Dongtan Station shabu-shabu lunch in 100 minutes: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan

On a Friday at noon, three adults went to Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch (편백회관 동탄점).

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, ₩16,900 per person gets you unlimited cypress steamer (pyeonbaek-jjim), shabu-shabu, rice paper wraps, noodles, fried rice and a salad bar. After eating there, I'd say this Dongtan shabu-shabu spot is less about how many dishes there are and more about how you spend the 100 minutes.

Where is Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan and how is the parking?

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch is at 446 Dongtan-daero, Dongtan-gu, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, on the 2nd floor of Granvia Star at Dongtan Station. It's open daily 11:00–22:00, last order is 20:30, the weekday lunch is ₩16,900, and you get 100 minutes.

• 📍 446 Dongtan-daero, Dongtan-gu, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi (Dongtan Station Granvia Star, 2nd floor)
• 🕐 Daily 11:00–22:00
• ⏰ Last order 20:30
• 💰 Weekday lunch ₩16,900
• ⏱️ 100-minute time limit

The Granvia Star parking lot had quite a bit of space when I visited. Personally, I'd recommend entering through GATE 3.

I took the elevator up to the 2nd floor and Pyeonbaek Hoegwan was right there, so it was easy to find.

The restaurant is big with lots of tables, and one side has a playroom for kids. I went with two other adults for a weekday lunch, but it looked like a good option for a team lunch in Dongtan or a family meal out, too.

How long do you wait for the first dish, the cypress steamer?

Once you sit down and order, the cypress steamer is set up first and takes about 10 minutes to steam. There's a generous bed of bean sprouts underneath, topped with meat, mushrooms, vegetables, shrimp and even dumplings. After about 10 minutes, a staff member opens the lid for you, and that's when you dig in.

The salad bar, explored while waiting

While waiting, I looked around the salad bar. Maybe because noon is close to opening time, nothing was empty and it was quite well stocked.

There was vegetable fried rice, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), tomato pasta, mukbap (acorn jelly in cold broth with rice), salad, vegetable jjolmyeon (chewy spicy noodles), french fries and more. None of it was specialty-restaurant level, but overall it was decent, a notch above average.

The mukbap in particular was a nice cool bowl before getting into the meat, and the tteokbokki had a sweet, old-school market style that I kept reaching for.

Steamer with bean sprouts, then rice paper wraps for round two

When the lid came off, the meat was moist and perfectly cooked. It was tender, and eating it with the bean sprouts underneath was an especially good combo. The salad bar also had vegetables for rice paper wraps, so I wrapped meat and veggies in rice paper too.

There were three sauces, ponzu, peanut and chili, so you can mix to your taste. Eating it with bean sprouts, then as a wrap, meant I didn't get sick of it as quickly as I expected.

Check the 100-minute limit before refilling the steamer

The cypress steamer is also unlimited, but a refill needs time to set up and steam again. So if you plan to eat the shabu-shabu, noodles and fried rice too, I'd suggest checking the clock before ordering a steamer refill.

With 100 minutes in total, we ate only the first steamer and moved straight on to shabu-shabu. That choice meant we could comfortably eat everything that came after.

Shabu-shabu with half bonito, half spicy mushroom broth

For the shabu-shabu broth, we chose half bonito (katsuo) and half spicy mushroom.

Only the broth comes to the table; you bring as much meat and vegetables as you like from the salad bar. There was napa cabbage, bean sprouts, bok choy and various mushrooms, plus dumplings and fish cakes, so I could fill my plate with my favorites.

Chuck or beef shank: which meat was better?

I tried both kinds of meat. Personally, the neck cut (mogsim) was a bit tough, so I liked the tender beef shank-style cut (usim) better. Above all, I could barely taste any gaminess, so it was easy to keep eating.

Finishing with noodles and egg fried rice instead of porridge

We made full use of the half-and-half broth right to the end.

On one side we added kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) plus a bit more leftover meat and vegetables. The noodles were chewy, and since the broth had been simmered with plenty of meat and vegetables, the flavor was much richer.

On the other side, we made egg fried rice instead of porridge.

I drizzled sesame oil on rice, sprinkled on furikake and seaweed flakes, brought it over, fried it in the pot and finished with a raw egg. Personally, this fried rice was one of the most memorable things I ate that day. Sesame oil, seaweed and egg added to a broth soaked with meat and vegetable flavor made it deeply savory.

Dessert: misugaru slush

I was quite full, but I couldn't walk past the misugaru (roasted grain powder) slush at the end. It's like the nutty misugaru drink from the old days turned into a cold slush, and it wasn't overly sweet, so it was a perfect finish to a hefty meal.

How should you approach the Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan weekday lunch?

I thought it was just a cypress steamer place, but it actually works like a course: steamer → rice paper wraps → shabu-shabu → noodles → fried rice → dessert. I was happy with that lineup for ₩16,900 at weekday lunch, and next time I'd again enjoy one full steamer and then move on to shabu-shabu.

If you want cypress steamer and shabu-shabu in one meal near Dongtan Station, especially if you can visit on a weekday lunch, it's worth a look.