Yeongtong, Suwon restaurant with spicy tofu and americano: Boriook

I've been a bit tired of heavy dining-out food lately, so I craved something gentle and homey and finally made it to Boriook Main Branch, a Korean set-meal restaurant in Suwon I'd been meaning to visit for a while.

A Suwon Korean set-meal spot near Mangpo Station with all-you-can-eat barley rice: Boriook Main Branch

• 📍 99 Yeongtong-ro 200beon-gil, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 1F
• 🕖 Daily 10:00-21:00 / Break time 15:00-16:30 / Last order 20:30
• 🅿️ Parking available in front of the restaurant

Is parking easy at Boriook Main Branch?

Boriook Main Branch, a well-known Korean set-meal restaurant in Suwon, has its own parking lot right in front, so you don't need to worry about parking. I visited on a weekday evening and there were plenty of open spots.

Inside Boriook Main Branch near Mangpo Station: seating for groups

Boriook Main Branch near Mangpo Station is a barley rice restaurant in Suwon with bright lighting and clean interiors that felt very pleasant. The wood tones paired with the bright lighting created a warm yet tidy Korean-restaurant atmosphere.

The tables are spaced generously apart, so you're not sitting too close to the next table and can eat comfortably without being disturbed. There's also good group seating, making it a great spot not just for dates but for family gatherings with elders or group dinners.

Boriook Main Branch menu and prices

Each table has a tablet menu installed, so ordering is easy.

You can choose from the barley rice set (₩13,000), barley rice mackerel set (₩15,000), barley rice gochujang pork set (₩16,000), and barley rice soy sauce pork set (₩16,000) — we ordered two barley rice sets.

What is on the all-you-can-eat namul self-serve bar?

There's an all-you-can-eat self-serve corner set up on one side of the restaurant. Even though many customers come and go here, there wasn't a single spill or food stain around it — it was kept very clean and tidy.

The self-serve bar is generously stocked with all kinds of fresh namul (seasoned vegetable side dishes) to boost the flavor of your bibimbap (mixed rice). There must have been over 20 kinds of side dishes. Besides namul, there are wrap vegetables like lettuce, perilla leaves, and gentle boiled cabbage, along with ssamjang (dipping sauce), all neatly arranged.

There are also side dishes to eat alongside, like braised tofu, acorn jelly, braised lotus root, seaweed stem, and japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), plus vegetable fritters! The fritters mix sweet pumpkin, lotus root, and eggplant — the batter was crispy and the yuzu sauce served with them was refreshingly tangy, making it really delicious.

For after the meal, there are rice puffs, plum and peach drinks, and even coffee like americano, so you can finish off with a clean palate.

The 13,000 won barley rice set and stone-pot cheonggukjang

This Boriook table spread, a well-known Korean set-meal restaurant in Suwon, feels like something people my mom's age would especially love. I should bring my parents next time. The finishing touch on the barley bibimbap is the rich, savory cheonggukjang, served bubbling away in a stone pot.

Inside the stone pot were generous amounts of soft, hearty tofu, zucchini, onion, and cheonggukjang beans. The broth itself wasn't salty or harsh — it had a gentle, deep savoriness that felt like something your mom lovingly simmered at home, and it was easy on the stomach.

Using the housemade gochujang and sesame oil on the table, I mixed in whatever namul I liked to finish my own barley bibimbap.

The braised tofu in a spicy sauce that tasted like buldak (fire chicken) sauce, and the crispy housemade vegetable fritters fried in clean oil, were especially delicious, I think.

Is Boriook Main Branch worth a weekday dinner in Yeongtong, Suwon?