Seoul Station gyukatsu restaurant, 42,000-won Set 3 steki-don: Ichigyu

I went to Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch for a weekday lunch — it's known as both an office workers' lunch spot and a date restaurant for gyukatsu (breaded beef cutlet).

Where is Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch? Basement level 1 of the LG Building

Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch is located in the basement of the LG Building, right in front of Seoul Station!

I visited during weekday lunch hours, and sure enough, tons of office workers were crowding in for a meal.

There are already plenty of restaurants and cafeterias in the basement of this building. Worth noting for anyone looking for the location.

Weekday lunch wait at Ichigyu and its many solo diners

Prices have gone up so much these days that I hoped there'd be no wait, but sure enough — it was already packed...

This seems to already be a well-known spot. There were tons of people eating solo.

You know what they say — if solo diners are willing to come, it's a genuinely great restaurant!

Just a heads-up: you can book through Catch Table. I arrived fairly early and was still surprised there was a line ahead of me!

The place has both 2-person and 4-person tables. It was striking that every table has its own brazier.

Fitting for a gyukatsu restaurant started by a butcher's son, there were massive hunks of meat hanging up. Is that the real deal...?

Ichigyu menu and the 7–8 second grilling guide

The menu is pretty simple. Besides the gyukatsu and steki set meals, there's also hamburg steak, omurice, curry, and more.

I figured there had to be a specific way to eat this. The meat comes medium-rare, so you grill it to your liking. The restaurant's recommendation is 7–8 seconds!

What comes in Set 3 at 42,000 won: sirloin gyukatsu, steki-don and 2 drinks

• Set 3 - ₩42,000
• Sirloin gyukatsu
• Sirloin steki-don
• 2 drinks

We ordered Set 3.

This is the kind of dish you grill on a hot plate. Once the staff lit the brazier, that's when it starts — they light it early since the plate needs time to heat up.

Finally, the food arrived! Absolutely gorgeous. There's no way this could taste bad, and grilling it fresh at the table makes it even better.

I thought the steki-don was just eaten as-is, but turns out you grill this one too.

Even better, honestly — looks so good, right?

It looked almost edible as-is, but there seemed to be some still-underdone parts, so onto the hot plate it all went.

The gyukatsu also looked amazing with that pink center.

This is exactly why they say to grill it for just 7 seconds. My guess is they cook it to just barely under-done and serve it that way, right before it's ready.

Grilling the gyukatsu over Isigny butter in 3 portions

One thing that stood out was the Isigny butter they give you to grill with! The flavor is genuinely great — I always use it for baking, but I never expected to run into it here too...!

They recommend dividing the cutlet into 3 portions to grill and eat. I followed the instructions as told (though looking back now, it looks more like 4 pieces).

That color is gorgeous. Crispy fried coating on the outside, pink beef inside — whoever came up with gyukatsu is a genius.

It disappeared so fast that I immediately grilled all 4 pieces. I thought meat inside breading might be a bit dry, but it was really soft and juicy.

The gyukatsu especially has that crispy-outside, moist-inside thing going, and grilling it once more with butter on the hot plate obviously makes it even crispier and warmer.

Sauce combinations at Ichigyu: wasabi, steak sauce, salt and egg yolk

Of course, wasabi is a must.

This sweet steak sauce also went really well with the wasabi.

Once I'm in front of the hot plate, I lose all sense of time — I only noticed there was egg there and added it a bit late.

The tender meat, sweet-savory sauce, and rich egg yolk went together so well. If you come to Ichigyu, this combo is a must-try.

Personally, I also loved just dipping it in plain salt. The juicy meat and crispy coating paired cleanly with the salty flavor — a combo I kept coming back to.

Who should eat at Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch?

Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch delivered on flavor and had fun grilling on top of that. Personally, I don't think it needs any more recommending as an office workers' lunch spot — word is already out. If you're nearby or work in the area, definitely make time to check it out.