Gongdeok hanwoo omakase return visit with a welcome drink: Usu

Usu is a private hanwoo (Korean beef) omakase dining spot on basement level 2 of the Lotte Castle President commercial building, directly connected to Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station. All seating is in private rooms, corkage is free, unlimited parking is available, and the highlights are charcoal-grilled hanwoo and a fresh seasonal course menu.

• All-private-room restaurant
• Corkage-free and unlimited parking available
• Charcoal-grilled hanwoo and fresh seasonal course dishes
• Hours: daily 11:00–22:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)

Usu is a great Gongdeok restaurant for anniversaries, meeting-the-parents dinners, or family gatherings — a private hanwoo omakase spot. I'd had lunch here before and loved it, so this time I came back for dinner to celebrate my birthday! Every dish in the course was delicious, so if you're looking for hanwoo dining with both quality and value, pay attention,,

How to book Usu in Gongdeok, and where to park

Usu has a spacious parking lot with 3 hours free regardless of how many cars are parked, making it a great Gongdeok restaurant for group gatherings, family meals, or meeting-the-parents dinners. And for those of us without a car, coming out of Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station connects you directly to the Lotte Castle President commercial building, so it's a very convenient location.

You can book through Catch Table or Naver, and if reservations show as full or you want a same-day booking, you can call and they'll assist you. I booked through Naver, and it said to leave a note if you needed a birthday celebration service, so I mentioned it was my birthday!

All private rooms at Usu: what the two-person room looks like

Usu has no open hall — every seat is in a private room, and the group rooms are spacious and comfortable too.

This is the room assigned for a 2-person visit. Even with just two people, you get a roomy 4-person table with plenty of space.

Usu course options and prices

There's a more affordable lunch course and a dinner course with a wider variety of dishes. Another nice thing is that even within the same course, the price varies based on the amount of hanwoo — so if you want more beef, you can choose 120g or 150g.

Usu's Gongdeok course prices (dinner): Course A ₩99,000–119,000 / Course B ₩109,000–129,000 / Course C ₩139,000–149,000. I ordered Course B for two.

Usu Dinner B Course (90g), course by course

First they show you a display box with the hanwoo and today's ingredients — shiitake mushrooms, red shrimp, tilefish, sea bream, abalone, caviar, and more.

The color of the hanwoo was so pretty and glossy^^ The staff explained everything well too, so the service side of this Gongdeok hanwoo omakase was satisfying too.

They gave us a welcome drink for the birthday too~ It really helped set the mood.

1. Woo-gye jinjuk (rich beef and chicken porridge)

The first course was jinjuk, a porridge made with hanwoo bone broth and chicken stock, topped with a huge number of garnishes. It was a small bowl but packed with deep flavor — a great way to start warm.

2. Three one-bite dishes

Three bite-sized dishes came out as the second course, and my pick was the bulgogi sandwich.. this was seriously delicious. It's a sandwich made with brioche, hanwoo bulgogi, button mushroom duxelles, and truffle cream cheese all mixed together. The scallop and clam, plus the sweet shrimp and gim bugak (fried seaweed crisp) — the moment they hit your mouth, you're just happy. The sweet shrimp was big with great texture, and it came with grilled seaweed brushed with pollack roe for extra flavor.

3. Shiitake, shrimp and young zucchini

Neither my friend nor I usually eat shiitake mushrooms, but we both fell for them at Usu,, It had shrimp, shiitake, zucchini, tofu, aged kimchi, and more, and that white sauce was a peanut tofu sauce with oak oil — the tofu sauce was fragrant, refreshing, and light, so I scraped the plate clean.

4. Yukhoe gamtae (beef tartare with seaweed)

The fourth course had a thick layer of yukhoe (raw beef tartare) over rice, wrapped in gamtae (sea moss) to eat. Yukhoe with gamtae is.. well, need I say more, that combination.

5. Tilefish

Even I, who don't usually eat fish, was licking my lips over the fifth course, tilefish. Barley and wild chive rice sat underneath, and it's delicious even mixed with mullet roe and mesima mushroom broth.. Fish this un-fishy and refined, who knew.

6. Tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty)

Whatever kind of tteokgalbi you're imagining, Usu's version is a million times better. It's finished with crushed pistachio, several other ingredients, white balsamic, and basil oil.

7. Abalone five-color chija-myeon (gardenia noodles)

This is my favorite among the course dishes. Last time I came, this abalone chija-myeon was so good it stuck in my memory the most, and it was just as delicious again this time.. It's topped with abalone over black sesame julienned radish, bracken fern, shiitake, wild chive, perilla leaf, and countless other garnishes, plus gamtae dressing and mustard-garlic sauce — that spicy-but-not-overwhelming mustard-garlic sauce is the total kick. I could eat three plates of just the chija-myeon.

8. Main course: grilled hanwoo and the rice table

1++ grade sirloin hanwoo and hanwoo seaweed soup set meal are the main! The mini charcoal grill, beef, and set meal all get set up like this.

Since I came for my birthday, it happened to come with seaweed soup too,, the side dishes served with it were clean and neat, and you can ask for more if you run out.

You can grill it to your preferred doneness on the mini charcoal grill, and the garnishes served with the beef, like mushrooms and asparagus, can be grilled golden-brown alongside it too.

By this point you start getting really full. I can never finish the whole set meal.. haha My friend was confident earlier in the course that she could finish everything, but once she saw the portion size of the set meal, she admitted it was a lot. The hanwoo needs no explanation — it melted in your mouth, and grilling it lightly makes it even more tender and delicious~ For hanwoo omakase, the quality of the beef matters most above all, and you can expect great things from this 1++ hanwoo sirloin,,

9. Dessert and the birthday lettering plate

Corn ice cream, corn cream cheese, apricot, corn crumble, sponge cake, and green tangerine cream sauce. The final dessert was packed with all these delicious elements. The sweetness and nutty flavor of corn was the perfect way to end the course! And for the birthday, they added a birthday message and candle, plus two kinds of bite-sized treats~.~

Who is Usu in Gongdeok best for?

We finished up with tea at the end,, Usu, the Gongdeok hanwoo omakase, was even more satisfying on this second visit. I don't think it's easy to find hanwoo dining of this quality at such a reasonable price.

For birthdays, anniversaries, meeting-the-parents dinners, or any occasion needing a meal — or even lunch, which starts from ₩39,000 and is quite affordable — I think it's absolutely worth experiencing at least once!