Gongdeok, Seoul Korean beef restaurant with a BYO birthday cake: Usu

When you're looking for a place to eat with your parents, for a meeting-the-in-laws lunch, or a family gathering, the food matters, but so does the atmosphere. This time I visited 📍 Usu in Gongdeok, and it was exactly the kind of place that fits those occasions well.

Quiet, upscale atmosphere, a private space, and beautifully plated Korean beef courses — I was really satisfied. We ordered the Dinner B course (₩109,000 per person), and the quality was consistently good from start to finish, making it a great spot for a special occasion 💗

Usu Gongdeok — location, hours, and parking

• Address: 109 Mapo-daero, B2 Unit 201, Lotte Castle President Complex, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–22:00, break time 15:00–17:00
• Parking: Underground parking at the Lotte Castle President complex (3 hours free)

Usu is located in the Lotte Castle President complex right by Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station, and it's well known in Seoul as a restaurant for meeting-the-in-laws (sangyeollye) dinners.

For boknal (the hottest days of summer), Usu also serves a neungi mushroom chicken soup set and a Korean beef tartare bibimbap set, weekday lunch only. It's currently jungbok (the middle of the three boknal days), so it might be a good time to look after your health :)

Why it's popular for meeting-the-in-laws dinners — the rooms and the atmosphere

From the entrance, Usu felt calm and upscale. The whole restaurant was quiet, easy to talk in, and the tables were spaced generously — I could immediately see why it's a popular choice for in-law meetings or dinners with parents. The interior was refined without being flashy, and it made a great first impression!!

And what I liked most was that it's arranged into separate rooms, so you can eat privately!

Usu menu — lunch course, dinner course, and à la carte Korean beef grill

Usu offers à la carte Korean beef grill items, but there are also single dishes to order.

They also have both lunch and dinner courses, and a lot of people seemed to order the courses for anniversaries or in-law meetings! The difference between Dinner B and Dinner C seemed to be whether a seasonal pot rice was included. But since I had Dinner B ,, ? It was more than enough ♥️ (see the photos below)

Naver Reservation birthday event and bringing in a cake

They also had three bite-sized dishes and highballs on the menu. Since I was there to celebrate my mom's birthday, I had signed up for the birthday event through Naver Reservation in advance, and we got to choose sparkling wine or grape juice!

For reference ,,, the sparkling wine here is really good. It has a slight touch of alcohol but isn't harsh at all. A hint of alcohol aroma with a sparkling-water kind of feel.

We picked up my mom's birthday cake, ordered ahead from another shop, and brought it to the restaurant! To take photos and have a little party together 💗

Dinner B course, in order — the Korean beef course we ate at Usu

First, the staff showed us today's ingredients! They present the dishes that will be served during the course in an elegant box beforehand — isn't that such a classy touch?

The phrase 'you taste with your eyes before you even eat' seemed to be exactly what this was about 💗

Beef and chicken jinjuk (rich porridge)

The first dish of the weekday Dinner B course: 📍 beef and chicken jinjuk. It's a porridge made with chicken and Korean beef leg bone, and the garnish served with it was striking too.

The garnish was three kinds of mushroom, asparagus, and nurungji (crispy scorched rice) tossed in cheongyang chili oil — the mushroom aroma was really strong, and the asparagus kept its crunch. Best of all, the crispy nurungji made for such an interesting texture. I thought the cheongyang oil would make it very spicy, but it was only mildly sharp, which actually whetted the appetite even more.

From the very first spoonful, it warmed you up from the inside — a perfect starter for the meal! Eating it together with the mushrooms and toppings on top gave it texture too, so it wasn't just a simple pre-meal porridge, but a dish that properly opened the course.

Three bite-sized dishes (bulgogi sandwich, sweet shrimp with seaweed chips, scallop and clam)

Next: 📍 three bite-sized dishes. Bulgogi sandwich + sweet shrimp with gimbugak (fried seaweed chips) + scallop and clam — a fun amuse-bouche-style course, eating one bite at a time. The order to eat them in: bulgogi bite → scallop and clam → sweet shrimp with seaweed chips.

• The bulgogi sandwich had a really nice combination of bread and bulgogi — the sweet bulgogi, fresh vegetables, and truffle mayo together were the best !!! ㅠㅠ
• The scallop and clam cream had a crispy, cracker-like exterior with soft scallop and clam flavor, paired with a rich cream sauce — it was really delicious.
• The last sweet shrimp with seaweed chips balanced a crunchy texture with the sweetness of the shrimp so well that it had real presence even as a single bite.

Even this early in the course, you could feel the care put into each dish 💗 I'm still thinking about this dish, it was that good ‼️

Shiitake mushroom and shrimp with zucchini

Next up was the shiitake mushroom and shrimp with zucchini! A dish that looked gorgeous even in photos haha

The sweetness of the zucchini and the deep flavor of the shiitake mushroom blended really well with the cream sauce. The shiitake mushroom in particular had a mild flavor that made the whole thing feel comforting to eat!

This cream sauce was less like the cream sauce you'd find in pasta and more like a savory perilla seed cream sauce, maybe? Or a peanut sauce? It was so~~ nutty and delicious that even after finishing the dish, I kept scooping up just the sauce haha,,,

Korean beef tartare with sea lettuce

The next dish was 📍 Korean beef tartare with gamtae (sea lettuce). The staff recommended rolling it starting from the right side of the sea lettuce and eating it in one bite — and once I did it that way, I understood exactly why they explained it like that haha.

The soft Korean beef tartare and the fragrant flavor of the sea lettuce met and just melted in the mouth. The sea lettuce's distinct ocean scent wasn't overpowering, and it brought out the nuttiness of the tartare even more — I really enjoyed it.

Jeju tilefish

Next dish: 📍 Jeju tilefish 🐟. Crispy rice? Multigrain rice is served topped with tilefish, and the staff pours over a broth like sungnyung (scorched rice water) — it was such a soothing dish.

This broth ,,,,, is really the highlight. The tilefish was plump and flavorful, and eating it together with the broth and the multigrain rice underneath brought out so many different flavors — it felt like eating sungnyung after a pot of rice, just so comforting to the stomach!

1++ Korean beef tteokgalbi

The next dish served was 📍 Korean beef tteokgalbi. The staff explained that this one is meant to be mashed and eaten all together.

The outside was lightly seared with a subtle smoky flavor, and the inside was so~ moist and tender, thanks to it being Korean beef. The more you chewed, the more the beef juices spread out — I could see why this is a main-level dish haha. It was seasoned just right, so it kept going down easily. This dish had that charcoal-grilled meat flavor at its absolute best.

Abalone gardenia noodles

Next: 📍 abalone gardenia noodles in five colors. Even before the main dishes arrived, the course was already so varied and generous that I was starting to feel full ,, haha. The upscale atmosphere, genuinely kind service, and truly delicious Korean beef dining lived up to Usu's reputation as a famous in-law-meeting restaurant in Seoul!

A noodle dish served before the main 🍜. The golden-hued gardenia noodles were so pretty to look at 💗 The chewy noodles were topped with abalone, and the garlic mustard sauce was less sharp than I expected — a refreshing, savory touch that cleansed the palate. It was a perfect course right before the meat.

As I kept eating through the course, every single dish was just so delicious ,, since this was for my mom's birthday, eating a great meal in a private room really made us feel taken care of, so I ordered more alcohol ~~~~~ (I do love a drink). Everyone, the Suntory highball here is amazing. Hehe.

Personal-grill 1++ Korean beef striploin, chef's selection

Finally, the main dish !! 📍 personal-grill 1++ Korean beef chef's selection. A very generous spread arrived with rice, seaweed soup, various side dishes, and 1++ Korean beef striploin.

It happened to be right before my mom's birthday, so having the seaweed soup arrive too felt really nice haha.

Grilling your own meat on a personal charcoal grill was great — everyone has their own preferred doneness, and grilling it to a perfect medium-well was just right for me!

True to being 1++ Korean beef striploin, the marbling was excellent, and the grilling was perfect too — the juices spread through my mouth the moment I took a bite. It was tender but had just the right amount of chew, letting the striploin's charm really shine, and the flavor of the beef itself was so good that even just a light dip in salt was delicious. This was the dish that made it obvious why it's so popular for anniversaries and in-law meetings.

Vegetables and mushrooms to grill alongside the meat were also served haha.

We ate it with a dab of wasabi, and also paired it with a really delicious seasoned fish roe 💗

Dessert — melon sorbet

The final course of the Dinner B menu at Usu, the famous in-law-meeting restaurant in Seoul's Gongdeok! Dessert. Usu's dessert was also really elegant haha.

On a pretty, upscale tray sat the melon sorbet 🍋. The melon sorbet wrapped things up in a clean, refreshing way — exactly what you'd want. It had a jelly-like texture too, and it was just the right way to end the meal! Since it was my mom's birthday, we also got a birthday card, which really rounded out the celebratory mood 🎂♥️

Final thoughts — who is Usu in Gongdeok best for?

If you're looking for an in-law-meeting restaurant in Gongdeok, or a Korean beef dining spot to take your parents to, Usu is more than satisfying!

• Upscale, calm atmosphere
• Beautifully plated Korean beef course dishes
• Kind service
• A space that works well for in-law meetings, anniversaries, and family gatherings

If you're trying to figure out where to eat for a special occasion, I'd recommend giving it a try. This is definitely a place I want to visit again ♥️