Hapjeong shabu-shabu with served-robot kalguksu finale: Shabu in Seoul

Whenever it starts to cool down a little like this, I somehow start craving hot soup dishes. So this time I visited a Hapjeong Mecenatpolis spot, Shabu in Seoul Hapjeong Branch! Shabu-shabu is familiar enough, but the moment I walked in, the vibe was different from what I expected. "Huh? This place is pretty upscale?" — that was my first thought.

Finding it inside Mecenatpolis

Walking through Mecenatpolis, the big SHABU in SEOUL sign was easy to spot. The floor-to-ceiling glass lets you see the interior from outside, and overall it looked clean and calm.

Interior and seating

Inside, the space was bigger than I expected. Tall partitions between seats and generous table spacing meant there was no crowded feeling with the next table. Most of all, the wood-tone ceiling paired well with the soft lighting, giving it a calmer, more sophisticated feel than a typical shabu-shabu place. It looked good for a date, and just as good for a meal with parents.

Shabu set menu and prices

Once seated, you order via tablet. The menu had a 1st-grade black pork belly shabu set for ₩23,000, a 1st-grade black pork neck shabu set for ₩23,000, and a prime Angus eye round/chuck flat shabu set for ₩25,000, among others. Being able to choose the type of meat was nice, and having photos for each menu item made choosing easy.

We tried the meats one type at a time this visit. Shabu-shabu usually means one type of thinly sliced beef, but here the options ranged from black pork to Angus, which felt refreshingly different. Alright, time to actually eat.

The fun of picking your broth and sauce

One fun thing about Shabu in Seoul: they don't just give you one broth. Clear mushroom, spicy mushroom, blue crab doenjang, sukiyaki, beef tomato — a whole range of broths were available. Being able to pick to your taste means the same shabu-shabu can feel quite different each time.

And then the sauces arrived on the table! Not just one, but several, so you can enjoy them however you like. Something clean, something nutty, something a bit spicy — it's fun to pick and choose. With this many sauce options, you inevitably end up dipping every single piece of meat in all of them. 😂

A bit later the broth arrived... at first I thought, "the broth looks pretty clear and light?" but as vegetables and meat went in one by one, the flavor kept deepening. That's the real fun of shabu-shabu — the broth gets tastier the more you eat.

The vegetable spread and the meat name tags

And then the vegetables arrived! Whoa... I had to take a photo. Napa cabbage, bok choy, enoki mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake mushroom, bean sprouts, sweet pumpkin — quite the variety at a glance. The big shiitake mushrooms even had a cross-shaped cut in them, which somehow made them look even more appetizing.

And now, today's main character. Meat! It came neatly stacked on a tray, thin as shabu-shabu meat should be but with the grain still clearly visible. Nicely, each type of meat had a small wooden tag so you could tell what was what. Little details like that made the whole spread feel a bit more polished.

Seeing the broth, meat, and vegetables all laid out at once... ah, here we go... Shabu-shabu is always most exciting right when the whole spread is set. Alright, let's start cooking!

First bite: the Angus

I dropped the meat into the bubbling broth and gave it a gentle shake. Watching the red meat slowly turn as it cooks makes you salivate, haha. I pulled it out right when it turned soft, without overcooking.

With the broth already flavored by the vegetables and mushrooms, adding the meat made it even deeper. The meat itself was thin enough to cook fast and paired well with the vegetables. And then, straight into my mouth!

I put a bit of green onion and bean sprouts on top of the meat and dipped it in sauce. Ah... this combo is good. Eating crunchy bean sprouts and vegetables alongside the meat brought a lot more texture than meat alone. The savory sauce especially suited the light, clean shabu-shabu meat.

I also tried the nutty sauce — much milder in flavor, and it went especially well when I wrapped a lot of vegetables with the meat. Same meat, but the sauce you choose changes the flavor quite a bit.

How was the black pork shabu-shabu?

Black pork went into the broth too!

We tried the black pork shabu-shabu as well. It had a different feel from the beef — thinly sliced, so it wasn't heavy at all. With a bit of fat still attached, it turned nutty and savory once cooked. "Pork works surprisingly well as shabu-shabu." If you usually only eat beef shabu-shabu, comparing the two is worth trying.

I grabbed meat, bean sprouts, and mushrooms all together this time and dipped them in the nutty sauce. Personally, eating several things together like this was the most delicious. Tender meat, crunchy bean sprouts, moist mushrooms — three textures in one bite!

Wrapping it in rice paper

Can't skip the rice paper wraps!

The meal doesn't end with just shabu-shabu. Put the cooked meat, bean sprouts, and vegetables on a sheet of rice paper and roll it up — rice paper wrap complete! I'll admit I got greedy with the filling at first and nearly tore it open, haha. You have to hold back a little to roll it neatly.

The finished wrap goes straight into the sauce! With the chewy rice paper added, it feels different from eating shabu-shabu alone and makes the meal much more filling. This would be a solid option for anyone looking for rice paper wraps in Hapjeong.

Finishing with kalguksu delivered by a serving robot

And you'd think it was over? Not quite.

Suddenly a serving robot showed up. With a little chime, it rolled up to the table and delivered the final course...

Kalguksu (knife-cut noodles)! No shabu-shabu meal is complete without this. The broth, now fully infused with meat and vegetable flavor, tasted completely different from when it started. Adding kalguksu to that? Already delicious just thinking about it.

Cook the noodles in the bubbling broth and the soup soaks right into them for the perfect finish. My stomach was already pretty full, but somehow... there's always room for kalguksu. A mystery I run into every time I eat shabu-shabu, haha.

Overall thoughts on Shabu in Seoul Hapjeong Branch

Shabu in Seoul Hapjeong Branch had a clean interior and comfortable seating, and beyond the meat and vegetables, choosing between broths and sauces added a lot of fun. Going through shabu-shabu, then rice paper wraps, then kalguksu made the meal feel pretty substantial.

Price-wise it's not the cheapest shabu-shabu around, but factoring in the atmosphere and the overall food composition, it's a good pick for a day you want a polished meal. If you're looking for a date spot in Hapjeong, a place for a family meal, or just craving hot soup, Hapjeong shabu-shabu here is worth considering.

I especially loved finishing with kalguksu in the broth at the end. When you eat shabu-shabu, are you team meat? Team rice paper wrap? Or team kalguksu at the end? Me... I guess I'm team all-of-the-above. Hahaha. Sorry about that.