Bongdam, Hwaseong Japanese dinner: welcome tea and potato croquettes

Hi everyone, it's Minsu 😋 These days picking a dinner menu is the hardest part of my day! I was getting a little tired of just meat and stew all the time, so this time I went to Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch (near Suwon University) for sukiyaki and gyukatsu!

What I ordered that day: sukiyaki set, jumbo gyukatsu with ricotta cheese salad. I also had the potato croquettes and finished the sukiyaki off with a bowl of udon noodles, hehe. If you're weighing dinner options near Suwon University or looking for a good Japanese restaurant in Hwaseong, hope this helps :)

Sindong Lab Bongdam: the building and the waiting area

Sindong Lab has a really spacious exterior. It's hidden behind the cars in the photo, but there's a waiting area, and they even have canned drinks ready for people waiting 🌿 (nice touch from the owner..👍🏻👍🏻)

Wood-toned dining room under warm evening lighting

Maybe because I came in the evening, the warm lighting inside Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch really stood out. Overall the tables and chairs are wood-toned, with plants, lighting, and little decorative touches scattered around, giving it a cozy yet sentimental mood ☺️

The spot where I sat had a wooden partition and plant decorations, so the space itself was quite pretty!! (Great for selfies too.) The tables were fairly wide too, so even with several dishes ordered, it never felt cramped!

It'd be great for dinner with friends, and since the vibe isn't too loud or busy, it also seemed like a nice spot for a date :)

Hours, reservations and parking at Sindong Lab Bongdam

• ⏰ Hours: 11:00–21:30 / last order 21:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)
• 🌿 Reservations available via Naver Reservation
• 🚘 Parking: about 7 spots in front; nearby public parking lot available if full

I got there late so I parked at the public lot~ Plenty of spaces, and it's free for 1.5 hours, so no stress at all! haha

📍 Location: 96 Wau-ro, Bongdam-eup, Hyohaeng-gu, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 1st floor, Sindong Lab

Ordering by tablet and what is on the menu

You order through a tablet at each table. The menu is split into BEST 5 / New Menu / Set Meals / Charcoal Grill / A La Carte / Sides / Highballs & Sours / Alcohol / Drinks, so it was easy to browse with photos!!

I liked that you could check the BEST 5 separately — if you're not sure what to order, starting with the popular picks is a good idea (that's exactly what I did, haha).

Beyond the meal menu, there's also a good variety of sides and drinks, so it seemed like a nice spot to have a light drink with dinner too! They had the Sindong Lab Signature Shot Highball, Sindong Lab Highball, Suntory Highball, Lemon Sour, and more — next time I'd love to pair a highball with the main dishes, haha (I drove that day, so fail).

👶 Is Sindong Lab good with kids? The 0-won children's service

While browsing the menu, one thing that caught my eye was the kids' service! Eating out with kids usually means worrying about their food and dishes, but Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch has a dedicated kids' menu and service, making it a solid pick for family visits!!

They had kids' side dishes, vitamin candy, Chupa Chups, baby tableware, baby rice, and even kids' morning bread with strawberry jam and ham cutlet 🥹👍🏻 On top of that, the kids' service marked on the menu is ₩0! It's noted that the ₩0 item can't be ordered alone — you just pick it alongside another menu item 👍🏻👍🏻

Personally, I was impressed that they carefully put together a kids' menu, not just a variety of adult dishes! If you're looking for a family-friendly Japanese restaurant in Hwaseong, this kids' service is worth keeping in mind :)

What we ordered for dinner

• Sukiyaki set
• Jumbo gyukatsu · ricotta cheese salad
• Potato croquettes

Welcome tea and the taster soup

After sitting down and ordering, welcome tea and soup came out first! Just seeing them lined up on a little tray was already lovely ㅜㅅㅜ

Getting something light before the main dishes was a great way to wake up the appetite before the real meal started 😋 (top-tier hospitality..ෆ) Now that I'd had the soup too, the main dishes were up!

The sukiyaki set, finished with udon noodles

First up, the sukiyaki set I ordered! One tray comes neatly arranged with sukiyaki, meat, vegetables, rice, egg, and more. Even ordering just this one dish gives you plenty to go with it, making it a solid dinner on its own 👍🏻 The sukiyaki comes on a small individual tabletop burner, so you can keep simmering it warm as you eat — even better!

Whisk up the egg, toss in the bok choy and mushrooms that come with it, and let it bubble away! The shiitake mushroom even had a flower-shaped cut on top, so it looked really pretty too, haha. I dipped the bok choy in the egg yolk first, and it was so savory and good ◡̈♥

As you simmer the meat, onion, and vegetables, the pot gets much more generous-looking than at the start✨ After eating through the meat and vegetables, the udon noodles you add in soak up the broth so well — seriously killer!!👍🏻 Getting to enjoy meat and vegetables together made me eat vegetables with real enthusiasm, even though I usually skip them, haha.

Jumbo gyukatsu grilled piece by piece

The moment the food arrived, the first thing that caught my eye was the pink cross-section of the gyukatsu. It comes pre-cut into bite-sized pieces, and true to the 'jumbo' name, the portion is generous too 😋

The gyukatsu comes with rice, soup, and more on one tray, alongside a small burner for grilling it yourself. You grill the gyukatsu piece by piece to your preferred doneness >_< Since you're not cooking it all at once, you can grill one or two pieces at a time as you eat, keeping it warm throughout 👍🏻

A bite of grilled gyukatsu with a touch of wasabi! Alternating between plain gyukatsu and wasabi adds a spicy kick and a totally different combination to enjoy! Pairing it with rice made it a filling dinner too! (The rice was lightly seasoned.)

Ricotta cheese salad

Next, the ricotta cheese salad that comes as a set with the gyukatsu✨ Since sukiyaki and gyukatsu were the mains, I wanted something light to snack on in between, and the salad turned out to be a genius move✨ A bite of meat, then a bite of salad, then back to gyukatsu, then salad again — it felt like starting fresh every time 👍🏻

Potato croquettes

And last, the golden-brown potato croquettes! Fried into round shapes, they looked exactly like the perfect side dish. If just the mains feel a bit lacking, ordering these as a side is a great addition. Sukiyaki, gyukatsu, salad, croquettes… looking back through the photos, I really ate well that day, haha.

Dessert ice cream and the washbasin

(1) Free ice cream after the meal

Dessert ice cream is free, and if you take part in the review event, they add wafers, the perfect match for ice cream 🥹👍🏻 Instantly went and wrote a review..ෆ

(2) A hygienic touch: the handwashing station

There's a sink in one corner of the restaurant, so you can wash up hygienically before eating. Especially great for parents with babies ◡̈♥

Is Sindong Lab Bongdam worth a dinner visit?

Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch let me enjoy a wide range of dishes in one sitting, from sukiyaki to gyukatsu to ricotta cheese salad. Visiting in the evening, the warm lighting and wood-tone interior blended together nicely, making the restaurant's cozy atmosphere feel even stronger!!

I loved that with sukiyaki you cook the meat and vegetables yourself and finish it off with udon, and gyukatsu was fun for grilling piece by piece on the burner to your own preferred doneness 👍🏻 If you're curious about both dishes like I was, I'd recommend ordering one of each with a friend and sharing!

If you're looking for a date spot near Suwon University or a Japanese restaurant in Hwaseong with a great atmosphere, give the sukiyaki and gyukatsu at Sindong Lab Hwaseong Bongdam Branch a try :)