Osan shabu restaurant with a kids' baby seaweed soup: Dongchundang

It's been a while since we ate out as a family haha. Cooking dinner after work, feeding the baby, doing dishes... you all know how exhausting that is... eating out is the best. My husband and I always crave kalguksu (noodle soup) whenever it rains. So today, in search of good kalguksu near Osan Sego, we came to Dongchundang Shabu Shabu Kalguksu Osan Dugok Branch!

Parking and opening hours at Dongchundang Osan Dugok

Dongchundang Shabu Shabu Kalguksu Osan Dugok Branch is on the 1st floor of 33-18 Seobu-ro, Osan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, open from 10:00 to 21:00 (last order 20:30). We went around 7pm, and since they're open until 9, we had plenty of time.

Wow, the parking lot is huge...!! You know how great good parking is for a family with a baby who has to bring a car, right? My husband praised me for finding this place ^_^ so proud. The weather's gotten nice lately too, so we took a little walk in the parking lot with our baby before heading in!

Hours 10:00 - 21:00 / Last order 20:30

What is the dining room like inside Dongchundang?

The Osan Dugok branch of Dongchundang is spacious but also kept really clean. When you're out with a baby, even a delicious, famous place can be hard to step into if it's not clean. But this place was so spotless, I loved it 👍

Free caramel popcorn and barley rice bibimbap

The Osan Dugok branch offers free caramel popcorn, which was perfect for feeding the baby before the food arrived. The amazing part is... all of this is free. My baby was super hungry that day, so the popcorn was exactly what we needed to hold her over until the food came.

Caramel popcorn, no less... impossible not to eat it. I normally don't snack before a meal, but my hand kept reaching for it haha. Pass as an appetizer.

The dishware also comes out neatly arranged haha. We ordered two servings of shabu kalguksu plus the baby seaweed soup. I was really curious about the kids' menu (baby seaweed soup), and thanks to it, we adults got to eat the spicy kalguksu.

They gave us an appetizer before the kalguksu even arrived...? Hehe, so nice - barley rice bibimbap!!! Sometimes you crave rice even when eating kalguksu, so giving us rice too really filled us up.

I'm pretty particular about hygiene (because of the baby), and this was a touching detail - they gave us dishware that had already been sanitized, so we could use it worry-free haha.

Beef shabu kalguksu with a mountain of minari

For the shabu kalguksu, you can choose between pork and beef, and we picked beef. It came piled high with minari (water dropwort) and mushrooms, so the portion was really generous.

Finally, the shabu kalguksu arrived!! Can you see how much minari there is...? It's insane. I really love minari haha. Hidden under the minari, there's also plenty of mushroom.

Boiling it up~ come to me, my meat~ I want to eat quickly...I'm hungry.

You can choose between pork and beef for the meat, and we chose beef. Zero regrets! The meat cooks fast, so wrapping a well-cooked minari around it and popping it in your mouth... Jesus, so good 👍

Kids' menu: baby seaweed soup for 5,000 won

The kids' menu at the Osan Dugok branch, baby seaweed soup, is ₩5,000 and comes generously packed with ongsimi (rice dumplings) and meat. Thanks to it, we adults got to eat the spicy shabu kalguksu.

Finally, the baby food we'd been waiting and waiting for! But for ₩5,000, not only ongsimi but so much meat too... seriously... does the owner even make anything off this? They could open their own Osan Sego Korean restaurant.

More like ongsimi dumplings, really! Older kids would find this really filling. My baby is still little, so she mostly ate the seaweed and meat.

Mugwort kalguksu noodles and the self-serve broth refill zone

The kalguksu time I'd been waiting and waiting for ☆ I think noodles are the ultimate finish to any shabu shabu. The noodles here, mugwort-flavored maybe?, are so unique that I kept scooping them up with the broth... I kept refilling the broth and drinking it too...the broth was so much my style, ugh.

The broth refill zone is right next to the counter, so you can help yourself as much as you want without feeling awkward. You can also grab various sauces and kimchi.

Finishing with fried rice and nurungji a child can eat

What comes after you finish eating? Fried rice, of course. Once you're done with the kalguksu, ask the owner for fried rice and they'll bring it out all nicely set up. Now it's my turn >_< we fry it ourselves. Stir it quickly over medium heat, or it'll burn lol.

You've got to try the nurungji (crispy rice) too~~~~ let it stick a little over low heat. The fried rice here doesn't have anything spicy in it, so you could even feed it to a baby! Something to note for anyone visiting with a baby. By the way, I added shabu broth to mine while frying.

There are vegetables mixed in evenly too. It'd be great for feeding a baby, but since I added the spicy broth, I'll pass this one to the adults! My baby ate the seaweed soup well already, so this one's just for us grown-ups haha.

After we finished everything... the owner even gave us dessert. They gave three including one for the baby, but since I figured she couldn't finish it, I said we'd just take two haha. Ahh, I'm so full and happy...

Why Dongchundang Osan Dugok works with a child or with parents

Our baby, now four, doesn't need one anymore, but there are plenty of baby chairs available. It's great to visit with a baby, but I also think it'd be a wonderful spot to dine with my parents.

Even with a wait on weekends, they have proper waiting seats set up, and since the restaurant is so spacious, I think you could comfortably visit anytime. Give it a try!