Gongdeok Seoul Korean BBQ dinner with 3-hour free parking: Usu

I visited Usu, a Gongdeok restaurant with private rooms that are great for meeting the in-laws or family gatherings! If you park in the basement of the Lotte Castle President building, you get 3 hours free parking regardless of how many cars you bring!

• 🏠 Usu
• 📍B2, Lotte Castle President commercial building, 109 Mapo-daero, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🕖 11:00 - 22:00 / Break time 15:00 - 17:00

How to reach Usu from Gongdeok Station Exit 2

Usu, a Gongdeok restaurant, is connected directly to Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station. You just head down to B2, and there are simple floor signs next to the escalator and elevator, so even though the building is huge, it was easy to find.

Usu means the time when life begins to sprout, apparently. You can enjoy individual plated course dishes made with premium hanwoo (Korean beef) and seasonal ingredients.

Private rooms for in-law meetings: a four-seat table even for two

Every table at Usu is a private room, so it seemed like a really great space for important gatherings like meeting the in-laws. There's even a garment hanger inside each room.

We came as two, but were seated at a 4-person table. The table itself was big and spacious, so it seemed like we could eat comfortably.

Before the meal, there's a showing-box performance where they present the ingredients that will be used that day, and the showing box used for that is also in the hallway outside the room.

Usu course prices and what the Dinner A Course includes

• Lunch Signature Course 99,000/109,000
• Lunch A Course 39,900
• Lunch B Course 59,000/69,000/79,000
• Lunch C Course 79,000/89,000/99,000
• Dinner Premium Course chef's choice 140g 179,000 / shrimp meat 140g 189,000
• Dinner A Course 109,000/119,000/129,000
• Dinner B Course 129,000/139,000/149,000

You can also order à la carte dishes included in the courses individually — hanwoo grilled beef, yukhoe (beef tartare), sweet shrimp/gim bugak (fried seaweed), and Jeju tilefish among them.

Dinner A Course 90g, ₩109,000, for two (ox-and-chicken porridge / 4 bite-sized dishes / shiitake shrimp, zucchini / hanwoo yukhoe with gamtae / 1++ hanwoo tteokgalbi / abalone five-color gardenia noodles / individual grill 1++ hanwoo chef's choice / bansang (side dish spread) / dessert)

The showing-box beef performance that starts as soon as you order

As soon as we ordered, they showed us the showing-box performance. They present and explain the ingredients that will be used that day, and honestly it was gorgeous, the visuals were amazing.

Appetizer: beef and chicken porridge

First up as an appetizer was the ox-and-chicken porridge — a porridge made with hanwoo bone broth and chicken stock. It was fascinating, because with every spoonful you could taste both the hanwoo bone broth flavor and the chicken stock flavor at the same time.

Four bite-sized dishes: scallop, bulgogi sandwich, sweet shrimp gim bugak and lobster taco

Next came four bite-sized dishes. Each one was so neatly plated that it was a joy just to photograph and look at them.

The first was a bite made with scallop and clam — brick pastry, grilled scallop, and beurre blanc with a clam cream sauce inside. The crunch of the onion inside was really nice, and the sauce was super creamy. Above all, the brick pastry was so thin and crispy that it was delicious.

Second was the bulgogi sandwich — brioche topped with hanwoo bulgogi, a mushroom duxelles, and truffle cream cheese. The truffle aroma hit hard, and the texture of the apple pickle inside was really nice.

Third was a bite using sweet shrimp and gim bugak (fried seaweed). Grilled gim spread with pollock roe, fried abalone-innard rice, and sweet shrimp — pollock roe gim, abalone-innard rice, sweet shrimp, doesn't that sound amazing just from the name? Personally this was my favorite of the four bites! A flavor I'd want to eat again.

Fourth was the lobster taco! A tortilla topped with sous-vide lobster and a smoky gochujang mayo sauce. There was tomato and onion inside too, which went well with the chewy lobster.

Shiitake mushroom with shrimp and zucchini in peanut-tofu sauce

Next up were shiitake shrimp and zucchini. The sauce underneath is peanut-tofu sauce, and the green droplets are oak oil — you dip the shiitake shrimp and zucchini in the sauce and oil. The shiitake mushroom got more fragrant the more you chewed it, which I liked. Inside the zucchini were tofu, aged kimchi, and enoki mushroom, giving it a great variety of textures!

Yukhoe (beef tartare) with gamtae seaweed and Jeju tilefish in neungi mushroom broth

The next dish was yukhoe (beef tartare) with gamtae. It's a wrap-style dish where you wrap yukhoe, fried scorched rice, pickles, and cured egg in gamtae (seaweed).

You roll it from the right side and pop it in your mouth. The pickle inside and the aioli sauce — mayonnaise plus garlic — balanced the flavors really well!

Next was the tilefish! Underneath the tilefish is barley and chamnamul (aster) rice with mullet roe, and they pour the neungi mushroom broth right in front of you. The tilefish flesh was plump and the skin was truly crispy, and the broth had a really deep neungi mushroom flavor. The rice, the tilefish, and the neungi mushroom broth went together beautifully.

1++ hanwoo tteokgalbi and a preview of the fish pot rice

Next came the tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty). On top was a light dusting of crushed pistachio, and on the side were celeriac purée, a shiitake duxelles, white balsamic sauce, and basil oil. Even in tteokgalbi form, you could really tell the meat quality was excellent!

And in between, they briefly bring out the fish pot rice that comes with the bansang, just for photos — this pot rice is seriously insane. After the photo, they mix it up and serve it out to everyone!

Abalone with five-color gardenia noodles

Next was the abalone five-color gardenia noodles. Gardenia noodles drizzled with a gamtae dressing and a mustard-garlic sauce, along with abalone, shiitake mushroom, bracken fern, seasoned chamnamul (aster), perilla leaf, and julienned black sesame radish. There was quite a strong mustard kick, and since I love mustard, I enjoyed it a lot.

1++ sirloin on a personal charcoal grill, served with a bansang set

And then, the main course (?) arrives! The seasonal fish pot rice we saw earlier, hanwoo seaweed soup, side dishes, and 1++ sirloin hanwoo all come out.

Can you see how good the meat quality is? They give you your own personal grill too, so you can cook it exactly as you like — and the meat was seriously... it just melted in my mouth.

The pot rice and the seaweed soup were both so, so delicious. My friend and I were already at the point where we felt like we'd burst from being full way before this, but the hanwoo pot rice and seaweed soup were so good we just kept laughing in disbelief and kept eating haha.

Corn ice cream dessert and a jasmine tea finish at Usu

For dessert, we got omija (schisandra berry) tea, corn ice cream, and sponge cake — the sponge cake is on the left of the ice cream! This dessert has corn ice cream, corn cream cheese, corn crumble, and sponge cake all packed in.

The finishing jasmine tea was so clean and delicious too.

Every single dish at Usu, a Gongdeok restaurant, came out so delicious and elegantly plated that I'd totally recommend it for important gatherings! I think parents and kids alike would love it too!