Siheung Janggok-dong buffet, 17,900 won lunch: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan

This time I visited Pyeonbaek Hoegwan in Janggok-dong, Siheung.

This was actually my first time trying pyeonbaek jjim (cypress-steamed meat and vegetables). I was curious what it would taste like, but it turned out to suit my palate way better than I expected. I thought it'd just be the one dish, but it kept going with fresh rolls, shabu-shabu, and a salad bar too — I had myself a proper full meal.

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Siheung Janggok Branch: address, hours and parking

• Address: 8 Jinmal1-ro, Janggok Edu Tower 3F, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 10:00–22:00
• Parking: Available in the building's basement lot
• No break time

What the renovated Janggok-dong dining room looks like

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Siheung Janggok Branch recently had a renovation, and it showed — the whole place felt clean and newly done up.

At the entrance there were clips of the restaurant's TV features and quite a few celebrity signatures on display. I can never resist stopping to check those out haha.

When I visited, they were also running a reopening event giving out pyeonbaek cubes to the first 500 customers. It's a limited-quantity event, so if you're planning to go, it's worth checking whether it's still running.

What the 17,900 won weekday lunch includes in 100 minutes

At Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Siheung Janggok Branch you order easily via kiosk. Your table time is 100 minutes, so it's good to know that ahead of time. Weekday lunch is ₩17,900 — we came for that, and had the pyeonbaek jjim + shabu-shabu + fresh rolls + beef all-you-can-eat course.

You can enjoy the salad bar as much as you like.

How pyeonbaek jjim (cypress-wood steamed meat) tastes on a first try

A big pot of pyeonbaek jjim arrives at the table and you set a timer and wait. Once the time's up and you open the lid, it's piled high with meat, cabbage, mushrooms, bok choy and more, all sitting over a bed of bean sprouts.

This was my first time having pyeonbaek jjim itself, and since the meat and vegetables are steamed together, it was light and easy to eat. These days a lot of restaurant food is pretty heavy and spicy, right? This meal felt like eating well while somehow also eating healthy.

Off to one side of the restaurant, they had the 12 medicinal herbs used in the pyeonbaek jjim on display for you to see.

Building Vietnamese fresh rolls exactly how you like them

You can eat the pyeonbaek jjim meat as is, but I liked wrapping it in fresh rolls even more. There's a good variety of vegetables ready to go — carrot, cucumber, red cabbage, onion, baby greens — and you just take as much as you want.

There were also chili sauce, peanut sauce, and ponzu sauce, so I tried different combos each time. Load up the rice paper with meat and veggies, roll it up, and one bite! Eating this way, I ended up naturally eating a lot more vegetables too.

Next course at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan: beef shabu-shabu

Once you finish the pyeonbaek jjim, it's shabu-shabu time. We picked two kinds of broth.

The self-serve bar has cabbage, mushrooms, bean sprouts and other shabu-shabu ingredients ready, so you just grab what you want. It's funny — after pyeonbaek jjim and fresh rolls, there's still shabu-shabu haha. But finishing with a hot broth really rounded the whole meal off nicely.

Is Pyeonbaek Hoegwan good for kids?

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Siheung Janggok Branch has a separate play area set up for kids. When you eat out with children, sometimes you're not sure if you're actually eating or just chasing your kid around, right? Having a space where kids can play for even a little while is a nice touch for families visiting together.

Finishing with two cups of peach black tea

Once you're done eating, there's dessert too — ice cream, coffee, hot chocolate, plum tea, and peach black tea. The peach black tea was so good haha — I meant to have just one cup to cleanse my palate, but ended up finishing two full cups before leaving.

Is Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Siheung Janggok worth it? Final verdict

This was my first time trying pyeonbaek jjim, and it suited my taste way more than expected, so now I'm thinking about bringing my family next time. What's great is that it's not just pyeonbaek jjim and done — you get to pick and choose between fresh rolls and shabu-shabu too, which makes it a good option when a family can't agree on what to eat. If you're curious about pyeonbaek jjim like I was, or you're looking for a family spot to eat out with kids in Janggok-dong, Siheung, hope this helps :)