Izakaya bar seats in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul: wagyu set at Gusa Yeonnam

※ This post was written after receiving partial support for the meal cost through a sponsored campaign.

While looking for somewhere to have dinner in Yeonnam-dong, I went to Gusa Yeonnam, where you can enjoy teppanyaki!

Gusa Yeonnam's location and hours

Gusa Yeonnam is about 300m from Exit 3 of Hongik University Station. Look for the 'Gusa Yeonnam' menu signboard and beige parasol outside the building, then head down to the basement floor where the restaurant is.

• Hours: 12:00–24:00
• Break time: Weekdays 15:00–17:00
• Last order: 23:00

There's a large menu signboard outside the restaurant. It shows photos of everything from a full wagyu platter to yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and nabe, so it's nice to check out what's on offer before going in. The store name on the beige parasol and the green menu board also caught my eye. If it's your first visit, this signboard is a good landmark for finding the entrance!

This is the entrance!!

They use Catch Table for the waiting system, so if there's a wait, it might be worth getting in line ahead of time!

Bar seats in front of the teppan and the basic table setting

We sat at the bar seats at Gusa Yeonnam! You can watch the cooking happening right across the table, so if you love teppanyaki, you'd probably enjoy this kind of seat.

Once seated, a small plate, utensils, and cabbage are already set out. A QR code for ordering is attached to the table too.

Sauce, wasabi, and salt to go with the meat come out separately. It's not just one fixed sauce — you mix and match to your taste!!

The signature wagyu set for two

What we ordered was the signature wagyu set for two. Besides the full wagyu platter, the menu also listed seafood dishes, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and nabe.

You can order individual dishes too, but if there are two of you, it's worth checking out the set menus first. Our food was cooked right on the teppan in front of us. You could watch the whole process, from the ingredients going on and cooking to being gathered up with a wide spatula.

As in the photo, we could see the meat being grilled right in front of us, so we already knew how it was being prepared before it even arrived.

Here's the finished wagyu platter!🤤 It came on a long tray with wagyu, bean sprouts, and shrimp together. A generous pile of bean sprouts sat in the middle, with the meat and shrimp divided on either side. Pickled ginger was served alongside the meat too!

It's not just a plate of wagyu — you get to eat seafood and vegetables together too. It was also arranged in a way that made it easy to portion out onto our small plates one by one.

Okonomiyaki and yakisoba

This is the okonomiyaki we had that day. They gathered the batter into a round shape on the teppan, then flipped it to cook. You could see the flipped side turning golden brown. It looked thin from the finished dish alone, but it was actually pretty thick!

The okonomiyaki comes in a small pan with a handle. Sauce is spread generously over the top, and the pan is placed over a burner on the table. You use the tool that comes with it to cut off as much as you want and move it to your small plate. We placed it between the wagyu platter and the noodle dish and shared it all together.

The okonomiyaki sauce is genuinely a special treat…🥹❤️

Even the egg that goes on the yakisoba was cooked on the teppan. They finished the top with a torch before placing it on the dish. Being able to watch this kind of cooking process up close was what made Gusa Yeonnam feel a bit different from a regular table meal. It definitely felt more like a teppanyaki restaurant than just having finished dishes brought out.

It came out on a separate plate from the wagyu platter, which made it easy for the two of us to share. Between the meat and shrimp, we could also add in some noodles, so it felt like a meal with more variety than sticking to just one dish.

Who should visit Gusa Yeonnam

What stuck with me about Gusa Yeonnam was being able to eat while watching the cooking happen right in front of the teppan. You don't have to grill the meat yourself, and besides meat, you can also choose seafood or noodle dishes.

If you're looking for an izakaya in Hongdae and enjoy teppanyaki, or you're two people in Yeonnam-dong wanting to share several dishes, this could be worth checking out. It's a good idea to double-check the hours and menu lineup before visiting.