Seoul Station shabu-shabu for five with beef yukjeon: Yunseul

Picking a restaurant for a date near Seoul Station is oddly tricky. Not too casual, but not too formal either — somewhere with decent atmosphere. And it's even better if the food is actually good.

This time I went to Yunseul, a shabu-shabu spot near Seoul Station. It's not far from Exit 4 so it was easy to find, and honestly the building itself caught my eye first — it's quite pretty. Once inside, the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Seoul Station area sealed the deal for me.

Yunseul location, hours and parking near Seoul Station

• Location: 1F Grand Central, 14 Sejong-daero, Jung-gu, Seoul
• Hours: 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Last order: 13:45, 19:45

🚗 Parking info — Parking is available inside the building, super convenient! And if you're taking public transit, it's right in front of Exit 4, so access is great.

Outside Yunseul, a date restaurant by Seoul Station

From the outside it felt more like an upscale restaurant than your typical shabu-shabu place. I think one of Yunseul's charms is that if you visit in the evening, you get the night view around Seoul Station too.

Inside Yunseul at Seoul Station Exit 4: seating and atmosphere

The interior also has full window walls, so it felt open, and the Seoul Station view outside meant I never felt boxed in while eating. The seats were separated by partitions — not fully private, but the tables felt spaced apart enough, which I liked.

Thanks to that, the overall mood was calm rather than noisy and busy. So while I think it works fine as a date spot near Seoul Station, I actually felt it would suit small gatherings with friends or group meals even better.

What comes with the Yunseul set, and our order for five

We came as a group of 5 and ordered 5 servings of the Yunseul set. It's about ₩24,000 per person and comes with shabu-shabu, beef, assorted mushrooms and vegetables, knife-cut noodles, spicy tendon salad, dessert, and side dishes. We picked broths based on preference — 2 people went with clear anchovy broth and 3 with spicy mushroom broth.

Clear anchovy broth vs spicy mushroom broth: how they differ

The clear anchovy broth was clean and light, closer to the shabu-shabu flavor we're all familiar with. The spicy mushroom broth was clearer than I expected but had a subtle heat to it. It wasn't intensely spicy, but it had that addictive kick that kept pulling us back in.

Prime pork neck and prime chuck flap at Yunseul

We tried two kinds of meat!

• Prime pork neck
• Prime chuck flap (+₩3,000)

There were so many ingredients — bean sprouts, oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, brown beech mushrooms, zucchini, minari (water dropwort), sweet pumpkin, napa cabbage — so the vegetables had a great variety of textures too!

There were also several sauces ready to go — chili sauce, peanut sauce, soy sesame sauce — so we could dip the meat and other ingredients according to taste.

The spicy tendon comes standard with the set! It's chewy and spicy, great texture!

Adding beef yukjeon (pan-fried beef)

We added beef yukjeon (pan-fried beef) to the Yunseul set — thin pan-fried beef topped with seasoned minari, both savory and fragrant. It went really well alongside the shabu-shabu.

Chewy knife-cut noodles, induction burners and one pair of tongs each

You can't skip the noodles when eating shabu-shabu!! We put knife-cut noodles into the broth and they were chewier than I expected — really good.

Personally, I liked that it was an induction burner, so adjusting the heat was easy. Plus, they gave each of us our own tongs, which made it hygienic to eat together as a group. By the time we finished the noodles we were pretty full, but we were curious about the desserts so we ordered a few to share.

Four desserts at Yunseul: gondre juk was the best

For dessert we ordered bulgogi kimchi fried rice, braised quail egg rice (+₩2,000), low-sodium pollock roe cucumber rice (+₩3,000), and gondre juk (wild greens porridge)! Of all of them, gondre juk was the most memorable.

I made mine with the clear broth, and rather than the usual thick, heavy porridge texture, it was mild and light. It felt almost like eating a scorched-rice version of gondre, so it was easy to eat without feeling heavy. The subtle nutty flavor unique to gondre came through gently too, and I genuinely enjoyed it.

Why Yunseul works for a date or a group meal near Seoul Station

Yunseul felt less like a place you just go to eat shabu-shabu and more like a Seoul Station shabu-shabu restaurant where you enjoy the atmosphere along with the food. Being able to see the Seoul Station area through the window walls makes it perfect for a date! Visiting in the evening for shabu-shabu with the night view sounds pretty great too.

If you're looking for a good-atmosphere restaurant near Seoul Station, or want something a bit different from the usual date spot, I recommend Yunseul. It suits dates, of course, but also works great for get-togethers and meals with friends — I'll definitely be going back to this Seoul Station shabu-shabu restaurant!