Suwon barley rice buffet: 1pm waitlist, lettuce wraps, Boriook

Boriook Main Branch basics

Boriook Main Branch (보리옥 본점) is at 99 Yeongtong-ro 200beon-gil, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, on the 1st floor, 491 m from Exit 1 of Mangpo Station. It is open 10:00 to 21:00 and has free parking.

• Group dining, takeout, Wi-Fi, reservations
• High chairs, separate men's/women's restrooms, waiting area
• Parking available (free)
• Group seating for 4 to 100 people
• Standard seating, terrace
• High oil price relief support funds accepted (credit/debit cards)

Is there still a waitlist at 1pm at Boriook Main Branch?

Boriook Main Branch near Mangpo Station in Suwon was full even at 1pm. I came for lunch with my husband to this barley rice buffet near Mangpo Station. It had only just opened when I came with my daughter around noon and I remember waiting, so this time I came at 1 to enjoy it at a more relaxed pace.

Oh! Full at 1pm too. I rushed to put my name down and, luckily, we were first! Then a group arrived behind me and joined the waitlist too! I thought lunchtime was winding down, but Boriook is still in peak time.

Boriook sits near Mangpo Fantasium and the Mangpo No Brand store, and you can conveniently park in front of the restaurant or in a nearby lot.

When we left around 2, a few seats had opened up, so I snapped some photos. With such good value and food, it has already become the talk of office workers and neighbors even though it's new. As a repeat visitor, I've become Boriook's local evangelist, and I've already booked it for a meetup with neighborhood friends next week.

How Boriook Main Branch works and what's on the menu

At Boriook Main Branch you order a set on the table-order screen and fetch side dishes from the self-bar. Boriook instructions! Order on the table screen, take as much side dishes and namul from the self-bar as you'll eat, and mix your barley rice with the seasoning sauce. Done! If you leave a Naver review, you get neobiani (Korean-style grilled beef patties), apparently. Here's the menu.

There's the basic barley rice set, sets with grilled mackerel or stir-fried spicy pork, plus a la carte dishes, alcohol and drinks. We came for barley rice, so let's focus on that! Two barley rice sets ordered!

What side dishes are at the Boriook self-bar?

The self-bar at Boriook Main Branch has seasonal vegetables and namul (seasoned greens), kimchi, acorn jelly, braised tofu, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) and live-fried vegetable fritters. Shall we take a look at the self-bar? Even from far away it looks so fresh and green~

Oh! Seasonal vegetables and braised lotus root that go so well with barley rice, freshly tossed napa cabbage kimchi, acorn jelly, spicy braised tofu, japchae with more vegetables than noodles, and live-fried sweet potato, sweet pumpkin, lotus root, shishito pepper, eggplant and oyster mushroom fritters. All of this for ₩13,000? With today's prices, that's really good value. I understand why it's still crowded after the lunch peak.

On top of that, you can choose barley rice or white rice and have unlimited refills,

and with puffed rice snacks, sungnyung (toasted rice tea) and freshly ground coffee too, there's no need to go to a café afterward.

Boriook makes all its ingredients in-house, and the gochujang (red chili paste) is no exception. A place that even makes its own gochujang? The flavor is guaranteed.

Boriook's ₩13,000 barley rice set and how to eat it

The barley rice set at Boriook Main Branch is ₩13,000 per person, and the barley rice comes with cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew). What we ordered at Boriook Main Branch near Mangpo Station was set out in a spread that looks healthy at a glance.

Barley rice, which I hadn't had in a while,

and a plain-looking stew, but the cheonggukjang kept pulling me back

With the vegetables I greedily piled on at the self-bar, plus fritters, japchae, braised tofu and fresh ssam (wrap) greens, it felt like renting a whole vegetable garden.

Half for my husband, half for me! I added a spoonful of cheonggukjang and more namul than barley rice, so the bowl was overflowing. Vegetables don't make you fat~ so I'll eat as much as I like.

I mixed it with gochujang and sesame oil and ate some just like that, then some wrapped in lettuce and perilla leaves. Bibimbap (mixed rice) full of vegetables, as a wrap? So healthy and so tasty.

If it's good, have it again! Freshly fried fritters went into lettuce wraps too~ The fritters and vegetables went together so well, and even after eating lots of fritters I felt no guilt.

Is Boriook Main Branch worth going back to?

If you're looking for a place where you can eat plenty of fresh vegetable side dishes, warm sides, and nutty barley rice with cheonggukjang, Boriook Main Branch, the barley rice buffet near Mangpo Station in Suwon, is worth a visit. It felt as comfortable as home cooking, and I was full but not weighed down, which made the visit even more satisfying. I'll be back next week~