Suwon family restaurant for cypress-steamed meat: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon Branch (편백회관 천천점) Pyeonbaek Hoegwan, 8F, 11-7 Manseok-ro 19beon-gil, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea 11:00–22:00 Open year-round

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon Branch, a great shabu-shabu spot on Cheoncheon-dong’s main street—park in the underground lot and head straight up to the eighth floor.

100 minutes of all-you-can-eat, from cypress steaming to shabu-shabu

I’d been craving shabu-shabu lately, so this time my husband, child, and I went out for a family meal in Cheoncheon-dong. We visited Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon Branch. You can enjoy everything at once, from cypress-steamed meat and Vietnamese rice-paper wraps to beef shabu-shabu and the salad bar. Best of all, it’s all-you-can-eat for 100 minutes, which was absolutely perfect for a meat lover like me haha.

Near Cheoncheon-dong’s main street and Sungkyunkwan University Station

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Cheoncheon Branch is in front of Lotte Mart Cheoncheon Branch, so it wasn’t hard to find even on my first visit.

It’s also fairly close to Sungkyunkwan University Station, and the restaurant is quite spacious, making it good not only for family meals but also for larger groups. While we ate, I noticed plenty of families, as well as groups who looked like athletic students eating heartily together. It seems like a great fit for anyone looking for a group dining spot near Sungkyunkwan University too!

A varied spread that was easy to choose from with a child

What I liked most was that this isn’t a place where you eat just one thing: you can have cypress-steamed meat, Vietnamese rice-paper wraps, beef shabu-shabu, and the salad bar. Choosing a menu can be surprisingly tricky when dining out with a child, but there were so many options—from meat and vegetables to shabu-shabu—that it worked well for a family meal.

There were ingredients for making Vietnamese rice-paper wraps like this, too. And, as you’d expect from an all-you-can-eat place, there were thinly sliced meats including beef brisket and pork shoulder. Unlimited meat is especially wonderful, I think. The male students were piling it on their plates, seriously lol.

Cypress-steamed meat served right after ordering

As soon as you sit down and order, they bring over the cypress-steamed meat like this~ We started with that first! Our family ordered the all-you-can-eat dinner/weekend/public holiday set. Weekday lunch is cheaper, so next time I should come for weekday lunch.

The hinoki cypress steamer was absolutely loaded with meat and mung bean sprouts. It also came with mushrooms, bok choy, kabocha squash, and shrimp, so it looked wonderfully generous the moment it arrived. Unlike meat grilled directly in oil, the steamed meat was nicely light, which I loved. Rather than eating meat nonstop, we could pair it with sprouts and vegetables, making it a perfect way to start! I tried the well-cooked meat with a big pinch of mung bean sprouts. The meat was tender, the sprouts were crisp, and they went together so well. It wasn’t overly greasy either, so I just kept eating.

I also ate it with the spicy, sharp, slightly bitter wasabi I love, and of course it was delicious together. It felt like I was eating healthy food, so it sat comfortably too.

A salad bar with hot food, too

There was a separate salad bar, so it was nice to take as many extra vegetables and shabu-shabu ingredients as we wanted. It had tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), chicken, and gochu-japchae (stir-fried peppers and pork). Even though it was a salad bar, all the food was warm; the fried coating was crisp, the gochu-japchae was really tasty, and the tteokbokki had a lovely sweet-spicy kick!

Vietnamese rice-paper wraps assembled at the table

My husband said he wanted to make Vietnamese rice-paper wraps, so we brought over the ingredients ourselves. We got warm water ready, along with rice paper and dipping sauces. There wasn’t really anything to prepare since Pyeonbaek Hoegwan has it all ready for you, but being able to try such a range of dishes at a shabu-shabu restaurant seems like the biggest advantage.

If you like Vietnamese rice-paper wraps, just put meat and whatever vegetables you like into the rice paper and wrap them up. Since even the meat is unlimited, it’s perfect for days when you want to eat until you’re full. I don’t always want to eat vegetables plain, but once I wrapped them up like this or had them with shabu-shabu broth, I kept reaching for more~

Shabu-shabu with soybean paste and soy sauce broths

After the cypress-steamed meat, we started shabu-shabu right away! It doesn’t end with the steamed meat—we moved straight on to shabu-shabu too lol. We filled the bubbling broth with all the ingredients we wanted: vegetables, mushrooms, dumplings, fried tofu, and more. We ordered soybean paste broth and soy sauce broth. We were eating with a child, but my stomach also felt unsettled that day, so we chose gentler broths. Since you can do a half-and-half pot, it would be such a great combination to have something spicy on one side and something mild on the other.

We added all the vegetables and dumplings, then let it boil away. The cypress-steamed meat was such a generous portion, and with the salad bar too, we took only a reasonable amount because there’s an extra charge for leftovers and we should look after the environment.

Soybean paste broth on the left, soy sauce broth on the right. The soybean paste broth was savory and had a lovely doenjang aroma; my child especially enjoyed it. The soy sauce broth’s umami and saltiness went really well with the vegetables.

A Cheoncheon-dong family meal with a child

This time, my husband, child, and I visited together, and there were more families with children than I expected. I saw families like ours dining with children, as well as tables that seemed to have brought their parents, so the overall family-dining atmosphere felt comfortable. When eating out with a child, you can’t only think about adult tastes, but there was so much to eat here that everyone could choose to suit their own preferences. This Cheoncheon-dong family meal with my husband and child was a success :) I thought it was just a place for cypress-steamed meat, but we ate far more generously than expected with 100 minutes of unlimited Vietnamese rice-paper wraps, beef shabu-shabu, and the salad bar too. I especially liked being able to have the meat light and steamed first, then enjoy it again as shabu-shabu, so it never felt repetitive. There really were lots of family guests, as well as tables of students, so it’s good both for family dining and for group meals near Sungkyunkwan University. If you love meat and enjoy trying a variety of things, give it a visit!

Hours 11:00–22:00 · Last order 21:00 · No break time Parking: Free at Lotte Mart B1 / paid at Sehwa Plaza