Japanese restaurant at Seoul Station with two toddlers: Ichigyu curry

Last weekend we rode the Seoul City Tour yellow bus with our 41-month-old and 20-month-old and had a blast sightseeing around Seoul. After all that fresh air, everyone got hungry, so we went looking for somewhere to eat near Seoul Station and ended up at Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch, a gyukatsu (Japanese fried beef cutlet) specialist that's hot again these days.

• 📍98 Huam-ro, B1 B116, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ✔️11:00-21:30

Ichigyu on B1 at Seoul Station: 4 groups waiting on a weekend

Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch is underground, so I went down thinking, would people really come all the way down here on a weekend? Surely there's no wait? But there were actually 4 teams waiting. Guess everyone already knows about the good places, haha. Still, since we'd made it this far, we decided to brave the wait — luckily the turnover was fast, so we got in sooner than expected.

No baby chairs at Ichigyu: how seating worked with two toddlers

Inside Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch, there seemed to be a lot of 2-person tables, probably because of all the travelers and office workers eating solo. The interior is a bit cramped! Unfortunately, no baby chair was available. I was a little flustered at first, but figured we'd make do — sat my younger one in a regular adult chair to feed her. Luckily she was hungry and the food was so good that she didn't fuss and just kept taking bites, so we ended up eating pretty comfortably. The cozy, quaint Japanese-restaurant vibe made everything taste even better.

They're currently running a pre-review receipt event and a grilled cheese / thin mochi event, so definitely take part and grab the extras!!

It had been a while since my last visit and since you grill it yourself, I'd totally forgotten how to eat it properly, but there was a detailed guide on how to enjoy it best.

Ichigyu gyukatsu: 7-8 seconds on the mini cast-iron grill

Gyukatsu had a huge boom once, then quieted down a bit, and now it's trending again! Trends really do go in circles... So I ordered it to relive that half-forgotten, nostalgic flavor.

They drizzle fragrant butter onto the mini iron plate at each table, then gently lay the vivid pink gyukatsu on top to grill. Just watching it sizzle away on the plate is enough to make you go wow!! I grilled it for about 7-8 seconds to medium-well and took a bite — the outside was crispy, and the inside burst with juice, melting away in my mouth.

With a bit of wasabi on top, dipped in the special sauce, any heaviness disappeared, leaving just savory richness! It tasted so much more refined and delicious than what I remembered eating before — nostalgic and genuinely moving. I thought I'd be scrambling nonstop grilling meat for the kids, but grilling it was actually fun and easy to eat, so I was very satisfied.

The Japanese curry and hamburg omurice the kids finished in silence

The Japanese-style curry and hamburg omurice we ordered for the kids exceeded expectations too. My son and daughter devoured the Japanese curry especially — the rich, deep curry roux came topped with crispy garlic chips and a fried egg, and it must have really hit the spot for them. They were too busy eating to say a word.

The shrimp tempura on top of the curry wasn't just thick batter — it was packed with plump shrimp, giving it that satisfying springy bite with every chew.

Is Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch worth a meal with kids?

Even though the restaurant is small and busy with customers, making the interior a bit chaotic, the staff were incredibly kind from start to finish, which kept me in a great mood the whole meal. I'd recommend Ichigyu Seoul Station Branch to anyone looking for a good meal with kids near Seoul Station, or for that crisp-outside-tender-inside gyukatsu as part of a Seoul Station date course.

No baby chair, but a place that completely won over a toddler's taste buds — an atmospheric Japanese restaurant near Seoul Station