Sejong Univ. bar for watching baseball: mungtigi set, Yukhoe Gongjakso

Text and photos © Paulpeu · All photos are unedited

Where is Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch, and what are its hours?

Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch (육회공작소 세종대본점) is at 50 Gunja-ro, 1st floor, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, and it's open every day from 17:00 to 6:00 a.m. For parking, you can use the paid lot at Dongdo Centreville (₩3,000 per hour) or the free park parking lot near Hwayang Police Station.

My friend and I were craving mungtigi (Gyeongsang-style chunks of raw beef) and yukhoe, so I searched for a good yukhoe place near Konkuk Univ. and went to Yukhoe Gongjakso! It's close to Sejong University too, so it's known as a Sejong Univ. favorite as well. It's a 3-minute walk from Exit 4 of Children's Grand Park Station, so it's easy to get to!

They say the beef yakiniku (Japanese-style grilled beef) at this yukhoe and yakiniku specialist in front of Sejong Univ. uses top-grade American Black Angus! With meat, quality is everything, and that line made me trust the place, so we walked right in!

What's on the menu at Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch?

Since it's a bar that stays open until late at night, it sells plenty of dishes besides yukhoe for its customers. There are also budget-friendly menus for Konkuk and Sejong students, so it's a good place to come for a drink.

What's unusual about this Sejong Univ. favorite is that the menu is so well put together that I saw a table of someone eating alone that day! There are lots of meal dishes too, so even people who haven't eaten can have a hearty drink here.

Complimentary side: beef egg soup, refills available

This is the beef egg soup that came as the free side, and the savory flavor was good! Refills are available. I liked that you can have it like a soup.

What comes in the ₩35,000 mungtigi sashimi set?

From the set menus at Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch, we ordered the mungtigi sashimi set (뭉티기육사시미술상). For ₩35,000 you get mungtigi + 5 skewers + top blade beef, which I think is a seriously generous, great-value menu.

I was so excited about the beef yakiniku. True to a Konkuk beef yakiniku favorite, a proper grill came out, along with seasoned meat.

From the left: mungtigi, the 5 skewers and the yakiniku. See how good the color is? I hadn't planned on drinking, but the moment I saw the yakiniku, I ordered drinks right away.

It was fun grilling the meat while chatting with my friend! The heat was just right, and there's a hood, so no yakiniku smell got on my clothes at all and I could just enjoy the meat.

Beef ramen and beef rice balls for the meal

After finishing the yakiniku I wanted carbs, so I ordered the Yukhoe Gongjakso beef ramen! I thought there would be only a little beef in it, but there were several big pieces.

On top of that, the noodles were springy and the broth had insane savory depth, so it completely reset my palate after all that meat had started to feel a bit heavy.

It was a day when I truly ate beef to my heart's content, so I ordered the beef rice balls too. These rice balls, covered in seaweed flakes and packed with beef, are about 1.5 bowls of rice each, I'd guess, and each fist-sized ball is carefully made one at a time.

Drinking while watching baseball: is it good for a date?

That day we watched the Doosan vs. Kia baseball game at Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch while enjoying mungtigi. Lots of people come here for dates too. I saw a really lovely couple and was so jealous, haha. It's a quiet bar near Konkuk Univ. with a nice date-night mood, so I guess lots of couples come.

Palate cleanser dessert: ice pineapple

Since we'd gone all in on meat, this time I ordered a sweet and sour pineapple as a kind of dessert. The pineapple comes on top of shaved ice, so it was great for cleansing the palate. True to its name, ice pineapple, it was slightly frosty, and at first it gave me brain freeze!

Yukhoe for ₩9,900: how does it taste?

Even after all this we still felt something was missing, so we finally ordered the yukhoe at Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch! This yukhoe costs only ₩9,900. Doesn't that make it a true budget yukhoe bar near Konkuk Univ.? I popped the egg yolk and dug in.

It must be the house special seasoning, because the savory depth was no joke, and even though I was full, it was the kind of taste that kept going down! They also have a yukhoe bibimbap (mixed rice) on the menu, and I bet it would be amazing with this delicious seasoned yukhoe!

Seating at Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch: is it OK for group dinners?

As a late-night bar near Konkuk Univ., Yukhoe Gongjakso Sejong University branch has group tables and also bar seats that are great for dates. It has a strong izakaya (Japanese-style pub) feel and the lighting looks lovely, so it's good for dates, and with the group tables it seems great for group dinners near Konkuk and Sejong Univ. I actually saw a group dinner there that day, and I was surprised that it wasn't noisy, maybe because the place is big.