Braised galbi-jjim for two on a weekend lunch: Useum Pangyo Branch

My husband had been singing about galbi-jjim (braised short ribs) for three weeks straight, so this weekend we finally went to Useum, a well-known spot near Pangyo Station, to eat it!

5-minute walk from Pangyo Station Exit 2

It's about a 5-minute walk from Exit 2 of Pangyo Station. If you work in Pangyo, you've probably passed it on your commute at some point!

The mains seem to be eobokjaengban (a mixed hot pot platter), doganitang suyuk (ox knee cartilage boiled meat), and hanwoo suyuk (Korean beef boiled meat). There's also a separate room space inside, so it seemed like a good spot for a work dinner too. We came around 2pm, a bit past the weekend lunch rush, and it looked like the crowd had already come and gone.

Wood-tone interior and a weekend day-drinking mood

Walking in, I really liked the tidy wood-tone interior and the spacious table layout. Since it was the weekend, guests kept trickling in even after us. Given the menu, a lot of people were day-drinking, and honestly I was so, so jealous ^0^ A leisurely weekend day-drink kind of life... I want that so bad.

What we ordered and the price

The menu

We ordered the galbi-jjim for 56,000 won and 2 bowls of rice for 2,000 won! We thought about adding extra glass noodles, but were told it comes with a standard portion included, so we skipped it — but the noodles that had soaked up all that delicious galbi-jjim broth were so good that I'd actually recommend adding more!

There were plenty of other meal and drinking-food menu items too — next time I want to try the doganitang suyuk.

Standard side dishes

The side dishes that came standard with the order. Every single one of them was mildly seasoned and neat, to the point where I felt like I could finish a whole bowl of rice on the side dishes alone.

Galbi-jjim, just the right amount for two

The galbi-jjim we ordered arrived~~ It was exactly the right amount for two people! The meat was so tender that even young kids could eat it easily.

The sauce wasn't too sweet or too salty, it was delicious, so I mixed some of the broth into my rice too. Besides the meat, the other ingredients cooked in with it — glass noodles, rice cakes, sweet pumpkin, mushrooms and more — were all tasty. Next time I'm definitely adding extra glass noodles.

Meat that pulls apart with just chopsticks

My husband cut the meat into pieces for us, but honestly it was tender enough that you didn't even need scissors — just a light touch with chopsticks and it fell apart. It must have been slow-cooked with a lot of care, because the way the meat pulled apart along the grain was genuinely touching haha. Every bite came with savory juices and a sauce packed with umami that wrapped smoothly around your whole mouth — truly excellent!

Peeking at the next table, their dish had a milky, rich broth loaded with doganitang (ox knee cartilage), and just looking at it made me feel full. There was a good variety of soup dishes on the menu too, so it seems like a great option for a solo lunch or a simple weekday meal.

Glass noodles, rice cakes, sweet pumpkin, mushrooms

The mild sweetness of the pumpkin and the fragrance of the mushrooms went incredibly well with the savory sauce base. The chewy rice cake pieces were also a nice treat, and each ingredient had the sauce soaked deep inside rather than just sitting on the surface, which made picking through them really fun.

A piece of meat on warm rice. Galbi-jjim can get a bit heavy and rich if you keep eating it on its own, but thanks to the side dishes served alongside it, we could eat it all without ever feeling greasy.

Even just wrapping rice in the seaweed was delicious on its own

Parking, cook time, and the call-ahead tip

We ate every last bite. Parking was free for 1 hour, but the galbi-jjim took about 20 minutes to come out, so the meal ran past 1 hour and we ended up paying extra parking fees. If you're visiting with galbi-jjim in mind, it might be worth calling ahead to order in advance! Those 20 minutes felt surprisingly long ㅠ0ㅠ

Who should visit Useum near Pangyo Station

This is a great spot to enjoy neatly prepared dishes with a drink in that particularly relaxed weekend-daytime atmosphere. The lighting inside was soft and it wasn't too noisy, making it ideal for a calm conversation over a meal. If you're near Pangyo and want to enjoy a table full of tender, carefully made galbi-jjim, I'd strongly recommend giving Useum a visit!!