Jang-an-dong shabu-shabu: ₩7,900 single pot, Buldak vs mala pasta

Shabu Torang Jang-an Direct Branch

Where to eat shabu-shabu alone in Jang-an-dong: Shabu Torang

Shabu Torang, a well-known Jang-an-dong restaurant, is great for solo dining and packed with value. It's a place you can go when you're alone but craving shabu-shabu! Eating from your own individual hot pot keeps things clean and hygienic, and the price is really good too. In-building parking makes it easy to visit. There's a bar table set up for solo diners, and separate 2-person tables, so it also works well for couples.

Shabu Torang's menu: 5 broths and a pasta finish

Shabu Torang, the Jang-an-dong shabu-shabu specialist, offers five broths total: basic, spicy, mala, tomato, and sukiyaki. You can add toppings like half-veggie, beef belly, pork neck, chicken breast, rice cake, fish balls, glass noodles, dumplings, and more. The real reason people come to Shabu Torang is this menu — risotto, pasta, tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cakes)! With flavors like cream Buldak, rosé, and mala, there's a lot of variety.

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What comes with the ₩7,900 single-pot set

As mentioned above, Shabu Torang Jang-an gives you an individual pot. Here's the solo spread that arrived shortly after. At ₩7,900, this Jang-an-dong solo dining spot really feels like great value since both vegetables and meat are included. Bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, fried tofu, fish balls, napa cabbage, and even rice cakes! Both the vegetable and meat portions are a reasonable amount. If you have a big appetite, choosing half-veggie plus meat should be enough. Vegetables and meat (50g) cost ₩4,000 more, and again, the price is nice and low. I chose beef belly, and the meat quality is good too — savory with no off smell.

The 3 sauces and the order to eat in

There are three sauces prepared in total: peanut, chili, and soy sauce! Once the broth comes to a boil, add in all the vegetables, boil once more, then add the meat and cook. The bean sprouts are crunchy and have a nice texture, and the vegetables are fresh, which is a plus. The broth itself — the basic one — is clean-tasting yet rich, with no greasiness, so it's the kind of flavor pretty much anyone can enjoy. The rice cakes are soft and chewy too.

I fished out the fish balls too, the enoki mushrooms were tasty, and dipping everything deep in sauce, the bean sprouts just kept disappearing endlessly.

Chicken breast sukiyaki, my sibling's order

Shabu Torang, the Jang-an-dong shabu-shabu specialist, also has sukiyaki. My sibling ordered the sukiyaki, and the flavor holds its own against dedicated sukiyaki restaurants. Butter brings up the richness, and once all the sukiyaki sauce is added, you cook the vegetables and meat the same way. They chose the clean-tasting chicken breast, and that turned out to be a delicacy too. If you ask, they'll bring you extra of both the sukiyaki sauce and the shabu-shabu broth. Even while busy, the staff were kind, so it was a pleasant meal at Shabu Torang Jang-an.

How to cook the Buldak cream pasta in the leftover broth

This is exactly why I love Shabu Torang. Buldak cream pasta! Just add pasta to the leftover shabu-shabu broth (about half a ladle's worth) and cook it, stirring so it doesn't stick. This is genuinely a delicacy and so delicious. It's a cream pasta, but with Buldak (fire chicken) sauce mixed in — spicy with no greasiness at all. The tteokbokki is delicious too, so I'd recommend that as well.

Mala cream pasta tastes nothing like the Buldak version

This Jang-an-dong shabu-shabu spot's mala cream pasta is delicious too. It looks almost identical to the Buldak version, so you'd expect a similar taste, but it's completely different. A tingling mala spice rises up, and it's also unusual and delicious in its own way. Being able to finish a shabu-shabu meal with pasta at a shabu-shabu restaurant — pretty great. There's risotto too, and of course the classic shabu-shabu finishers, egg porridge and kalguksu noodles, are also available, so no worries there!

Shabu Torang Jang-an is a great-value solo dining spot in Jang-an-dong. It's clean and hygienic, and the food is good, so I find myself coming back often.