Hanwoo galbi platter for two, ₩98,000: Uno, a Seoul Korean BBQ spot

Today's review is about Uno, a hanwoo (Korean beef) restaurant near Seolleung Station. Uno only serves hanwoo, and it's a great place to enjoy a variety of cuts without breaking the bank. There's a private room, plus lunch options like bulgogi and yukhoe bibimbap, so it works whether you're coming for lunch or dinner. If you're thinking about a work dinner or gathering near Seolleung, I'd recommend Uno — let's get into the review.

This post is a sponsored review, but I'm the type who cancels a sponsored visit and pays full price if the food or service isn't good. Just want to say upfront that this is a genuinely honest review.

Where is Uno, and can you park? 150 m from Seolleung Station with ground-floor parking

Uno is located 150 meters from Seolleung Station. It's an easy walk, but driving isn't a bad option either. Restaurants around here with their own parking are rare, so...

Just around one corner from the main street, you'll spot the red sign easily. Having a parking spot right on the ground floor is a genuine perk. It almost felt like someone was waving me in.

That said, if you want to park there, call the restaurant before you arrive so they can move whatever's blocking the spot — otherwise you'll end up stuck in the street.

What we ordered at Uno

I took a bunch of photos of the menu board, but the quality wasn't great, so I've laid it out below instead ^^; It's more convenient for a blogger to just post photos, but I think this is easier for you to read. The menu is split into meat dishes, lunch/anju (drinking food) dishes, and drinks.

• Uno mixed galbi platter
• Sulbap (soybean paste rice)
• Zero-sugar cola

Inside Uno: the main hall and a fully separate private room

The interior is split into a hall on the left and a private room on the right. The hall itself is sectioned off somewhat, so the meal felt comfortable. We came at a time when it wasn't too busy, but if it fills up, the hall might get a bit loud.

The private room is completely separated from the outside, so if you're coming for a company dinner or any kind of gathering, you can eat comfortably without being disturbed by nearby tables. There were already guests having drinks in the room that day.

They also sell Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) gift sets, apparently. They looked quite premium and reasonably priced, so it might be worth calling to ask about them. The marbling on the meat is really impressive — makes sense for a place that only uses 1++ grade hanwoo, haha.

Table setting and side dishes at Uno

This is the basic setting. There's wasabi and salt on the small plate, plus a lemon sauce for dipping the beef tongue. The lemon sauce was too sour for me, but my wife loves sour things so she enjoyed it. I'm honestly bad at judging sour food fairly, haha.

There's also pickled onion and myeongi-namul (wild garlic leaves). Beef and myeongi-namul is a pretty solid combo.

The cucumber-pepper and scallion salad were also good.

The side dishes were varied but simple, with a sweet-and-tangy edge that whets your appetite — great for snacking on while you wait.

The Uno mixed galbi platter, 98,000 won: more than enough for two

And here comes today's star. Suddenly there was smoke everywhere and I realized the meat had arrived, haha. This is the Uno mixed galbi platter — diced rib finger, LA-style galbi, beef tongue, seasoned galbi, and mushrooms. It's ₩98,000, and it was way more than two of us could finish. Staff grill everything for you, which is very convenient. Even though the restaurant was busy, they kept the meat cooked almost perfectly.

One unusual thing — the LA-style galbi came unseasoned, not marinated. Honestly, this was my first time trying LA galbi without seasoning!

The charcoal arrived. They seem to use really good charcoal. Since staff grilled everything, I couldn't tell exactly how, but the meat looked evenly cooked throughout.

Diced rib finger (kkakdukgalbi kkotsal)

First up is the diced rib finger.

The bright red color of the rib meat really built up my anticipation.

They grilled the meat with real attention. Because of its angular shape, they turned each piece to make sure every side was cooked properly.

The upside of having staff grill for you is obviously convenience, but the downside is that how satisfied you are depends heavily on the server's skill. Even great meat can turn out disappointing if it gets burnt or isn't tended to properly.

But at Uno, even while managing several tables at once, they kept the meat perfectly cooked. At places that aren't as skilled, you end up anxiously staring at the grill every time the server steps away, which makes it hard to actually talk with your company — but that day, there was none of that, and we could chat freely.

They served us perfectly grilled KBBQ. Cooking it evenly over charcoal like this is subtly difficult from the restaurant's side.

I first tried it with plain salt. It was the first bite of the day, so my expectations were high, and it was incredibly tender and full of juice — a genuinely happy bite.

At beef restaurants, it's hard to chat leisurely. The meat is at its absolute best right now, so if you don't eat quickly, you end up eating meat that's past its prime. Whether you prioritize style or flavor depends on the vibe of the table that day, haha.

The wasabi paired well with the meat too. It's fairly spicy, so if you're sensitive to that, be careful.

The complimentary seonji haejangguk (beef blood soup)

As we were eating, a seonji (beef blood) haejangguk (hangover soup) arrived. I was already craving a shot of soju, and then the haejangguk showed up too — a real dilemma.

We hadn't ordered it — it just came as a complimentary dish — but the seonji was really soft and the broth was spicy enough to make me think you could have a full meal off this alone. Highly recommend it if you're a broth person.

LA-style galbi, served unseasoned

Next up is LA-style galbi. You can tell it's LA galbi by the bone shape — three round bones connected together, sliced thin. If you cut it lengthwise along the bone instead, you get regular galbi.

This is a cut that turns really tough if it's grilled poorly. Once again, they cooked it deliciously.

I love gnawing meat off the bone, so I enjoy LA galbi quite a bit. It was too freshly grilled to pick up and gnaw at right away, but I still enjoyed it.

I also tried wrapping it with myeongi-namul, and that combo works pretty well too.

Grilled beef tongue at Uno

Next is beef tongue. It's a pretty common dish in Japan, but not something people order that often in Korea. The texture is distinctive, and it's worth trying at least once. Uno's beef tongue was very tender with a great texture.

Like all beef, you don't need to cook it until it's fully well-done. Once the pink fades a bit, it's ready to eat.

Eaten with wasabi or salt, the tongue's distinct texture and umami really come through. It was good enough that I wished they'd given us a bit more — though I do love beef tongue quite a lot.

As I mentioned, I'll skip judging the lemon sauce. I'm just really weak against sour food, haha.

Last course: seasoned galbi

Now for the final course, seasoned galbi. It seems to be the same dish sold on the menu as Uno charcoal galbi — rib meat with a light coat of seasoning.

Because it's seasoned, the aroma as it cooked was really nose-tickling. It didn't seem like a store-bought sauce — it looked like a homemade one. I didn't ask, but you can just tell from the smell, right?

The galbi came out cooked almost perfectly. The moment it hit our mouths, we both thought 'this is it!' The sweet-savory sauce was incredibly good, and the meat was tender too — a dish we were very happy with.

You could eat this on its own without getting greasy or sick of it, and mixing in a bit of wasabi works nicely too. The sauce had good balance — not overly sweet or salty — which felt great.

Finishing with doenjang sulbap — why there's no naengmyeon

You've got to order at least one carb dish, right? We didn't drink, but we still felt like ordering the doenjang sulbap (soybean paste rice).

It arrived bubbling away, with a generous amount of soup beef mixed in.

You want to dig in right away, don't you? But if you eat it now, you're an amateur. So when should you eat it?

Right now!

Once the broth thickens and the rice and tofu have absorbed all the seasoning — if you can wait for exactly this moment, you've officially graduated with honors in eating.

I also tried it topped with the scallion kimchi that came with it, and it was pure bliss... Having packed in the carbs too, I felt really content. The sulbap might honestly be the most recommendable dish here, but I guess I shouldn't say that about a beef restaurant's side dish. Still, it was that good! For reference, there's no naengmyeon on the menu. My wife is usually a naengmyeon person, but she ended up praising the sulbap instead — and she's not normally someone who orders rice dishes at a BBQ place. We finished the meal feeling very happy once again.

Uno pros and cons

Pros 👍🏼

• Great value and great quality meat
• Easy access, 3 minutes from Seolleung Station, with on-site parking (call ahead)
• Private room available, friendly service

Cons 👎🏼

• No naengmyeon on the menu (only a cold noodle variant)

Another great meal today!