Sinnonhyeon Japanese restaurant lunch set with ramune cider: Ichigyu

An unhurried lunch meetup in Sinnonhyeon

While looking for a lunch spot in Sinnonhyeon, I ended up at Ichigyu Gangnam Sinnonhyeon Branch, where you can have both gyukatsu (breaded beef cutlet) and steki-don (steak rice bowl) at once.

I visited on a weekday around 2pm, just after the lunch peak, so I could eat pretty comfortably.

Rather than just eating gyukatsu alone, I wanted to split different menus, so I ordered Set 3 along with a couple of side dishes.

How to find Ichigyu from Sinnonhyeon Station

Ichigyu Gangnam Sinnonhyeon Branch is in an easy-to-find spot on foot from Sinnonhyeon Station, which made it a good choice for a lunch meetup.

The restaurant is on the 2nd floor of the building, and it's close to Gangnam Station too, so it wasn't hard to find.

It's also a good spot for grabbing lunch around Sinnonhyeon and then moving on to a café or other plans. There's a dedicated elevator for the restaurant, so I took that up to the 2nd floor.

What the interior of Ichigyu feels like

Inside, it had a tidy Japanese restaurant vibe centered on wood tones.

There were tables good for two people, making it a nice place for lunch with a friend or even a date.

This Sinnonhyeon restaurant, Ichigyu Gangnam Sinnonhyeon Branch, uses a tabletop brazier at each table so you grill the gyukatsu yourself — more unique and fun to eat than just having an ordinary meal.

I personally like this style of cooking meat on an individual brazier since you can control the doneness yourself — it's my preferred way to eat.

What comes in Set 3 at Ichigyu

What I ordered that day was Set 3, choosing one sirloin gyukatsu and one sirloin steki-don.

For drinks I picked cola and ramune cider, and also added karaage and shrimp tempura.

Choosing gyukatsu and a rice bowl together like Set 3 lets you split two menus, which is great when you can't decide on just one lunch dish. It's also better value than ordering each item separately.

Sirloin gyukatsu grilled in butter

The gyukatsu comes out with a thin breaded coating and red sirloin visible inside, so you grill it to your preferred doneness on the brazier.

Grilling each piece lightly on both sides kept the outside crisp while enjoying a tender texture inside.

Alternating between the accompanying sauce and wasabi kept the flavor from getting monotonous over the whole plate.

In particular, since you melt butter first and then grill the gyukatsu, the buttery aroma seems to make the flavor much softer and better overall.

Sirloin steki-don (steak rice bowl)

The steki-don had plenty of sirloin piled on top of the rice, giving a different feel from the gyukatsu.

While eating the meat with the rice, you can grill the sirloin once more on the brazier to adjust the doneness however you like.

Garlic flakes and wasabi went well with it too, and alternating with the gyukatsu made the characteristics of each dish stand out more.

Since it's a different style from the gyukatsu, I'd recommend ordering both together.

Karaage and shrimp tempura for 7,000 won

I also ordered karaage and shrimp tempura as sides. They cost ₩7,000 and were nice for pairing crispy fried food between bites of meat.

It was nice that karaage and shrimp tempura came together so you didn't have to pick just one, and having a main plus a side while eating with two people made for a filling lunch.

Since I love fried food and it's cooked to order right when you order it, it's one of the menu items I never skip. Crispy, and it paired well with the gyukatsu.

Cola and ramune cider to drink

For drinks I chose cola and ramune cider. Having one familiar cola and one ramune cider, which suits Japanese-style food well, let me enjoy two different flavors.

The way you open the ramune cider is unique — there's a small tool included that you place over the marble at the top of the bottle and push down firmly to open it.

It was tricky to open at first, but once you know the trick it's easy. And having cold carbonation between savory dishes like gyukatsu and fried food was nice for resetting the palate throughout the meal.

Hours, break time and parking

• Name: Ichigyu Gangnam Sinnonhyeon Branch
• Address: 19 Bongeunsa-ro 4-gil, 2nd floor, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: 11:00–21:30
• Last order: 20:30
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Parking: No on-site parking; use nearby paid parking lots

Is Ichigyu Sinnonhyeon worth it for lunch?

At Ichigyu Gangnam Sinnonhyeon Branch, I got to enjoy gyukatsu and steki-don at a relaxed pace, splitting them between two of us. Grilling the sirloin gyukatsu myself on one side and enjoying the steki-don with rice on the other gave a wide range of choices. If you like meat dishes and are looking for a lunch spot with a friend or a date restaurant in Sinnonhyeon, this is definitely worth a visit. ^^