Gwanghwamun weekend date: whole chicken karaage and omurice at Hurato

Where is Hurato Sikdang Gyeongbokgung Main Branch near Gwanghwamun Station?

Hurato Sikdang Gyeongbokgung Main Branch is in the basement of the Royal Building, right as you come out of Gwanghwamun Station Exit 1. My boyfriend and I hadn't had a Gwanghwamun date in a while, and while wondering where to eat, we found this restaurant right in front of the station! There are tons of restaurants on this basement floor, so it's great that there's a good one to visit right here!!

Of all of them, the one we picked was Hurato Sikdang Gyeongbokgung Main Branch. It's called the Gyeongbokgung branch, but it's actually right in front of Gwanghwamun Station, which made the location even better. Eat well, then walk over toward Gyeongbokgung Palace and Seochon.~~

At the entrance there were signs with the signature menu and the story behind why this restaurant started! It all felt very genuine and I liked that!! The signature menu is gyukatsu and Japanese-style omurice! I absolutely love Japanese-style omurice, so knowing I could get that fluffy, soft omurice here... I was already excited ㅠㅠ

Weekend evening at Hurato Sikdang: is it good for a date?

The inside of Hurato Sikdang Gyeongbokgung Main Branch has a cozy, clean atmosphere, so it seemed like a really good place for a date. Maybe because we came on a weekend, it was so crowded that I could only take a photo when a table briefly cleared. Japanese manga posters were plastered here and there, giving off a fantasy of briefly being on a trip to Japan.

Japanese-style omurice: the tomato sauce makes it

For our order, I chose the Japanese-style omurice, and my boyfriend went back and forth between gyukatsu and grilled beef before settling on grilled beef!! Everything came out neatly arranged on a tray as a full set, which looked even better. And it made you feel like you were being treated well too, which was a big plus..!!

Looking at the fluffy, cloud-soft omurice (omelette rice) first, it came with a cabbage salad side dish that was great for cleansing the palate, plus pickled radish for when things start feeling greasy. And the real kick here was that a tomato-based sauce came on the side separately!! Eating the omurice plain at first, then adding the tomato sauce, let me enjoy a whole different flavor.

Cutting open the omurice reveals the egg inside, and this egg was so soft that I really enjoyed eating it. ㅠㅠ It tasted like even people who don't like eggs could enjoy it, with absolutely no eggy smell at all.

With the soft omurice, I just scooped it up and ate it plain at first, and the plain, mild flavor was exactly my style.~~~!! Eating it plain like that might taste bland to a lot of people, but that's why the tomato sauce is there — mix it in and you get a more savory, refreshing flavor. Totally recommend this dish to anyone who loves this kind of soft egg!!

Beef you grill yourself on a mini tabletop brazier

Hurato Sikdang's grilled beef comes out cooked rare, and you finish grilling it to your own taste on the brazier at the table. Since I've been into medium-rare lately, I grilled it just a little more~~

They set you up with this cute little brazier, and you just put the meat on and grill it yourself — grilling it piece by piece like this was so fun and made it taste even better!! The power of the mini brazier~~ It grilled up better than expected, which surprised me.

Looking at the meat once it's grilled, the color is really nice. The meat was good quality, very tender with zero chewiness, so it was even more enjoyable to eat.

It's tasty plain, but even better dipped in the sauce that comes with it. It seemed like a very mild soy-based sauce, and it paired really well with the meat — I recommend this combination.

Karaage at Hurato Sikdang tastes like a whole fried chicken

The karaage (Japanese fried chicken) we ordered as a side wasn't your regular karaage — it felt more like the kind of whole chicken karaage you can only get at Hurato Sikdang. Hearing that it comes out with egg and chicken together, I ordered it with high expectations, and the look of it was so appetizing that I was completely satisfied.

Poking around inside, you find the chicken tucked in there, and it was so tender and crispy — total recommend!! Especially when you put the chicken on top of the omurice we ordered together, it's the icing on the cake and genuinely delicious, so please definitely order this combination and try it ㅠㅠ

Free mini karaage for writing a Naver review

At Hurato Sikdang Gyeongbokgung Main Branch, I wrote a Naver review and got this mini karaage as a free perk, and the quality of this freebie seemed pretty good, so if you're up for it, I'd recommend writing a receipt review. Another delicious meal, done!!