Weekend beef BBQ lunch sets in Seolleung, Seoul: 3 cuts at Hwaseol

If you're hunting for a spot near Seolleung Station for a work dinner or a weekend family meal, I think I found the right one. Hwaseol Seolleung Direct Branch (화설 선릉직영점) serves its lunch special even on weekends, and I was happy with both the meat quality and the value. Here we go with my Seolleung Station restaurant review 👍🏻

How do you book a table at Hwaseol Seolleung Direct Branch?

You can reserve through Naver Place or Catch Table, and you can choose between the hall and a private room. Hours are Monday to Sunday 11:30–23:00, with a break time of 15:00–17:00 on weekdays.

Since it was a weekend and I figured it might be busy, I booked with the Catch Table app before going. Luckily it was lunchtime and not crowded, but at peak times I'd definitely reserve to be comfortable.

Getting to Hwaseol from Seolleung Station, and where to park

Come out of Seolleung Station Exit 2 and go straight, pass the Banapresso shop and turn left right after, then head into the food alley and keep going straight. Keep walking toward Samseong Station, and once you pass Yangsando and Ten Percent Coffee on your left, you'll see the Hwaseol sign in the photo above.

After walking about 8–10 minutes from Seolleung Station, we arrived! The restaurant is on the ground floor and the sign stands out, so we found it quickly without getting lost. For parking, there is elevator-style parking on basement level 1 behind the building; large vehicles can't park there.

Inside Hwaseol: the camping zone and Grand Canyon rooms

The first thing that caught my eye as soon as we walked in was the camping zone! You don't actually camp there, but it's decorated with a camping concept, so it feels like grilling meat at a campsite.

Right in front of the camping-style space is a neat hall. The tables are lined up in a row, so it looks good for group visits and gatherings.

Hwaseol Seolleung is decorated with a Grand Canyon concept, and the room interiors especially make you feel like you've really come to the Grand Canyon. At the front of the restaurant there was a fridge where you could see the meat aging.

Hwaseol lunch special menu and prices

The lunch specials are the flower cut lunch set (₩35,000), the wagyu sirloin lunch set (₩34,000) and the fresh beef short rib meat lunch set (₩21,000), and you can pick your meal from mul naengmyeon as dessert, doenjang stew or pot rice. Even though we visited on a weekend, the lunch special was available, so we ordered from it.

• Flower cut lunch set ₩35,000
• Wagyu sirloin lunch set ₩34,000
• Fresh beef short rib meat lunch set ₩21,000
• Meal choice: mul naengmyeon as dessert, doenjang stew, or pot rice

Hwaseol Seolleung Direct Branch sells both beef and pork, so you can pick the meat you like. The lunch specials include some simple dishes that office workers can grab at lunch, but these sets include a meal at the price of the single grilled items, so the value is good. If you come at lunchtime, I recommend ordering the lunch special.

If you join the review event, you can get brisket-and-pork-belly ramyeon or hanwoo yukhoe (beef tartare), which I thought was a pretty great freebie.

Hwaseol's free side dishes

Several sauces and shredded onion came out to go with the meat. There were quite a lot of side dishes and they were neatly done. Lettuce salad, marinated crab (yangnyeom gejang), corn salad, seasoned radish, green onion kimchi and assorted pickles: just seeing the table filled so lavishly put me in a good mood.

The flower cut, wagyu sirloin and beef short rib meat we ordered came out beautifully plated. They looked like great quality and delicious at a glance, so I was full of anticipation even before grilling.

What does Hwaseol's signature flower cut taste like?

The flower cut (kkotsal) at Hwaseol Seolleung is the signature item that melts in your mouth, and the owner cut it into bite-size pieces and grilled it to our preferred doneness. The owner recommended eating in the order of flower cut, wagyu sirloin, then rib meat, and put the flower cut on a well-heated grill for us.

To taste the flower cut itself, I ate it dipped in a little salt just before it was fully cooked, golden outside with a trace of pink inside, and it was the kind of taste that makes you nod without thinking.

At Hwaseol, a great Seolleung spot for group dinners, the signature is this flower cut, and it really did melt in my mouth. It's delicious on its own, and it's just as good paired with different ingredients however you like.

Hwaseol wagyu sirloin: thick cuts you grill yourself

The wagyu sirloin at Hwaseol Seolleung is thick with gorgeous marbling, and it was soft as butter. Thanks to that marbling, it makes your mouth water even before grilling, this wagyu sirloin from the Seolleung Station beef BBQ spot, Hwaseol!

From the wagyu sirloin on, we grilled it ourselves at our own pace. The moment I flipped the meat, the clear grill marks in a grid pattern looked so appetizing. The sirloin is quite thick, so after browning both sides I turned it to cook the edges too, and the steak-like look was so pretty.

I cut it into bite-size pieces and took a bite. It was thick and filled my mouth, which I loved, and thanks to the marbling it tasted soft like butter.

How good is Hwaseol's 21,000 won short rib lunch set?

The fresh beef short rib meat at Hwaseol Seolleung is the cheapest of the lunch sets at ₩21,000, and its charm was a much chewier texture than the flower cut and wagyu sirloin. I grilled the short rib meat last, and it looks gorgeous too!

The short rib meat is cooking appetizingly over strong charcoal heat.

Unlike the flower cut and wagyu sirloin we had before, the short rib meat's appeal was its much chewier bite.

The 3 lunch set meal options: doenjang stew, mul naengmyeon, pot rice

Doenjang stew

Because we ordered all 3 lunch specials at Hwaseol Seolleung, we got to try all 3 meal options: doenjang stew (soybean paste stew), mul naengmyeon and pot rice. The doenjang stew came out first! It was bubbling in a bigger earthenware pot than I expected, packed with tofu, mushrooms, onion, zucchini and more.

Unlike the usual savory doenjang stew, there was a spicy kick behind the doenjang flavor. It wiped out the greasy feeling after eating meat!

Mul naengmyeon for dessert

Mul naengmyeon (cold noodles in broth) is something you'd miss when grilling meat! Cool broth with slushy ice floating in it~

I remember the pleasantly springy noodles. The broth was also deeply savory and rich.

Even though it's a dessert naengmyeon, the portion was large, so the two of us could share it and get full.

Pot rice and scorched rice tea (nurungji sungnyung)

The pot rice you can choose as a lunch special meal! The moment the lid came off, white steam rose up~ and the savory smell of freshly cooked rice was amazing! After scooping out the rice, they poured in warm water to turn it into nurungji sungnyung (scorched rice tea).

The scooped-out rice went well with the doenjang stew. Finishing with the savory sungnyung made it feel like a healthy, gentle-on-the-stomach meal.

Hwaseol weekend lunch special: final verdict

At Hwaseol Seolleung Direct Branch, a great Seolleung Station restaurant, we got to try different cuts including flower cut, wagyu sirloin and rib meat, and I was satisfied with the high meat quality. Especially thanks to the lunch special you can order even on weekends, we could enjoy the meal dishes without adding them separately, which made it a great meal.