Couple's shabu-shabu dinner in Gwacheon: soy vs perilla dip, Cheongnok

Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon has unlimited minari, and it even made it onto a Matsulin Guide broadcast.

I went for shabu-shabu at Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon and got completely hooked on the perilla-chili sauce combo, haha. I was searching for a good minari shabu-shabu place in Gwacheon, went with my husband for dinner, and it was way better than I expected, so here's my review right away. I'll be honest and stick to what I actually tasted.

Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon: location, hours and parking

Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon is at 92 Gwanmun-ro, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (Building A, 2nd floor, Unit 204) and is open daily 11:00–21:30. Break time is 15:30–16:30, and last order is 20:30.

You park in the shopping block building and walk up, and if you tell the counter after your meal, they help with parking :)

The exterior is easier to find than you'd think

We parked at the Hillstate Gwacheon shopping block and went up. The restaurant is tucked toward the back of the 2nd floor, so it can be a little confusing at first, but once you're up there the storefront catches your eye and we found it quickly. That's also when I learned it had been featured on the Matsulin Guide broadcast, which only raised my expectations, haha.

Inside at 8 p.m. and the unlimited self-serve bar

We arrived around 8 p.m. and it wasn't crowded, so we got a seat easily. There are quite a lot of tables, and toward the back there's a separate self-serve bar with unlimited minari and vegetables.

The bar has a good variety, including mushrooms, kabocha squash, bok choy and napa cabbage, and it was nice to be able to grab more whenever we ran low.

What's on the menu besides shabu-shabu?

Besides shabu-shabu, there's chilled minari pork belly and a mountain-sized duck and beef platter, so the menu was more varied than I expected. You order on the table tablet. There are plenty of add-on noodle and extra options too, so you can customize.

The tablet also explains how to eat it best, so I read through it before the food came, haha. As you'd expect from a minari shabu-shabu spot in Gwacheon, most tables were ordering shabu-shabu.

What we ordered: Shabu for 2 + Minari Jeon set, ₩37,800, half-and-half broth

We ordered the Shabu for 2 + Minari Jeon (minari pancake) set (₩37,800) and chose half clear, half spicy broth.

Soy sauce, chili sauce and ground perilla seeds are on the table, so you can mix your own dipping sauce.

How was the minari shabu-shabu in Gwacheon?

It didn't take long after ordering for the meat, vegetables, kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), fried rice ingredients and the half-and-half broth to all be set up at once. The broth already comes loaded with vegetables and minari, and the enoki mushrooms, kabocha squash, bok choy and cabbage that weren't in the basic set, we fetched from the self-serve bar.

Once the broth is at a rolling boil, you turn down the heat and put in the meat to cook briefly. It's thinly sliced beef, so a quick dip in the broth is enough to cook it tender.

Soy sauce vs. perilla-chili sauce: which combo?

Here's the key point!! I sprinkled ground perilla seeds into the chili sauce and dipped, and this combo is honestly unreal, haha.

The nutty perilla added to the clean-tasting shabu-shabu beef made me keep reaching for more. I dipped in soy sauce too, and the clean flavor of the ingredients really came through, so that was good enough as well. Personally I liked the soy sauce combo better, while my husband preferred the perilla-chili dip, haha.

Why we ordered clear and spicy broth half-and-half

After we added the mushrooms and kabocha squash from the bar, the broth got deeper and deeper, and the fresh fragrance of minari seeped naturally into it, more and more as we ate. The clear broth has a subtle savory depth from the ingredients, while the spicy broth is sharp and soothing, so ordering half-and-half was a really good call. Alternating between the two meant we never got tired of it till the end.

The set's minari jeon was packed with minari

The minari jeon that came with the set uses minimal batter, so you can see at a glance that it's packed with minari.

The moment I dipped it in soy sauce, the crispy texture really came alive and the nutty flavor landed perfectly. Picking up a piece now and then between shabu-shabu bites made a different combo each time, so I never got sick of it, haha.

Finishing with minari-juice kalguksu and fried rice

The kalguksu noodles here are made with minari juice, so they have a green tint. I added them after we'd eaten a fair amount of meat and vegetables, and the chewy texture was great with the deepened broth, and the portion of noodles was generous and filling.

For the fried rice, I just told the staff and they took the ingredients away, stir-fried them in a pan and brought it back.

It was a fluffy egg fried rice style, nutty and tasty. I hear you can have it as porridge too, but fried rice seemed to suit us better :)

3-line summary

• A minari shabu-shabu specialist in Gwacheon, Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon was featured on the Matsulin Guide broadcast
• The Shabu for 2 + Minari Jeon set is ₩37,800, with half-and-half broth, kalguksu noodles and fried rice all in one
• A worthy Gwacheon pick, with an unlimited minari and vegetable self-serve bar too

FAQ

Does Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon help with parking?

Park in the shopping block building and visit, and if you tell the counter after your meal, they help with parking.

How do you eat the shabu-shabu sauces?

Soy sauce, chili sauce and ground perilla seeds are on the table, so mix and dip to your taste. The chili sauce with perilla seeds is especially recommended!

Can you choose the broth type?

You can choose clear, spicy or half-and-half. If you want both flavors at once, order half-and-half.

Final verdict: would we go back to Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon?

It's not easy to find a minari shabu-shabu setup in Gwacheon like Cheongnok Minari Restaurant Gwacheon. One ₩37,800 set covers an unlimited minari and vegetable bar, kalguksu, fried rice and minari jeon, and my husband and I were both full and happy. I think the perilla-chili combo is a flavor I'll crave again, haha.

If anyone asks me for a Gwacheon restaurant recommendation, I'll probably bring up Cheongnok Minari Restaurant right away. If you're deciding on shabu-shabu in Gwacheon, give it a visit :) I can recommend it with confidence, and we'd definitely go back!