Hanwoo course date at Gongdeok Station: sweet shrimp bite at Usu

I'd like to share a review of Usu, a restaurant near Gongdeok in Seoul that works for meeting the in-laws. Every seat at Usu is a private room, so it's perfect for all kinds of gatherings. The Dinner B course we had was generous and neatly presented, and the flavors were excellent too, so it more than qualifies as a great dinner date spot.

Where is Usu in Gongdeok, and what about parking and rooms?

Usu is on the second basement floor of the Lotte Castle President arcade, connected to Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station (Lines 5 and 6), and you can use the arcade parking lot free for the first 3 hours regardless of how many cars you bring. It's open 11:00 to 22:00, with a break from 15:00 to 17:00. For parking, use the arcade lot, not the hotel or officetel lot.

It's about 2 m from Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station, tucked into the second basement floor of the Lotte Castle President arcade that connects to the subway.

From the subway passage, you just take the escalator down one floor.

After getting off the escalator, just go straight ahead. If you drive, the large parking lot lets you park free for 3 hours.

Also, every seat at Usu is a private room, which makes it ideal for all kinds of gatherings. It's spacious and comfortable, great for chatting privately over a meal, so it works well as a date spot too.

Usu dinner course menu and drinks

Usu offers three dinner courses, Premium, A and B. There's a variety of wines, and since corkage is free, you can also bring your own drinks.

This is the menu at Usu in Gongdeok, a Seoul restaurant for meeting the in-laws. The dinner courses when we visited were Premium, A and B.

They had a variety of wines, and because Usu is corkage free, you can also bring your own drinks.

How does the Usu Dinner B course start?

The Dinner B course began with the staff showing us which ingredients they would be serving. We ordered the Dinner B course at Usu in Gongdeok.

Woogye jinjuk and four bite-sized dishes

The first dish was the starter, woogye jinjuk (beef and chicken rice porridge) made from hanwoo bone broth and chicken stock.

Next came four bite-sized dishes, and they arrived looking so neat and pretty! 🥹

In the order we ate them: the first starred scallop and clam, with a soft filling and a crispy outside.

The second was a bulgogi sandwich with brioche, hanwoo bulgogi, button mushroom duxelles and truffle cream cheese, with a deep aroma and extra crunch from apple pickle.

All the bites were great, but the sweet shrimp dish was the one my boyfriend and I both raved about. It felt like a luxurious shrimp burger, and the roasted seaweed brushed with pollock roe was the kicker! 🫪

The fourth, the lobster taco, was exactly what the ingredient lineup suggests: a high-end version of a taco.

Shiitake shrimp zucchini and beef tartare with gamtae

Then came a dish with shiitake, shrimp and zucchini, with peanut tofu sauce and chamnamul (pimpinella) oil. It was light yet seasoned just right, like salting a bowl of cold soybean noodles! 😊

Next was yukhoe (beef tartare) with gamtae (seaweed) that you roll up yourself. Housemade aioli, fried nurungji (scorched rice) and chosuk pickles made it a combination that never got boring.

How were the tilefish, tteokgalbi and abalone five-color noodles?

In the middle of the Usu Dinner B course, tilefish with neungi mushroom broth, tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty) and abalone five-color gardenia noodles came out in turn. All three had solid sauces and sides that added to the fun of the course.

The tilefish served next came with barley and chamnamul rice that you scoop up together with the fish.

The neungi mushroom broth, poured from a kettle at our table, tasted incredibly deep, as if a thousand mushrooms had been condensed into it.

The tteokgalbi came with crushed pistachio, celeriac purée, shiitake duxelles and basil oil. There was no gamey smell and the meat flavor was rich, and dipping it deep into the sauce brought out even more flavor! 🤭

After that came the abalone five-color gardenia noodles. Generous garnishes like black sesame radish strips, bracken and shiitake, a mustard garlic sauce, a gamtae dressing and the texture of the gardenia noodles were the kicker.

Usu Dinner B course main: grilled hanwoo and pot rice set

The main of the Usu Dinner B course is hanwoo you grill yourself on a personal brazier, served with seasonal fish pot rice and hanwoo seaweed soup in a bansang (traditional set meal). We could cook the meat to our own preferred doneness.

The mains of the Dinner B course at Usu in Gongdeok, the Seoul restaurant for meeting the in-laws, came out: grilled hanwoo, the bansang and the pot rice.

For the seasonal fish pot rice, they first showed us the pot, then flaked the fish and moved it into our rice bowls. We grilled the meat ourselves on personal braziers, so everyone could get their preferred doneness. With hanwoo seaweed soup and neatly arranged side dishes, it was a really filling meal.

Anniversary hanwoo cake and dessert

If you visit for an anniversary, Usu can plate a hanwoo cake for ₩10,000 extra, and after the meal dessert comes as corn ice cream, sponge cheesecake and tea.

Usu had a generous, neat lineup and the taste was excellent too, so it more than qualifies as a great dinner date spot. I'll keep the hanwoo cake option in mind for next time! 😲

On top of that, dessert after the meal was corn ice cream, sponge cheesecake and tea, so it was a happy finish from start to end. I plan to come back for anniversaries from now on.