Suwon sushi buffet with a grill zone: Kuu Kuu Gold

It has not been open for long, so the interior was spotless, and I had been curious about it, so I went without hesitation. Kuu Kuu says it offers more than a simple buffet: a rich dining experience that spans generations and tastes, along with the value of an elegant space. That made me really look forward to Kuu Kuu Suwon City Hall Branch.

Kuu Kuu Gold Suwon City Hall Branch: Basic Information

It is 229 m from Exit 3 of Suwon City Hall Station, about a 3–4 minute walk. It is open daily from 11:00 to 21:30, with last orders at 20:30. There is a fully equipped dedicated parking lot, so NO parking worries for those driving. Park in the building and head up to the second floor. Parking can quietly become a concern wherever you go, so it was even more convenient to visit without worrying about it.

A Spacious, Comfortable Dining Room and Waiting Area

Even from the outside, it looked incredibly spacious.~~ When you come up to the second floor, there are waiting seats on the left where you can wait comfortably. Inside the waiting area, there is also a Kuu Kuu Life Four Cuts photo booth where you can take free commemorative photos, so taking one for the memories could be nice.

Prices

• Weekday lunch ₩28,900
• Weekday dinner ₩32,900
• Weekends and public holidays ₩36,900
• Elementary school child, weekday lunch ₩16,900
• Elementary school child, weekday dinner and weekends ₩17,000
• Preschool child ₩8,000

When I entered, I was surprised by the spaciousness. Since it had only recently opened, the neat and well-organized interior was even more appealing. Past the entrance, an appetizing variety of buffet food was laid out neatly in front of me.

To the left of the entrance are several private rooms, making it a good venue for company dinners and all kinds of gatherings, as well as family meals, first-birthday parties, and birthday celebrations. There is also a kids’ zone at the very back, so it seemed like a nice place to visit with young children. I especially liked that there are tables right in front of the kids’ zone, so you can keep a close eye on the children while eating.

What Are the Sushi and Sashimi Options Like?

I chose a table where it would be easy to go and bring food back~ haha. When I went to get sushi, I was a little surprised by just how many kinds there were.

There were many dishes prepared, including freshwater eel, cheese takoyaki, cheese white-fish tempura, flame-grilled whelk, scallops, flame-grilled shrimp, marinated medium shrimp, spotted knifejaw, salmon, fresh fish cake, smoked duck, grilled tteokgalbi (Korean grilled meat patty), cheese beef, and olive flounder loin.

The sushi zone had neatly arranged, adorably small pieces of sushi. They were about thumb-sized, which was great because I could try many varieties. When sushi is too large, it can feel like a lot when you still want to eat other dishes, but here I could try different pieces one by one without that concern. I really loved that.

There were also lots of dishes including peeled spicy marinated shrimp, soy-marinated shrimp, soy-marinated raw crab, salmon sashimi, fatty tuna sashimi, octopus, and shrimp. In particular, I lightly dipped fatty tuna sashimi in soy sauce, added a little wasabi, rolled it in gim (roasted seaweed), and ate it—it was nutty and delicious. The slices were thick too, so they had a lovely chew.

Pizza and the Texas Barbecue Zone

Three Types of Pizza

There were three kinds of pizza too: corn cupcake, sweet potato pizza, and pepperoni pizza.

Texas Barbecue Zone Menu

There was a huge selection, including smoked pork belly, grilled pollock roe egg, salt-grilled shrimp, fish cake skewer soup, ox-knee seolleongtang (beef bone soup), and snow crab soup. I could not try everything, but I brought back a few dishes. Overall, the food was pleasantly tasty and easy to enjoy.

The fried items and biscuits were inside a display case. There was a wide variety, including hot dogs, triangular menbosha (fried shrimp toast), French fries, and takoyaki~ I wanted to try them all, but I was too full to try the fried foods and biscuits. They looked delicious when I saw other people serving themselves.

The Grill Zone for Cooking Your Own Land-and-Sea Delicacies

Before coming, I searched and learned that Gold locations have a place where you can grill meat, which sounded so interesting. When I saw it in person, there were two long rows of grill plates, where you bring ingredients over and cook them yourself. There were various ingredients, including meats, scallops, shrimp, and mushrooms. A few sections were empty, but I thought they would probably be fully stocked at dinner or on weekends.

If I had not been so full, I would have wanted to grill every single ingredient here, but I saved that for my next visit and grilled only a few. While grilling the meat, I kept thinking how innovative it was. So fascinating~ so fascinating~~ The grill plates can get blackened as you cook, but I loved that you can immediately replace them with new plates beside them. What I especially liked about this grill zone was being able to switch to a clean grill plate as I cooked. Grilling scallops and marinated pork neck myself somehow made them taste even better.

Fruit, Snowflake Bingsu, and Affogato Desserts

After eating so well, I had to make room for dessert too, right? There was a varied dessert selection. Drinks included soda, tea, slushies, and sikhye (sweet rice punch). There were fruit pudding, crepes and tarts, assorted cakes, and all kinds of fruit. There were salad ingredients too, so it would be nice to make one to your taste. I brought back a few fruits to try. They were all fresh and delicious, but I think the melon was the best.

There was milk snowflake bingsu (finely shaved milk ice), so I made one myself. It was so delicious that I made it twice. With bingsu, the original is always best, right? I sprinkled on misutgaru (mixed grain powder) and added sweet red bean paste, and I think that combination was the tastiest~~~

There was colorful bead ice cream too~ I only looked at the bead ice cream ㅠㅠ There was espresso and ice cream, so I made an affogato. You simply pour espresso over vanilla ice cream. Scooping up the ice cream slightly melted by the coffee was delicious, with sweet and bitter flavors coming together. The combination of bitter coffee and sweet vanilla ice cream is especially wonderful as a final dessert. One slight disappointment was that the vanilla ice cream was not soft-serve, so I could not fully get that smooth affogato feeling. Still, I happily finished with a sweet dessert.~~~~