Gongdeok Korean beef Lunch C on checkup day, sea bass pot rice: Usu

Why Usu Gongdeok for a special lunch near Gongdeok Station

Usu's Gongdeok branch is a Korean beef course restaurant near Gongdeok Station that suits special days like meeting the in-laws or a wedding anniversary. My husband had his health checkup recently, so we finally got a weekday date. I went looking for a good spot, found Usu, and had such a delicious meal.

If a place like Usu had existed three years ago, I wish we'd held our in-law meeting here. Truly moving food 👍👍👍 It's not an expensive hanjeongsik (Korean set meal) place or a Chinese restaurant that sits heavy in your stomach. It's a course restaurant that's easy to digest and that any older relative would enjoy.

Usu Gongdeok: location, hours and parking

• Address: B2, Lotte Castle President, Gongdeok-dong 467, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• Hours: 11:00–22:00 (open every day)
• Parking: 3 hours free
• Private rooms and group seating available, and corkage is free

Usu's private rooms: can you hold a first-birthday party here?

Every seat at Usu is a private room, and there's a 30-seat group room too, so it was lovely and quiet. The moment I walked in, the clean, calm atmosphere left an impression. It's an upscale Gongdeok restaurant.

The group room is big enough that I think it would work for a small or mid-size first-birthday party (dol). Honestly, considering the venue fees and food quality at a typical dol party, ordering the lunch course at Usu and bringing in a separate dol table setup seems far better value, and the older guests would be happy too.

The staff explained each dish in detail as the course went along, which made the meal even more satisfying.

What's in the Usu Lunch C course?

The Lunch C course at Usu's Gongdeok branch began with cold barley tea, and then it got going properly.

Our Lunch C came out like this:

• U, Gye, Jin porridge (beef, chicken, rice porridge)
• Three bite-size dishes
• Shiitake shrimp and zucchini
• Abalone five-color gardenia noodles
• Personal-grill 1++ beef
• Seasonal fish pot rice
• Bansang (rice set with soup and side dishes)
• Dessert

Every dish was made with so much care and tasted great. Most course meals are pricey with small portions, but Usu's course left us properly full.

And here's what makes Usu special: before the course starts, they show you the ingredients. They looked really fresh, and you can tell they care about ingredients from the start.

U-gye-jin porridge to start

The first dish of Lunch C, u-gye-jin porridge (우계진죽), is simmered from Korean beef bone broth and rich chicken stock, so it was smooth and deep. Garnishes included nurungji (scorched rice), a green onion crust, shiitake, asparagus and white wood ear mushroom. These healthy ingredients blended well with the rich broth, a perfect opening to the course.

Three bite-size dishes: bulgogi sandwich, scallop and clam, sweet shrimp

The three bite-size dishes in Usu's Lunch C came out one by one, each one small enough for a single bite. You could feel the effort in every one, and they were really ×💯 delicious.

They're special enough that the menu lists them separately, and tasty enough that I wanted them again. The bulgogi sandwich was built on brioche and Korean beef bulgogi, topped with button mushroom duxelles and truffle cream cheese. The classic gentle sweetness of Korean bulgogi went well with the nutty truffle cream cheese. The second it hit my mouth I thought, "Wow, delicious," and I wanted more.

The scallop and clam dish had grilled scallop, abruga, clam cream sauce, apple, onion and potato powder on brick pastry. I loved the crunch of the brick pastry in one bite, and the soft, nutty clam cream sauce I tasted as I chewed was so memorable.

Last was the sweet shrimp dish: roasted seaweed spread with pollock roe, topped with fried abalone-innards rice, sweet shrimp and yuzu sauce. I worried that roe on sweet shrimp might be a bit heavy, but not at all‼️ The yuzu sauce was fresh and cut the richness, and the nutty fried abalone-innards rice went well with the shrimp.

Shiitake shrimp and zucchini

The umami of top-grade shiitake and shrimp blended nicely, and the zucchini was stuffed with aged kimchi and golden enoki mushrooms. What I remember most was the peanut tofu sauce with chamnamul (pimpinella) oil: nutty, soft and slightly sweet, it helped tie all the ingredients together.

Abalone five-color gardenia noodles

The abalone five-color gardenia noodles were the best at waking up my appetite just as things were getting a little rich. They're like bibim noodles (mixed noodles), garnished with black sesame radish strips, bracken, shiitake, seasoned chamnamul, perilla leaf and abalone, with gamtae (seaweed) dressing and mustard-garlic sauce. The sauce was zingy, fresh and cool in just the right way, perfect for refreshing the palate mid-course. Personally I love cold noodles like this, so I wish they'd offer it as a standalone dish.

1++ beef on a personal grill with side dishes and standout mustard leaf kimchi

Finally, the grilled beef I'd been waiting for! The grill course in Usu's Lunch C came with 1++ sirloin and Korean beef seaweed soup.

With a personal grill you can cook at your own pace, which was nice, and the beef quality was so good that even my clumsy grilling (haha) gave meat that melted in my mouth. The beef seaweed soup was clearly simmered long and carefully too, with thin, soft, silky seaweed that went down easily.

And what my husband and I both thought was really delicious: the gat kimchi (mustard leaf kimchi)!! It was fermented just right, great with the beef, and honestly I could have finished two bowls of rice with just the seaweed soup and a bit of gat kimchi on top.

Seasonal fish pot rice: sea bass pot rice that day

We had the sea bass pot rice as our seasonal fish pot rice. The fish was very soft and well seasoned, and it completed the banseang set. With a course this good, I'd have been happy with plain white rice, but the sea bass pot rice was the crowning touch. It was so good I'd keep coming back even if they sold it on its own.

Dessert: Korean melon sorbet

Dessert in Usu's Lunch C was chamoe (Korean melon) sorbet, cool and refreshing, a wonderful way to finish the meal. Personally I think it's perfect for hot summers like these.

Verdict: a proper Korean beef course lunch in Gongdeok

If you want to enjoy a proper Korean beef course in Gongdeok, Usu's Gongdeok branch seems a very satisfying choice.

• ✔ Easy access from Gongdeok Station
• ✔ Spacious parking with free parking
• ✔ Private rooms throughout
• ✔ Premium course built around 1++ Korean beef
• ✔ Recommended for in-law meetings, first-birthday parties, family gatherings and anniversaries

It's not just a place to eat meat; the whole course is so well put together that the time and money felt well spent.

If I have a special day or an important gathering, I'd happily return to Usu's Gongdeok branch, my go-to Gongdeok beef restaurant.