CatchTable remote waiting at a Yongin shabu-kalguksu: Yun Ujae

Saturday at 1pm: signing up on CatchTable before you arrive

Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu Gogidong Branch still has a wait even past 1pm on Saturdays, so I put my name down on CatchTable on the way over. Weekend waits here seem pretty much guaranteed.

I'd been so curious about Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu every time I drove past Gogi-ri, and I finally made it! Even waiting outside the restaurant, the line moves fairly fast, but if you're going with family I'd still strongly recommend registering on the app ahead of time.

There's parking in front of the restaurant too, but it was full, so we parked on the street and ate! It's a genuinely huge restaurant, but that many people show up too, haha. Even when the lot is full, the street basically doubles as parking, so no need to worry!

Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu really lives up to the Gogi-ri kalguksu reputation — hand-cut noodles plus great value mean everyone from kids to grandparents can enjoy it! There are chairs at the entrance and a waiting room inside too. Just go in when your number is called.

On the Gogi-ri restaurant strip: Yun Ujae's broth and meat options

Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu has two locations, this Gogidong branch and one in Busan, and this one sits right along the Dongcheon-dong / Gogi-ri restaurant strip, so it was easy to stop by! Really affordable prices with generous portions — hats off to the owner.

A vegetable-stock blend broth on a beef-bone base, plus Australian S-grade sirloin, and kimchi made fresh daily — this place earns its reputation.

The view, though — the scenery across the street is great too, so it doubles as a nice drive-out spot. Good view, and it's gotten a bit cooler lately, which makes it even better!

You can tell it's hand-cut noodles from the moment you walk in — the noodle-making room and piles of flour are right there at the entrance!

Spicy broth for two at 11,500 won each, plus a 16,000 won seafood pancake

For our order, we went with the spicy red broth at ₩11,500 per serving, two servings for the two of us, plus a seafood pancake for ₩16,000 on the side. There were a lot of tables with babies, and they were all eating the white broth — seems like a good spot to bring a baby too.

₩11,500 for a price that includes sirloin, vegetables and mushrooms, kalguksu noodles, and fried rice...! Amazing value. You can order more of anything you're short on. We ordered the pancake and ate really full — if we hadn't, I think we'd have added extra minari (water dropwort).

Self-serve bar, house dipping sauce and cheongyang chili paste

At the self-serve bar in the Gogidong branch you'll find water, broth, kimchi, and pajeon takeout containers! Seokbakji (radish kimchi) is there too.

Getting to peek into the noodle-making room was fun too, haha. Couldn't get a shot of the inside because it was so crowded, but it's genuinely huge! There's a restroom inside and a waiting room too.

They also have their own house-made sauce! It's labeled to mix soy sauce and wasabi at a 2:1 ratio, and since I love wasabi I added extra, haha.

The meat quality alone is tender and melts in your mouth, and the kimchi is delicious too.

They also give you cheongyang chili paste on the side — the owner really knows food.

Noodles at Yun Ujae: half flat, half kalguksu

You get to pick your noodle type too! Flat noodles or kalguksu noodles, haha. I like the flat ones and my boyfriend likes kalguksu, so we did half-and-half.

It's packed with kimchi, minari, and dried seaweed, and sesame oil is mixed in too, so the aroma was savory and lovely.

Genuinely such a generous portion...

They even gave us spoons that had been sanitized in hot water! Okay, now we're ready to eat..♥️

Vegetables first, then broth, seafood pancake and a fried rice finish

We started with the vegetables first, and they were so good that we ended up slurping down the broth too and scooping out every last vegetable. Felt totally like a health food meal..♥️

The seafood pancake portion was genuinely huge! Packed with shrimp and squid, and we ate it up nice and crispy.

Watching them stretch out the noodles like this was so satisfying — hand-kneaded, hand-cut noodles are the best♥️

It genuinely went down so smoothly, haha. Maybe it's because we're both Korean-food people, but we enjoyed it even more — the staff were busy but kind too, which made it even better.

If you like sujebi (hand-torn dough soup), you'll love the flat noodles!! They're totally my type, so I slurped them all down.

We finished with fried rice~~ Fried rice with kimchi mixed in is basically a K-dessert, haha. We left completely stuffed, genuinely impressed by the value at Yun Ujae Shabu Kalguksu!! This much food for this price — I'm touched..