Samsan, Ulsan gyukatsu restaurant: half-and-half set with curry, Izawa

Where is Izawa The Terrace Garden branch in Samsan, Ulsan?

Izawa Ulsan The Terrace Garden branch is a gyukatsu place on the 2nd floor of The Terrace Garden in Ulsan. Since it's on the 2nd floor, there were signs posted everywhere pointing the way, so it was easy to find. Today I came with my civil-servant friend from Ulsan for a Samsan, Ulsan restaurant after work. Thanks to a bit of Monday blues, we decided to treat ourselves and picked gyukatsu. Good gyukatsu is rare and precious in Ulsan, haha.

Hours are 11am to 9pm, and last order is at 8:25pm, just so you know! It was already dinnertime so there were quite a few customers already. Almost every table was full.

There was even a photo zone out front that felt very Japan. I figured it doubled as a waiting area.

Gyukatsu set and steki set, split half and half for two

Izawa's menu is full of amazing options so it was hard to choose. I wanted everything. A Monday-evening office worker's stomach is basically a wild beast, growling.

Since my friend and I are girls with modest appetites (haha), we ordered one gyukatsu set and one steki set nicely between us. That we later added a side curry too is definitely not a secret, haha.

There are plenty of good restaurants in Nam-gu, Ulsan, but there's a special fun to sizzling meat over your own brazier. Chatting away in front of the fire is fun too. The water wasn't just poured from a dispenser but given as a bottle per table, which felt hygienic, and it added to the overall clean impression of the place — made me even more curious about the taste!!

Wow, the meat had this gorgeous marbling and was really tender. The cabbage salad was also super tasty. Seasoning was on point, cabbage was fresh and crunchy — healthy ^_^ If a health checkup ever finds gastritis, eat the cabbage first, haha. Ordering was easy — just scan the QR code with Kakao Order on the table. So simple and convenient.

Is the 3,000 won side curry worth adding?

Two curry lovers, we ended up hypnotically ordering a side curry and mixing it thoroughly into our rice. Happiness for 3,000 won, hahahaha.

I also liked that the wasabi wasn't just a random cheap tube but actually good wasabi. Props for that detail. By the way, can you see how gorgeous the color of the steki is? So marbled and incredibly tender.

My friend's order was the gyukatsu. But since we split everything nicely, we ended up with a full spread of both. Guess I'll have to try the cold soba noodles next time too. Us modest-appetite girls just keep getting stronger. Anyway fin al ly sizzling on the brazier

Grilling the beef yourself at the table: is it smoky?

For the Izawa steki, you put a solid fuel cube into the tableside brazier and grill it yourself, and there was no smoke so my face didn't get hot at all. The staff kept swapping out the fuel cube so we could enjoy it comfortably until we finished all the meat!! It's been a while since I've had steak cooked over a brazier like this, beef feels. A different kind of charm from yakiniku. It's actually a product I've been eyeing on Coupang to try solo grilling with — I should just buy one next time. Though eating it here is easiest and tastiest, haha.

Grilling it little by little at my own pace was so much fun, no smoke at all — and with no smoke, my face didn't get hot either — I loved being able to enjoy the meat so cleanly. We were talking about work dinners and both agreed we hate greasy Korean BBQ work dinners, but I feel like I'd actually go here. Grilling as much as I want, smoke-free, is genuinely fun.

Can you hear the 'aww' sound? I really want one of these for solo grilling at home. That marbling. What even are you.

I made sure to evenly cook all six sides. While cooking, my friend and I chatted, about random dopamine-hit topics, work worries and everything else — the meat cooked fast and so did the conversation, which was nice.

But since the meat matters too, we plopped some wasabi on the other side and grilled that too.

The two dipping sauces at Izawa

The portion was surprisingly generous, so we got pretty full. Dipping it into the sauce that comes alongside and grilling gave yet another flavor. One was a savory soy-based sauce. The other was a sweet-tangy yuzu-based sauce. Savory, tangy-sweet, and the nose-tingle of wasabi — nice to get to taste all these different flavors.

Gyukatsu vs steki: how do they taste different?

Ordering one gyukatsu and one steki each was a great call. The steki has a slightly softer texture, while the gyukatsu has that toasty flavor from the breading on top, giving it a slightly nuttier taste. While the meat was cooking, I'd take bites of the curry mixed into rice, and there was also kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi) to cleanse the palate between bites — great combo.

Us two curry-loving girls totally demolished it..;-)

Parking at The Terrace Garden and paying with Ulsan Pay

It was tasty enough to lick the plate clean — Izawa at Ulsan's The Terrace Garden was that good. Parking support is available too, so no need to worry if you drive over!! Ulsan Pay is accepted for payment too, so you can be a savvy, budget-smart consumer while you're at it >_<