Seongsu beef cutlet restaurant with egg-yolk steak bowl: Gyuen Dang

Every time I go to Seongsu-dong there are so many good restaurants that I always end up agonizing over what to eat. This time I was craving gyukatsu again, so I went to Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch, a Seongsu gyukatsu restaurant! It's not just gyukatsu — they also have rice bowls, omurice, and more.

Where is Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch, and do you need a reservation?

Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch is on the 2nd floor of 10 Yeonmujang 7ga-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul. It's a decent walk from Seongsu Station, so it's a good stop for a meal while out exploring or shopping in Seongsu!

You'll find the restaurant down an alley, and since it's on the 2nd floor, keep an eye out so you don't walk past it. Gyuen Dang can get a wait, so during busy hours it seems more convenient to make a reservation in advance.

Inside Gyuen Dang: a clean, Japanese-style dining room

Stepping inside, the whole place has the vibe of a Japanese gyukatsu shop. Rather than flashy or busy, it's a clean and charming Japanese-style interior!

Every table has a mini brazier ready to go, which got me excited about grilling gyukatsu even before the food arrived haha. The restaurant isn't huge, but the tables weren't cramped, and there were seats that felt comfortable even for solo diners!! It looked fine for eating alone, and the atmosphere also suited going as a couple on a date.

What's on the menu, from gyukatsu to rice bowls

Gyuen Dang isn't only about gyukatsu — they have a surprisingly wide range of rice bowls, omurice, curry, udon, and more. So rather than just ordering one gyukatsu, it might be nice to order different dishes each and share!

After some debate, we went with

• Tenderloin gyukatsu
• Steak rice bowl

I picked the tenderloin gyukatsu because I wanted soft meat, and the steak rice bowl looked so good in the photos that I couldn't give either one up haha.

While I was busy staring at the instructions on how to eat gyukatsu and how to eat omurice...

the food came out haha. You could tell right away that the gyukatsu was sliced thick — it looked so good just from the visual.

How to grill tenderloin gyukatsu on the table's mini brazier

The tenderloin gyukatsu comes with rice, miso soup, salad, and you can add wasabi, salt, sauce, and butter, so it's fun to change up the flavor bite by bite. And of course the real appeal of gyukatsu is grilling it yourself on the mini brazier! It was really fun.

It doesn't come fully cooked from the start — you put as much as you want on the brazier and cook it little by little to your taste.

I found it tastiest when I lightly seared both sides rather than cooking it all the way through, so it stayed moist. Being tenderloin, the meat was really soft! No toughness or dryness — it went down smoothly after a few chews.

The breading outside was crispy while the meat inside stayed moist, and I liked feeling both textures together. What was a bit unusual at Gyuen Dang was grilling the gyukatsu with butter! The instructions for how to eat it actually tell you to put butter on the brazier and grill it together with the gyukatsu.

What melting butter in the pan does to the beef cutlet

Once the brazier heated up, I melted a bit of butter and put the gyukatsu on top to grill. Eating it this way brought out a much richer, nuttier flavor than grilling it plain.

As the butter melted and soaked into the meat, it added a savory, salty note to the clean flavor of the tenderloin! I ate a couple of pieces plain first, then with butter, and even though it was the same gyukatsu, the flavor changed just enough to keep it interesting. There wasn't just one sauce either — several accompaniments meant it never got boring.

I tried it plain, dipped in salt, and topped with wasabi! Personally, a little wasabi on gyukatsu really works well. The savoriness of the meat still comes through, and the wasabi cleans up the finish, so it never felt heavy no matter how many pieces I ate.

The steak rice bowl, eaten with the egg yolk broken over it

And then there's Gyuen Dang's steak rice bowl! There were even fried mushrooms on top haha. The steak rice bowl felt like a heartier meal since you eat the rice and meat together.

I highly recommend bursting the egg yolk that comes with it and dipping the meat in — it's genuinely delicious!!! The meat sits right on top of the rice, so eating them together in one bite worked really well. The meat was tender and the sauce was so good!!!

If two of you are going, I'd personally recommend ordering one gyukatsu plus one steak rice bowl to share, rather than two gyukatsu.

Who Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch is best for

Even though both dishes are beef, the textures and ways of eating them are different, so you get to enjoy variety. What I liked about Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch was being able to grill the gyukatsu yourself on the mini brazier so it stays warm down to the last bite! The tenderloin gyukatsu in particular was so soft that even people who aren't into tough meat should find it easy to eat, and grilling it in butter adds a nutty richness that makes it taste different from plain gyukatsu.

The steak rice bowl was filling too since you eat it with rice, so I was glad we ordered both dishes together haha. If you're shopping in Seongsu and want a filling meal, or you're looking for a Seongsu gyukatsu restaurant where you grill it yourself at the table, Gyuen Dang Seongsu Main Branch is worth a visit. Next time I'll have to try the omurice that so many other tables were eating haha.