Seocho wagyu yakiniku lunch set and yukhoe bibimbap: Utan, Seoul

My sister said her stamina's been crashing lately, so I immediately dragged her out for some meat therapy at Utan, a spot near Isu Station. Because when your body's tired, nothing beats meat, haha. It's a yakiniku restaurant specializing in four top-grade wagyu cuts, each grilled one by one over a personal charcoal brazier. That day we tried the ₩90,000 two-person set featuring everything from nunkkot to anchang. The meat was great, of course, but even the yukhoe bibimbap and broth I added almost as an afterthought turned out to be memorable.

Where Utan is and when it opens

• Address: 8 Seochodae-ro 1-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 1st floor
• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00 – 22:00
• Break time: 15:00 – 17:00
• Closed every Sunday

150m from Isu Station, with wagyu served from lunchtime

Utan is easy to find, only about 150m from Exit 2 of Isu Station. The exterior already felt more like a clean restaurant than a typical Korean BBQ joint.

Inside, there are 4-person tables plus a long bar seat, and the whole place had a cozy vibe, almost café-like.

The overall modern, compact atmosphere made it look like a comfortable place to eat solo too.

We arrived around 11:30am, and not long after, other lunch guests started trickling in one by one.

What's on the menu at Utan

The perilla oil yukhoe bibimbap (raw beef tartare bibimbap) and the arong sattae soup rice are both ₩12,000, and soft tofu doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) is ₩10,000 — solid options for a lunch spot near Isu Station.

Utan specializes in wagyu cuts like nunkkot, nakyeop, neukgan and anchang, and its signature two-person set is 400g of wagyu for ₩90,000. Since our whole point that day was reviving my sister, we ordered the signature set to sample a little of everything.

The set is nunkkot 100g + nakyeop 100g, plus neukgan 100g + anchang 100g — 400g of wagyu total, served with vegetables, pineapple and sausage to grill alongside. I used to love yakiniku on trips to Japan, grilling a piece or two at a time over a personal brazier, so this brought back that excitement.

Inside Utan's 90,000-won two-person wagyu set

First came salt, wasabi and seed mustard to go with the meat, plus neatly arranged white kimchi, baby leaf salad and gungchae. This simple lineup actually suited focusing purely on the great wagyu.

When the meat arrived along with the brazier, the marbling caught my eye right away.

The staff recommended eating in the order nunkkot → nakyeop → neukgan → anchang, so we followed along.

Nunkkot to anchang: how the four wagyu cuts compare

We started by grilling the nunkkot and dipping it lightly in salt.

True to its name, it's a beautifully marbled cut, and the melt-in-your-mouth texture had us going "mmm" from the very first bite.

The nakyeop was relatively lean, easy to eat without feeling greasy,

and the neukgan had a chewy texture that got more appealing the more you chewed.

The last cut, anchang, had rich juices and a deep meaty aroma — the flavor was clearly on another level. Even though it's all wagyu, the texture and flavor differed cut by cut, which made comparing them one by one fun.

Grilling the assorted vegetables that came with it and eating them alongside the meat made for a hearty spread.

We even grilled up the cheese-stuffed sausage until golden brown — a proper feast, haha.

The perilla oil yukhoe bibimbap that won over a raw-beef skeptic

Enjoying the meat so much made us want to add something else, so we ordered the Hanwoo perilla oil yukhoe bibimbap.

My sister actually hesitated at first, saying she can't really eat yukhoe (raw beef tartare). But since the meat here was so good, we figured we'd give it a try — and she ended up eating more than half of it, saying it was delicious, haha.

Unlike the usual red-seasoned yukhoe bibimbap, this version leans on a special soy sauce and perilla oil aroma, giving it a clean yet nutty flavor.

Partway through, we mixed in a bit of gochujang (red chili paste) and also wrapped some in the seaweed that came with it. The more we ate, the more it seemed like this place nails the side dishes as much as the meat.

Utan's refillable broth, as memorable as the beef

There was one more unexpected standout: the broth that came with the yukhoe bibimbap. One sip and my sister and I both finished a whole bowl each in no time, then immediately asked for a refill. On our way out, we finally asked the owner about it.

The meat is amazing, but what on earth do you put in this broth?

He just laughed and said he'd tell us next time we visit. Guess I'll have to come back just to find out the secret, haha.

Is Utan worth it? From the wagyu to the side dishes

I went to Utan under the excuse of reviving my sister, and ended up eating just as well myself. Getting to compare four wagyu cuts bite by bite, plus a yukhoe bibimbap that exceeded expectations, made every single dish satisfying. It's the kind of Korean BBQ spot near Isu Station I'd want to return to on a day I want a relaxed, delicious meal.