Barley rice restaurant in Yeongtong, Suwon with easy parking: Boriook

Boriook Main Branch parking: how many cars fit?

Boriook Main Branch is an all-you-can-eat barley rice restaurant in Yeongtong, Suwon, and there's parking space out front for about 8 cars. Today I went with my husband to Boriook Main Branch, Suwon's go-to unlimited-refill barley rice spot.

About parking first — there's space for around 8 cars right in front of Boriook Main Branch. If it's already full, you can park in the areas marked as roadside-parking-allowed, as shown in the sign below.

Wood-tone interior with mother-of-pearl decor, room for groups

Here's what the inside of Boriook Main Branch looks like. Clean wood tones, spacious tables — and that mother-of-pearl ornament really caught my eye. Maybe because of that piece, the whole place had a totally upscale vibe going on. The space itself is big, so it looked like a good spot for group gatherings too.

Ordering at the table kiosk

You order through the kiosk sitting on the table, like below. On the side of the table were sesame oil and gochujang (red pepper paste) — essentials for barley rice. Nothing sticky on the table either, everything was really clean.

What is on the unlimited Korean banchan bar?

The biggest perk of Boriook Main Branch in Suwon is being able to grab unlimited Korean side dishes (banchan). There was seriously such a wide variety on offer. After ordering the main menu on the kiosk, we quickly went and grabbed a bunch of the refillable banchan to set up at our table. Honestly there were so many kinds that we had to go back and forth several times, but even with unlimited refills, everything was laid out neat and tidy.

Vegetables, acorn jelly, all kinds of kimchi fritters — we happily piled a little of this and that onto our plates. There were a lot of namul (seasoned vegetable) side dishes I don't normally get to eat much, so I got excited and loaded up my bowl.

Dessert and tea in the same spot

There was dessert and tea available for after the meal, so I decided to save room for dessert after finishing the barley rice haha. It was great being able to have everything from the meal to dessert in one spot. Especially when your lunch hour is only 60 minutes, there's barely time to go somewhere else for dessert afterward. In that case, stopping by Boriook Main Branch, eating the main dish, and enjoying dessert right there seemed like a great option.

Boriook Main Branch menu and prices

Our order arrived. We ordered the gochujang pork barley rice set and the mackerel barley rice set — priced at ₩15,000 and ₩16,000 respectively. Considering the unlimited banchan refills, I thought it was a reasonable price. The quality was really good too.

The basic barley rice set is ₩13,000, and looking around, some people ordered one mackerel set plus one barley rice set, or just barley rice sets alone. A hearty spread came together in no time.

Fried eggplant and oil tteokbokki were the standouts

Below are the banchan we brought over. We grabbed a bit of everything, but I especially loved that eggplant fritter. Oil-fried tteokbokki (rice cakes) isn't something you see everywhere either, so I grabbed some — it had been a while and it was so good. Eating vegetables and namul side dishes again after a long time made me feel healthier instantly.

It's tough to make all these namul side dishes at home these days, isn't it? For times like that, loading up on namul at Boriook Main Branch in Suwon seems like a great option. Overall there were so many good-quality Korean side dishes that the meal disappeared in no time. I also had acorn jelly for the first time in ages, and — oh! — the seasoned tofu was a bit spicy for me.

A whole mackerel and sweet-spicy gochujang pork

Since we ordered the pork set and the mackerel set instead of the basic barley rice set, these were our main dishes. The mackerel came out as a full, substantial piece. The pork had a spicy-sweet flavor that went really well with the barley rice.

And below is the soup that came with the meal — I poured the broth over my rice, mixed it, then piled banchan on top haha. Actually I finished my first bowl so fast that I went and refilled the barley rice, ending up eating two bowls.

Barley crackers and plum tea to finish

At the end, we grabbed barley crackers and plum tea for dessert, and it made for a complete, satisfying meal. The barley crackers were just sweet enough — they went down surprisingly well.

Boriook Main Branch, Suwon's unlimited-refill barley rice spot, is a great place to go when you want a healthy, satisfying meal. The menu is the kind everyone from kids to grandparents can enjoy, so I'd also recommend visiting with your parents.