking for a healthy dining option with my boyfriend, and it turned out more satisfying than expected. Being able to pick a variety of vegetables while eating shabu-shabu, plus meat and wolnamssam together, made it easy for two people with different tastes to enjoy one meal. Both of us eat slowly, so we chatted in between and kept going back to the self-bar for new ingredients, enjoying a pretty relaxed meal.

Especially since we could get coffee right there after the meal, we didn't have to separately think about "should we go to a café after eating?" — which was quietly convenient on a date. And having actually visited, I saw a lot of families with kids too. So this place seems like it would work well not just for couples on a date, but also for family meals or gatherings with a group.

That said, if you're a long-meal type like us, it's better to visit the evening with the self-bar closing time in mind and leave yourself some extra time. If you're looking for restaurants near Namwirye Station and want to enjoy shabu-shabu and wolnamssam together, or want to try lots of different ingredients all-you-can-eat, Dadam Shabu Shabu & Wolnamssam Wirye Branch was pretty good. Next time, I'd like to go a bit earlier and eat more leisurely!