Gyukatsu and steki sirloin sets on a weekday evening in Wonju: Ichigyu

I'm always chasing dopamine one dish at a time. Today I visited Ichigyu Wonju in Musil-dong, Wonju.

Where is Ichigyu Wonju, and where do you park?

Ichigyu Wonju is a gyukatsu and steki (Japanese-style steak) restaurant on the 1st floor of the Lotte Cinema building at 51 Neungna-dong-gil, Wonju, Gangwon State. It's open daily from 11:00 to 21:30 with a break time from 15:00 to 17:00, and last order is at 20:30. Building parking is available, and you can get 2 hours of parking support.

• Address: 51 Neungna-dong-gil, Wonju, Gangwon State, 1st floor
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30 / break time 15:00–17:00
• Last order: 20:30
• Parking: Building parking available / 2 hours supported
• Accessibility: Located on the 1st floor of the Lotte Cinema building

Ichigyu Wonju was easy to find since it's on the 1st floor of the Lotte Cinema building, and I could use the building's parking lot.

Getting 2 hours of parking support was also really convenient.

Since it's inside a movie theater building, once you park you can just head to the 1st floor and find the restaurant right away, haha.

How the waiting list works and what the dining room is like

At Ichigyu Wonju, if there's a wait, you write your name outside the restaurant and wait.

Water is set out near the entrance so you can drink some while you wait.

Overall the space had a warm wood-tone atmosphere, with both solo seats and 2-person tables available.

It looked fine for a solo meal and also comfortable enough to sit with a friend. Even on a weekday evening, quite a lot of people were dining.

There was a big piece of decorative meat hanging inside the restaurant that really caught my eye!! The country-of-origin labeling was also clearly displayed!

You can use the restroom inside the building, and I noticed amenities like a baby chair and Wi-Fi as well.

There was floss at the checkout counter, which I loved, haha. You can pay with Wonju Love Gift Certificates!

Ichigyu Wonju menu and prices

The signature dishes are the sirloin gyukatsu and sirloin steki, both starting at ₩19,500. Best of all, you can add extra meat, which I loved!

There are set menus too, and the recommended way to eat each dish is clearly explained, haha.

The menu also included hamburger steak omurice, steki-don (steak rice bowl), teppan chapsteak, and Japanese-style curry.

This time we ordered the gyukatsu and steki sets, plus a fried egg and cold soba with shrimp tempura.

They gave us a generous amount of rice from the start, so we could just scoop out as much as we wanted to eat.

If you run out of rice you can get a refill, so it's good for people with a bigger appetite too ^^ Both the gyukatsu and steki come with a piece of butter each, and if you like butter, extra is available.

We ordered the gyukatsu and steki sets along with a fried egg and cold soba with shrimp tempura! There were so many dishes I wanted to try that it was hard to choose, hahaha.

Gyukatsu sirloin set, 19,500 won: searing it in Isigny butter

The base gyukatsu sirloin at Ichigyu Wonju is ₩19,500. You put butter on the cast-iron plate and cook the meat to your liking.

The savory, fragrant sirloin came with Ichigyu's special itame sauce, which has a garlicky, tangy touch.

Apparently this butter is premium French Isigny butter!! The flavor is an art form, T_T.

They say if you split the butter into three portions on the cast-iron plate, you can enjoy the butter's aroma for longer, haha.

Since it's cooked in butter, you can grill it exactly to your liking,

and dipping it in salt and then topping it with wasabi let me taste both the meat's flavor and the wasabi's aroma together.

Personally, this combination was the most delicious!!

Having salad and jangguk (Japanese-style clear soup) alongside made it easy to switch up the flavors as I ate.

Steki sirloin set, 19,500 won: beef on rice, sushi style

The base sirloin steki set at Ichigyu Wonju is also ₩19,500. The steki also uses sirloin, and came with a piece of butter as well.

With the garlicky, tangy itame sauce added, it had a clean, light steki-style flavor.

It had a different texture from the gyukatsu, so I tried it with salt and wasabi, and also dipped in sauce :)

Ugh, a steki grilled with extra butter flavor... what more is there to say!!!? Genuinely delicious, T_T.

I dabbed a bit of the steki's salt onto warm rice, topped it with wasabi, and made it into a sushi-like bite... this was seriously the best, T_T.

Fried egg side, 1,000 won

The fried egg we also ordered went great with the rice, so we set it down and ate it together. The moment I saw the warm white rice, I thought a fried egg would be amazing with it... and ordered it right away, hahaha.

Cold soba with shrimp tempura, 11,000 won

The cold soba & shrimp tempura at Ichigyu Wonju is ₩11,000. Springy buckwheat noodles served cold came with one crispy jumbo shrimp tempura.

The wasabi, radish, and green onion were all served separately, so I could adjust them to my taste!

Having the cold, springy soba come in between the warm meat dishes was great for changing up the pace of the meal.

I really loved that the shrimp tempura was served separately so it wouldn't get soggy, T_T. Crispy, warm shrimp tempura is the best, hehe.

And if you participate in the review event, you get a shrimp tempura as a gift! And it's one per review!!!! If you come with a friend and each write a review, you can both get one, which is even better, haha.

Is Ichigyu Wonju worth a weekday dinner?

Ichigyu Wonju was easy to access on the 1st floor of the Lotte Cinema building, and with its wood-tone space offering both solo and 2-person seats, it worked well whether you're eating alone or with someone. It was a dinner where I got to share gyukatsu, steki, and cold soba across several dishes.

Today, once again, I went chasing dopamine here and there and came back full and satisfied 😋.