Suwon barley rice buffet: weekday lunch & shishito fritters, Boriook

Boriook Main Branch location and visitor info

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

• Group dining and takeout available
• Wi-Fi, reservations, baby high chairs
• Separate men's and women's restrooms
• Waiting area, free parking
• Group seating for 4 to 100 people
• Standard chairs and a terrace

I visited Boriook Main Branch, a Korean restaurant near Mangpo Station in Suwon. It's a newly opened spot, a barley rice buffet where you can eat all you like of fresh vegetables, warm side dishes and nutty, comforting barley rice.

It's on the ground floor of a building near Mangpo Fantasium and the Mangpo No Brand store, close to Exit 1 of Mangpo Station. You can park in front of the restaurant or in a nearby lot, so it's easy to reach by car too.

Is there a wait at Boriook on a weekday lunch?

When I went around 12:30 on a weekday, there was no real line, but I did wait a moment while staff cleared a table. This is the inside of Boriook Main Branch.

So many customers for a place that only just opened. Has it already become a popular spot? Baby chairs are available, so it would work well for a family meal, and the varied table setups make it a good choice for gatherings if you like Korean food.

Boriook Main Branch menu

The menu has 4 set meals, 5 à la carte dishes, plus alcohol and drinks. Every table has sesame oil and gochujang (red chili paste) on it! Just seeing that makes you hungry. The menu at Boriook is

4 set meals: the barley rice set, grilled mackerel set, grilled soy-sauce pork set and grilled gochujang pork set,

5 à la carte dishes: grilled mackerel, grilled soy-sauce pork, grilled gochujang pork, barley shrimp and chive pancake, and doenjang stew (soybean paste stew), and

alcohol and drinks.

What's at the Boriook self-bar?

After you order, you bring vegetables, side dishes, fritters and dessert from the self-bar. Wow! It's clean, of course, and there's a wide, fresh variety of vegetables that go well with barley rice.

Barley rice comes by default and you can get a refill if you need more. If you prefer white rice, you can choose that instead.

Dotorimuk (acorn jelly)

Fritters and japchae (glass noodle stir-fry)

And dessert is perfectly covered too.

A barley rice tray: cheonggukjang plus self-bar namul and fritters

At Boriook, staff bring the barley rice and cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew) to your seat, while the namul (seasoned vegetables), ssam vegetables and fritters are yours to grab at the self-bar. They bring this much barley rice and a mild, nutty, clean-tasting cheonggukjang,

Bracken, seasoned chili peppers, radish salad, stir-fried oyster mushrooms, bean sprouts, bellflower root, dallae-chive salad, stir-fried seasonal namul, acorn jelly,

ssam vegetables, lettuce, chili peppers, ssamjang (dipping paste), potato fritters, eggplant fritters, lotus root fritters, shishito pepper fritters, and japchae are what I happily gathered from the self-bar. The whole table is fresh and green! Isn't this what a healthy meal looks like? Not just the vegetables, even the freshly fried fritters were fresh.

How does the gochujang and sesame oil barley bibimbap taste?

I piled self-bar namul onto the barley rice and mixed it with the gochujang and sesame oil from the table. I loaded the vegetables onto the barley rice, added a spoonful of gochujang and a splash of sesame oil,

and topped the tasty bibimbap with ssam vegetables. It's healthy food that heals the whole body. I heard Boriook makes everything from scratch, starting with the gochujang, so you get the best flavor, and I was happy with how comforting it was, like home cooking.

It's a buffet and I ate plenty, yet my stomach felt fine, so I've bookmarked it as a Korean restaurant I want to visit again.

Coffee on the terrace after your meal

Boriook has a terrace, so after eating you can take a coffee out and relax. I spent some relaxed time there with a cup of coffee at Boriook Main Branch near Mangpo Station in Suwon! Saved as our next family dinner spot.