Baby-friendly Korean restaurant in Gongdeok, Seoul: Usu Lunch C 80g

This is a private-room Korean restaurant near Gongdeok Station where every table is set inside its own room and you can enjoy a neat, proper Korean course meal. We brought our baby along in a stroller, and having a private room made everything so much more comfortable — I'd recommend this place for family gatherings, meeting-the-in-laws dinners, Teacher's Day, or any other special occasion.

Where is Usu Gongdeok, and where do you park?

Gongdeok favorite 'Usu' sits on B2 of the Lotte Castle President building. It's right in front of Gongdeok Station Exit 2, next to the Lotte City Hotel, so it's easy to find — but for parking, you'll need to drive past the hotel parking, then past the residential tower's private parking, before finally reaching the commercial building lot! The lot is spacious and free for 3 hours, so parking was a breeze :)

• Address: Usu, B2, Lotte Castle President, 109 Mapo-daero, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (right in front of Gongdeok Station Exit 2)
• Hours: 11:00–22:00, open daily (break time 15:00–17:00)
• All seats private rooms, group seating available, corkage-free
• Large parking lot, free for 3 hours (no limit on number of cars)

The private room that made coming with a baby easy

Usu has a clean, modern black interior, so the moment you walk in it just radiates upscale vibes..! Every table is a private room, and there's even group seating, which looked perfect for meeting-the-in-laws dinners, family gatherings, and all sorts of events. And get this — corkage is free too...!

We were shown to a 4-person room. The space was just the right size to park the stroller in..! Taking a baby out to eat usually means feeling a bit self-conscious, but in a private room there was no need to worry about that — both the baby and us could eat comfortably, and I loved that so much 🤍 This is basically omakase-with-a-baby, everyone...!

For reference, the restroom is outside the room — follow the signs and go left.

What comes with the Lunch C course, 80g, 79,000 won

The menu at Gongdeok Korean-course favorite Usu. Apparently the lunch signature course is famous. We went with Lunch C, which drops just two or so dishes from the signature course (80g – ₩79,000). For a full course meal, I thought the price was quite reasonable!

The ingredient showing and the anniversary drink at Usu

Usu Gongdeok's signature 'showing box.' After you choose your menu, they bring out a box holding the ingredients used in the course and walk you through them, which really built trust...!

Next came the drinks. Our anniversary was coming up, so we noted it when booking, and they brought out a glass of sparkling wine and grape juice for us. It gave the whole meal an anniversary feel 🤍 Even the water at Usu isn't plain water — it's savory roasted barley tea..! (delicious)

Tasting the Usu Lunch C course, dish by dish

1. Beef and egg jinjuk (thick rice porridge)

The first dish out was 'Woo-Gye Jin-juk,' a porridge made from richly simmered hanwoo bone broth and chicken stock, garnished with nurungji (crispy scorched rice), scallion crust, shiitake mushroom, asparagus, and white wood ear mushroom. The variety of garnishes made this appetizer such a fun texture experience.

2. Three one-bite dishes

The second course was 'three bite-sized dishes.' It wasn't just food on the plate — it was more like art laid out... the visuals were insane...! We were told to eat them in order: bulgogi sandwich, scallop and clam, then sweet shrimp gim bugak (crispy seaweed chip).

The bulgogi sandwich had hanwoo bulgogi, mushroom duxelles, and truffle cream cheese on brioche, and the subtle truffle scent was pleasant without being overwhelming. A bite-sized sandwich that just melted in your mouth.

The scallop and clam dish had grilled scallop, uni, clam cream sauce, apple, and onion inside crispy brick pastry, topped with gamtae (sea moss) powder — the crunchy texture paired with a delicate seafood aroma disappeared in one bite too, hahaha.

Personally, the tastiest of the bite-sized dishes was the sweet shrimp gim bugak. It was grilled seaweed brushed with pollack roe, topped with fried abalone-liver rice, sweet shrimp, and yuzu sauce — the fried rice was incredible, hahaha. It felt like the carbs kicked in(?) and I was suddenly ready to really eat.

3. Shiitake mushroom with shrimp, and young zucchini

This was a style of dish I'd never had before, so it felt refreshing! On a base of peanut tofu sauce and wild chervil oil sat a thick, top-grade shiitake mushroom and shrimp, with zucchini, tofu, aged kimchi, and golden enoki mushroom on the other side. Mixing in the chervil oil and dipping into the sauce made for a bite that was unusual but really tasty!

4. Abalone with five-colour gardenia noodles

This gardenia-hued noodle dish came garnished with black sesame radish shreds, bracken fern, shiitake mushroom, wild chervil salad, perilla leaf, and abalone, and the kicker was the tangy sauce. Gamtae dressing paired with mustard-garlic sauce that really woke up your appetite.

5. Table-grilled 1++ hanwoo beef and seasonal fish pot rice set

Before bringing out the grilled hanwoo and pot rice set, they first showed us the seasonal fish pot rice and told us they'd portion it out for us. It looked so appetizing, and I was full of anticipation...!

Then they set up a personal charcoal grill for us,

and out came 1++ sirloin hanwoo, pre-seared vegetable garnish, seasonal fish pot rice, and hanwoo seaweed soup set — a truly generous portion befitting the main course!

The seasoning was mild, so it paired perfectly with the kimchi, salted seafood, and other side dishes served alongside.

The beef we grilled ourselves over the personal charcoal grill just melted in our mouths, ㅠㅠ. You could really tell the quality of the beef was excellent. They kept the charcoal at just the right heat for the pace of our eating, so the food stayed warm the whole time.

6. Corn dessert and a surprise tea-and-sweets tray

After the meal, they bring out dessert. Corn ice cream with corn cream cheese, sitting over apricot and green citron cream sauce, served alongside corn crumble and sponge cake — a dessert plated with real care. I personally love roasted-corn-flavored ice cream, so I really enjoyed this one, hahaha.

And then, a surprise tea table they prepared just for our anniversary... I was so touched.... They set out candied walnuts and cream-cheese-stuffed dried persimmon rolls, and even the tea table itself was so pretty, ㅠㅠ. They even took an instant photo and printed it out on the spot. Thanks to that, we got to leave with a meaningful photo of the three of us — baby included.

Is Usu Gongdeok worth it with a baby? Final verdict

Every single plate at Usu Gongdeok was beautiful, and the taste matched. With its private rooms, it's a great Korean-course restaurant for meeting-the-in-laws dinners, family gatherings, and other special occasions. I thought a course meal like this would be nearly impossible now that we have a baby, but it turned out to be a Gongdeok success story! We'd love to come back to 'Usu Gongdeok' for another anniversary.