Dongtan Station lunch buffet, pick-two broth & mala sujebi: Pyeonbaek

I was craving something hot and brothy today, haha. But once shabu-shabu was on my mind, for some reason cypress steam (steamed meat and vegetables) came to mind too, so I looked for a place that does both. I happened to have errands near Dongtan Station, so after finishing up I went to Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch for lunch.

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch hours and parking

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 22:00, and for parking you use the Granvia Star building's parking lot at Dongtan Station. The address is 2F Granvia Star, 446 Dongtan-daero, Dongtan-gu, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi.

Entrance and dining room at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch

The entrance has a wooden sign with warm lighting, and a Catch Table waiting-list machine sits by the door. The moment I saw it I thought, "This is a proper shabu-shabu place!" The mood was good even before we walked in, haha. When it's crowded, you can just register on the waiting machine and wait.

The inside was much bigger and more pleasant than I expected. Rattan lamps and traditional lattice patterns give it a subtle hanok (traditional Korean house) feel. Tables are spaced generously, and the window seats get sunlight, so it looked like a comfortable place to eat. There's also a playroom at the back, so families with kids should be able to eat in peace.

On one side of the restaurant, the 12 herbal ingredients used in the cypress steam were on display: licorice root, cnidium, kudzu root, angelica and more. They steam the food with these like a tonic, so I felt healthier before I even ate, haha.

At our seat, every table has an induction cooktop, and small plates and sauce bowls were neatly set out. How to eat is written on the table too, so it wouldn't be hard even on a first visit.

Unlimited lunch set prices and the choose-your-own broth

You order on the tablet at the table, and the lunch buffet price depends on the broth combination. There was also a choose-your-own broth option, where you pick 2 of the signature broths.

• Bonito + spicy mushroom ₩16,900
• Bonito + doenjang chicken ₩17,900
• Bonito + bone-broth mala ₩17,900
• Choose-your-own broth (pick 2 of the signature broths)

That day we ordered the choose-your-own two-broth set for 2 people (bone-broth mala + spicy mushroom) and a Coke Zero. Being able to pick the broths ourselves, we went with the combination we'd been wanting, haha.

What's at the Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch self-serve bar?

The self-serve bar has salad, seasoned side dishes, and even mukbap-style acorn jelly soup (muksabal) with ice floating in it. I went to look around right after ordering, and it was perfect for whetting the appetite with something cold before shabu-shabu.

There was tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) too, with a thick sauce soaked in, and it looked delicious just sitting there. You can't skip tteokbokki at a shabu-shabu place, haha.

On one side there was also a tasty-looking tomato pasta, haha.

The rice-paper wrap vegetable corner had carrots, red cabbage, cucumber, onion, sprouts and even pineapple, all neatly arranged by color. The vegetables all looked fresh, which made me look forward to it even more.

The shabu-shabu vegetable corner had bean sprouts, napa cabbage, bok choy and mushrooms, plus dumplings, kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and sausages, a really wide variety. Picking out a bit of everything was real fun.

I put one vegetable in each section of the dedicated wrap plate. Filled with all those colors, it looked so pretty, haha.

There was also a rice cooker and seaweed flakes on one side. They're set up so you can make egg porridge at the end, so I told myself not to forget to grab some, haha.

And the most important part: the meat corner! It had two kinds, sliced beef belly and sliced chuck. Unlimited beef felt reassuring just to look at.

The table also had three sauces, so you can dip to your own taste.

How do you eat cypress-steamed meat, step by step?

The sign at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch says it tastes best in this order: cypress steam → shabu-shabu → three-color dumplings → kalguksu → egg porridge. When I got back to my seat, the steamer was already on the table, a cypress wood box with the logo carved in, which was fun to look at. We decided to follow the order on the sign.

The cypress steam was finally ready! The moment I lifted the lid, steam came billowing up and it looked so appetizing. Meat was piled high on bean sprouts, along with napa cabbage, bok choy, sweet pumpkin, mushrooms and even shrimp.

I picked up a piece of the steamed meat, dipped it in sauce and took a bite. Probably because it's steamed, the grease was gone and it tasted clean, light and tender. With crunchy bean sprouts the texture was great and I kept going, haha.

This time I had it as a rice-paper wrap too. I put the steamed meat on rice paper, added lots of vegetables, rolled it up and dipped it in sauce. The chewy rice paper with crunchy vegetables and light meat went together really well. Meat really is best when you eat it in several different ways.

Half bone-broth mala, half spicy mushroom shabu-shabu, then mala sujebi

After we'd eaten a fair amount of the cypress steam, the bone-broth mala and spicy mushroom shabu-shabu broths arrived side by side in a divided pot. The colors were clearly different. Being able to alternate between two flavors meant we never got tired of it until the end.

I brought back a full plate of meat too. I took both beef belly and chuck, and the marbling streaked all through it, so it looked delicious just sitting there.

I dipped a slice briefly in the boiling broth and tried it. The beef belly was richly savory and the chuck was light and tender, so switching between them was more fun. Eating it in the spicy broth with lots of vegetables, I felt like I'd really come for shabu-shabu that day, haha.

In particular, the sujebi (hand-torn dough soup noodles) at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch are handmade, and in the mala broth they're a perfect match. This is the combination I'd recommend to you, my neighbors, haha. I finished with misugaru (roasted grain drink) too, so it was satisfying right to the end, haha.

What I liked about Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch

• Spacious, comfortable interior that's easy to eat in
• Cypress steam made with 12 herbal ingredients, light and tender
• Rice-paper wraps with plenty of fresh vegetables
• Half-and-half broth where you pick two flavors you like
• Well-marbled, savory beef belly and chuck
• A varied self-serve bar, from muksabal to tteokbokki