Gongdeok, Seoul Korean beef fine dining with a friend: Usu Dinner B

🚪😊 Knock knock. From the moment our server knocks on the private room door, a special meal begins at Usu (우수), a Gongdeok favorite. The top-grade Korean beef (hanwoo) appeared with a dry-ice performance and made us gasp, and the show of fresh seasonal ingredients got us even more excited for the course. The unusual atmosphere from the very start made this dinner with my friend extra fun, so here is my record of it!

Where is Usu in Gongdeok, and is there parking?

Usu is on the second basement floor of the Lotte Premium Food Market, which connects to Gongdeok Station Exit 2. It leads straight off the station, so access is great.

Parking is free for the first 3 hours, regardless of how many cars you have.

The private room atmosphere at Usu

Every seat inside Usu is an independent room, and the upscale mood suits a Korean beef omakase perfectly. Our server walked us down a long corridor with extra-attentive guidance!

Ta-da! This was the private room where my friend and I had a cozy dinner tonight. We could focus completely on the food and our conversation without worrying about anyone around us. Add the careful service of the staff dedicated to the rooms, and we felt properly looked after from start to finish. It suits quiet gatherings, family meals and important occasions, so I confidently recommend it to anyone looking for a Korean restaurant in Seoul or a place for a formal family introduction meal.

What are the menu and course lineup at Usu?

Usu is a Korean beef omakase (course) restaurant built around carefully selected top-grade "two-plus" hanwoo, with a menu that lets you enjoy beef in many cooking styles. The course goes in order from porridge to bite-sized dishes, beef tartare, grilled beef, a rice meal and dessert, and you can choose among the A, B and C courses and a premium course to suit your taste and budget. À la carte Korean beef, main dishes and wine are also available, and ✅️ corkage is free.

What we ordered: B course (₩109,000 per person)

• Beef and chicken porridge (우·게 진죽)
• Three bite-sized dishes (bulgogi sandwich, sweet shrimp gim bugak, scallop and clam)
• Shiitake shrimp zucchini
• Korean beef tartare with seaweed (gamtae)
• Tilefish (okdom)
• 1++ Korean beef tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty)
• Abalone five-color gardenia noodles
• 1++ Korean beef grilled on a personal brazier
• Bansang (traditional rice set meal)
• Dessert

We ordered two servings of the B course.

The eye-opening dry-ice ingredient show

The Usu course starts with the staff showing you the ingredients to be used today and explaining each one in detail. Seeing the carefully selected top-grade Korean beef and fresh seasonal ingredients with our own eyes first raised our expectations even higher. 👏 👏

Beef and chicken porridge, the first bowl of the course

The Usu B course begins with a warm welcome bowl, ugye porridge (beef and chicken porridge). The deep, rich aroma of beef and chicken simmered carefully for a long time spreads gently and fills your stomach comfortably. The soft texture and mild flavor wake up the appetite naturally, which made it a great first dish.

Three bite-sized dishes like a forest on a plate

The three bite-sized dishes are a bulgogi sandwich, sweet shrimp gim bugak (crispy seaweed chip) and a scallop and clam. The moment the first plate arrived, we couldn't help but gasp. The plating with moss and wood looked like a small forest moved straight onto the table, which added to the fun of looking.

It's so pretty, how do I even eat it?

The bulgogi sandwich pairs soft bread with a nutty bulgogi mousse. A faint herb aroma kept it clean rather than greasy. It was, how do I put it, a refined take on the familiar bulgogi flavor.

The sweet shrimp gim bugak tops a crispy seaweed chip with sweet raw shrimp. The savory depth of the shrimp and the nuttiness of the seaweed chip went well together. It's just one bite, but the flavor was intense and left an impression.

The scallop and clam had tender scallop and cream packed inside a crispy coating. Crunchy outside and soft inside, the texture was fun.

Shiitake shrimp zucchini

The shiitake shrimp zucchini comes in a green bowl shaped like a zucchini, adding to the visual fun. The shiitake is stuffed with shrimp meat, so you get chewy and bouncy textures together. Soft zucchini slices, a nutty cream sauce and the faint flavor of scallion oil blended into a deeper taste. It was light yet full of savory depth, and I found myself naturally waiting for the next bite.

Korean beef tartare with seaweed, and the crunch of scorched rice

The Korean beef tartare with seaweed is a beef tartare sushi that you roll up from the right side and eat in one bite, which is part of the fun. Crispy fried nurungji (scorched rice) sits on top of the soft, fresh beef tartare, and the texture contrast is amazing!

The nutty seaweed adds a faint sea aroma, and the crunchy scorched rice and moist tartare come together in a flavor I can't forget.

Jeju tilefish with neungi mushroom broth

The Jeju tilefish puts a piece of golden grilled tilefish on popping barley and chamnamul (pimpinella) rice, finished with crispy fried chamnamul. Pour fragrant neungi (oak mushroom) broth over it and scoop it up with the rice, and the mild tilefish, the aroma of the chamnamul and the deep flavor of the mushroom come together for a clean taste.

✔️ I liked it even more because a fish dish came in the middle of all the meat.

1++ Korean beef tteokgalbi

Usu's 1++ Korean beef tteokgalbi is shaped into an easy-to-eat patty, and when I cut it in half it was full of juicy meat juices. Basil oil, shiitake duxelles and mellow white balsamic came together to lift the deep flavor of the beef, and the light yet luxurious taste was clearly different from the tteokgalbi I usually eat. 😃

Abalone five-color gardenia noodles

The abalone five-color gardenia noodles top chewy gardenia noodles with tender abalone and a sweet-and-sour special sauce. Soak the noodles well in the sauce and eat them with the abalone, and the faint aroma of the gardenia noodles blends nicely with the mild flavor of the abalone. The chewy texture and refreshing sauce whet the appetite, a perfect step before grilling the beef 👍

1++ Korean beef on a personal brazier, and the bansang

At the end of the long, fancy course, today's main, the 1++ grilled Korean beef and bansang, was laid out.

I was already full, but the moment I saw this, my appetite came back. It's a one-person brazier, so I could grill slowly at my own pace, which I liked even more. You can tell it's good meat just from the beautiful marbling. For the first piece, of course, I dipped it in just a little salt to enjoy the beef's natural flavor.

Eating it with the garnishes balanced the flavor even better.

A piece of beef on hot white rice with a little fresh wasabi made every bite really happy. The combination of beef seaweed soup (miyeokguk) and mustard leaf kimchi (gat kimchi) went much better together than I expected. The mild broth plus the sharp, savory kick of the kimchi made the finish satisfying.

Dessert: melon sorbet

The dessert of the Usu B course caught our eye from the moment it arrived: a ceramic bowl on a tray spread with grains. The staff even opened the lid for us, a thoughtful touch that made the dessert feel more special.

Inside the ceramic bowl was a refreshing Korean melon (chamoe) sorbet with green tangerine juice, melon cheese and coconut chips, and it cleaned up the palate nicely. It let us end a wonderful meal on a satisfying note.

Who is Usu in Gongdeok for?

If you're looking for a special Korean beef dinner in Gongdeok, Usu is a place I confidently recommend. You can relax in a private room, and everything from the top-grade beef to the carefully made course dishes and attentive service satisfied me. It suits dates as well as family gatherings, anniversaries and important meals, so if you're planning a special meal, I recommend visiting at least once. It's a Gongdeok favorite where I'd love to return with someone precious to me.