Dongtan Station cypress-steam buffet, bonito-tomato broth: Pyeonbaek

A Dongtan Station restaurant to try: Pyeonbaek Hoegwan

I visited Pyeonbaek Hoegwan again after a while haha😋 It's supposedly the first restaurant in Korea to steam its hinoki (Japanese cypress) dishes with 12 kinds of medicinal herbs, carefully cooked like a tonic.

Beef short rib, which can be a bit greasy, gets steamed in hinoki so only the savory flavor remains — and you get unlimited hinoki steam, beef, shabu-shabu and even a salad bar. Here's my review from a very satisfying, very full visit 👉

Where is Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch, and what are the hours?

Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch is on the 2nd floor of the Grand Via building in Dongtan. It's open 11:00–22:00, last order 20:30, running nonstop with no break time — great for dropping by whenever.

Right across the street is Traders Dongtan, and nearby are Lotte Department Store Dongtan and Rivera Country Club golf course, so it fits nicely into a before-or-after outing 👍

Inside the building there's a huge courtyard-like space that gives it a grand feel. Arrived at the restaurant entrance! Of all the hinoki-steam restaurants I've been to, this was the most spacious and comfortable.

110 pyeong of space: works for group dinners and for families with kids

The interior of Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch spans 110 pyeong, with spacious tables and partitioned seating, making it a good spot for a Dongtan work dinner or group gathering.

There's also a fully equipped kids' playroom, so it's perfect for family get-togethers with young children too.

Ordering at the kiosk and splitting the broth half-and-half

Each table has its own kiosk for easy ordering. For the shabu-shabu, you can combine two broths half-and-half (or just pick one) — options include kasuo (bonito), spicy mushroom, doenjang chicken, bone broth mala, tomato broth, and plain mushroom.

I've been obsessed with tomato broth lately, so I went with kasuo and tomato bone broth together!

Prices, time limit, and the order from cypress steam to shabu-shabu

• Weekday lunch ₩16,900
• Dinner/weekend ₩19,900
• Toddlers (ages 4–7) ₩7,900
• Children (elementary school) ₩12,900

The total time limit is 100 minutes — 1 hour 40 minutes, which is quite generous.

Basically, the hinoki steam comes out first, and once you finish it, you need to ask staff to switch over to shabu-shabu. You can't go back to hinoki steam once you've switched to shabu-shabu, so make sure to ask for the switch only once you're satisfied.

What's on the self-serve bar, including unlimited beef

The self-serve bar at Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch has beautifully prepped Vietnamese-wrap vegetables and various greens set up neatly — the freshness was excellent!

Along with all kinds of vegetables great for adding to shabu-shabu, there's also kalguksu noodles, hand-torn dough soup, noodle add-ins, fish cake, sausage, and dumplings, all fully stocked.

You can freely help yourself to beef short rib and beef neck too! At a lot of other places, usually only the self-serve bar is free while meat costs extra — a half-hearted kind of all-you-can-eat. I really liked how open Pyeonbaek Hoegwan is about that.

There's also a great variety of extras like pasta, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), fried rice, jjolmyeon noodles, salad, mukbap (acorn jelly), and french fries.

They even have a rice cooker, raw eggs, and seasoned seaweed flakes on hand for anyone who wants to make fried rice later!

Cypress steam: staff open the tray after a 10-minute timer

When I got to my seat, the hinoki steam tray was already set up. As it steams, the deep, pleasant hinoki scent gradually spreads. It takes about 10 minutes total, timed with a timer, and a staff member opens it for you personally.

Unnecessary fat and greasy smell were completely gone, cooked soft and tender for easy eating — the fat-to-meat ratio was just right, giving it a nice chewy texture with only the clean flavor left.

Three sauces, rice-paper wraps, and refilling a second tray

Each table comes with three sauces — soy sauce, chili, and peanut — to dip according to taste. Personally, I liked the hinoki steam best dipped in the soy sauce. Wrapping it with the Vietnamese-wrap ingredients from the self-serve bar was also amazing!!

We refilled two trays, and honestly I wanted more, but since we still had shabu-shabu to get to, we decided to save it for next time.

How does bonito plus tomato bone broth shabu-shabu taste?

Next up, shabu-shabu! As chosen earlier, it's the kasuo broth + tomato bone broth combo.

The tomato soup looks like a milky bone broth at first, but there's tomato paste hidden inside — stir it gently with the ladle and watch it turn red.

We threw in everything from the self-serve corner — beef short rib, beef neck, vegetables, greens, and all the noodle add-ins.

A really delicious shabu-shabu came together. The broth was already rich, but it got even richer as the meat and vegetable stock seeped in — absolutely amazing. We were so full we couldn't get to the kalguksu noodles or porridge, so we'll have to save that for next time!

Near the exit where you pay, there's also misugaru (roasted grain powder drink) set up, which was perfect for a last sip before leaving! That's it for my delicious visit to Pyeonbaek Hoegwan Dongtan Branch near Dongtan Station. See you again next time 🙌