Basil ramen with rice added to curry near Yeouido Station: Izawa

Izawa, a good lunch spot for Yeouido office workers

I was looking for a filling but slightly different lunch option in Yeouido, so I visited Izawa Yeouido Direct Store.

This place serves a variety of Japanese dishes including gyukatsu (breaded fried beef cutlet), steki (steak), ramen, and mazesoba.

What makes it stand out is that you grill the meat yourself on a mini brazier at the table, which makes for a different kind of lunch experience.

If you're looking for a lunch spot right in front of Yeouido Station, this place is worth recommending for the taste, price, and location alike.

How to get there

True to its name, Izawa Yeouido Direct Store has a really great location.

Come out of Exit 5 of Yeouido Station and look to your right — it's right there. (Above the Yeouido Jonghap Sangga sign, it's written in Japanese as Izawa.)

• Address: 2nd floor, Yeouido Jonghap Sangga, 42 Yeouinaru-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00 / Last order 20:30
• Parking: 1 hour free at the building's ground-floor lot ※ The basement parking lot is paid!

Restaurant atmosphere

If you go for lunch, expect the place to be packed pretty much guaranteed.

Given how great the location is, it's an easy place for anyone to drop into while passing by, so it's best to go expecting a bit of a wait.

There was a mix of customers — students, office workers, and small family groups.

Even the hero Lim Young-woong stopped by and left his autograph on the wall.

Steki set, seared just on the surface

The main dishes I ordered this time were the steki set (sirloin) for ₩18,000 and the basil ramen for ₩12,000.

The steki set is a dish where the beef is lightly seared only on the surface, then sliced and served.

The special feature is that you use the mini brazier set up on the table to grill it to your own preferred doneness.

Putting a piece of meat on the brazier and cooking it to your taste made the meal fun in itself.

If you want to enjoy the tender texture and natural flavor unique to sirloin, this is a solid choice.

Basil ramen with an appealing basil aroma

The basil ramen I ordered alongside it was ₩12,000. At first, seeing its unusual look, I wondered if it was really worth the adventure.

But it turned out the savory broth and thin noodles, well cooked, were delicious! Highly recommend it if you're a ramen fan.

Apparently it's ramen topped generously with a basil pesto made by combining a special seasoning with a broth simmered using their secret recipe.

From the look of it to the taste, it felt different from regular ramen, with the fragrant flavor of basil added in for something new.

The broth was quite savory, with a healthy, bone-broth kind of feel. I thought, what if I stirred some rice into this? So I ordered a bowl of rice and had it together.

Japanese curry on the side too

For a side dish, I added Japanese-style curry for ₩4,000.

Since we already had meat and rice, adding the curry into the mix let us enjoy a different flavor combination, which was nice — the curry had a bit of a spicy kick and paired well with the steki set.

Izawa, a recommended lunch near Yeouido Station

Izawa is said to be the brand that started Korea's gyukatsu culture, introducing it to the country for the first time in 2015. Based on good ingredients, aging processes, and a special sauce and recipe, they offer a range of dishes including gyukatsu.

Having tried the steki set and basil ramen this time, I can see why it's always crowded — it's tasty and the location is especially good. It seems like a great fit for Yeouido office workers' lunch, solo dining, or even a date.