Six hanwoo cuts in order at a Suwon Korean BBQ: Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye

On August 30 I went to Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch because I wanted to try hanwoo (Korean beef) in several different cuts.

What I ordered that day was the signature menu item, the hanwoo assorted platter. Since several cuts come out on one plate, instead of just mixing them together I grilled and ate them one at a time in this order: sirloin → chuck flap → short rib fingers → skirt → brisket → top blade.

After the beef I also ordered cod bibim-naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles with dried pollack), and doenjang sulbap and patbingsu came out as complimentary extras, so I ended up eating quite a variety from the meal through to dessert.

Where is Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch, and how far from Suwon City Hall Station?

Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch is at 14-5 Hyowon-ro 291beon-gil, Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It's about 236m from Exit 10 of Suwon City Hall Station on the Suin-Bundang Line, so it's close enough to reach by subway.

According to the restaurant's info, reservations and group bookings are available, and parking is available too. Last order is listed as 10:00 PM.

For anyone looking for somewhere to eat around Ingye-dong or Nahyeseok-geori, the location seemed pretty good.

Yeongpo Hwa-ro menu prices and what we ordered

Here's a quick rundown of the signature menu items.

• Hanwoo assorted platter ₩49,000
• Salted brisket (alcharo dolbaki) ₩35,000
• Sirloin ₩55,000
• Skirt steak ₩55,000
• Top blade ₩59,000
• Cod bibim-naengmyeon ₩7,000

The hanwoo assorted platter is listed as the signature dish, letting you taste several cuts on one plate.

The side dishes to eat between cuts of beef

The basic table setting was mostly side dishes meant to be eaten alongside the meat. Shredded scallions, mountain leek (myeongi) namul, kimchi, and pickled cucumber and radish came out, with salt and wasabi set aside separately. They were good to pair with the pickles or scallions between bites while working through the beef.

The mountain leek namul in particular kept getting picked up alongside the beef, and I could switch up the side dishes a little each time the cut changed.

Cut 1: sirloin starts the hanwoo assorted platter

The first thing I ate was the sirloin.

When you order several cuts at once, it can be hard to know what to start with, so this time I began with the relatively familiar sirloin.

Starting with sirloin as the first cut of the assorted platter made it easy to notice the differences as I moved through the rest.

Cut 2: chuck flap

After the sirloin, I moved on to chuck flap.

The chuck flap looked different from the sirloin even before grilling, so it was easy to tell the cuts apart on the plate, and switching cuts like this made ordering the assorted platter feel worth it.

Being able to move on to a slightly different cut instead of eating just one the whole time was the advantage of the assorted menu.

Cuts 3 and 4: boneless short rib and skirt

Next up were short rib fingers and skirt steak.

After the sirloin and chuck flap, moving on to short rib fingers and skirt steak made it obvious how much shape and grain can differ between cuts, even though it's all beef.

Cuts 5 and 6: brisket and top blade at the end

The last two cuts were brisket and top blade.

Looking at the meat in the photos, the amount of fat marbling was quite different from cut to cut, visible even in the raw state.

Of these, the top blade is the cut where the marbling really stands out, so I saved it for last.

Free doenjang sulbap (soybean paste stew with rice)

Partway through the meat, doenjang sulbap came out as a complimentary dish.

It was rice served in a doenjang (soybean paste) broth with tofu, zucchini, onion, and cheongyang chili.

After eating just meat for a while, having a warm broth show up changed the pace of the meal nicely. As you can see in the photo, there was a good amount of solid ingredients in it too, so I ate a spoonful or two between cuts of meat, and it ended up doubling as a proper meal item.

Finishing the meal with kodari bibim-naengmyeon

As I was finishing up the meat, I ordered the ₩7,000 cod bibim-naengmyeon.

It came with black noodles tossed with seasoning and shredded cod, plus cucumber and radish on the side. After eating so many cuts of hanwoo, cold noodles were exactly what came to mind at the end.

Especially after eating meat, a cold, seasoned noodle dish like this bibim-naengmyeon suited the moment better than anything warm.

It wasn't just plain bibim-naengmyeon either — the shredded cod meant I could pick up cod and noodles together between bites, which was a nice feature.

Free patbingsu (shaved ice with red bean) to close

I thought that was it, but at the very end patbingsu (shaved ice with red beans) came out too, on the house.

It was an old-school style patbingsu, generously topped with red beans, condensed milk, cereal, and jelly.

I didn't expect a beef grill restaurant to send out patbingsu too, so it ended up being the surprisingly memorable part of the meal.

Is the hanwoo assorted platter worth it at Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch?

The most fun part of Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch was definitely deciding on an order and working through the hanwoo cuts on one plate one by one.

Starting with sirloin and moving through chuck flap, short rib fingers, skirt, and brisket, all the way to top blade at the end, I got to enjoy a lot more variety than I expected from ordering just one hanwoo menu item.

If I go back, I'd order the hanwoo assorted platter again, and I'd want to grill and eat it cut by cut in order like this time. If you're near Suwon City Hall Station and want to try a little of several hanwoo cuts rather than just one, the hanwoo assorted platter at Yeongpo Hwa-ro Ingye Branch is worth comparing.