Korean beef restaurant in Gongdeok with moss-plated bites: Usu

I recently went on a lunch date with my boyfriend somewhere with great vibes 𐔌՞. .՞𐦯 We went to Usu Gongdeok, known as a Gongdeok hotspot! From the taste to the interior to the neat course composition, it was so satisfying!! I'd strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a Gongdeok Station date spot or anniversary dinner place — the taste and atmosphere were absolutely worth the money ✨

Where Usu is in Gongdeok, plus parking and corkage

Usu Gongdeok is on B2 of the Lotte Castle President building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, open daily 11:00-22:00 (break time 15:00-17:00). It's right in front of Gongdeok Station Exit 2, so even I, who gets lost easily, found it without any trouble!

• 📍 Location: Usu, B2, Lotte Castle President, 467 Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• 🕖 Hours: Daily 11:00 - 22:00 (break time 15:00 - 17:00)
• 🚊 Transit: Right in front of Gongdeok Station Exit 2, directly connected to the subway station so you can visit comfortably even on rainy or bad-weather days
• 🚗 Parking: 3 hours free in the building's basement lot (no limit on number of cars)
• 🍷 Corkage-free: You can easily pair your neat hanwoo course with wine of your choice

Inside Usu: private rooms for every table

Stepping inside, the interior is clean and quietly elegant. Every seat is a separate private room, so you can spend precious time together without worrying about people around you. There's also large group seating available, perfect for family gatherings or company dinners haha

Since I'd made a reservation, we were seated right away! They serve roasted barley tea as water, a thoughtful touch that cleanses your palate between courses so you can fully taste each new dish. 👍👍

Usu's menu and what comes in the LUNCH C course 80g

The Usu Gongdeok menu is divided into lunch and dinner, with prices listed by meat weight, and we chose the LUNCH C course 80g. Detailed ingredients for each course are listed in full, which made it really easy to understand each dish!!

There were also custom options like changing the hanwoo cut or adding truffle/caviar, à la carte items, and a variety of drinks including red/white wine and champagne, so you could pick according to your taste.

• LUNCH C course 80g
• Beef & chicken jinjuk (thick porridge)
• Three bite-sized dishes (bulgogi sandwich, scallop & clam, sweet shrimp gimbugak)
• Shiitake shrimp, zucchini
• Abalone five-color gardenia noodles
• Main (personal grill 1++ hanwoo & bansang set)
• Dessert

First course: beef and chicken porridge

The first dish was a porridge made from a rich beef bone and chicken broth base. The broth was so deep and rich that it gently and warmly soothed my stomach before the real meal began...!

The nurungji (crispy rice) and scallion crust, shiitake mushroom, asparagus, and white wood ear mushroom garnish on top had a crispy, chewy bite — the textural harmony was artful.

Three bite-sized dishes plated like a mini garden

The most impressive part of the Usu Gongdeok LUNCH C course was the three bite-sized dishes (bulgogi sandwich, scallop & clam, sweet shrimp gimbugak/seasoned fried seaweed). I was moved by how beautiful the plating was — green moss, basalt, a cute little yellow flower and twigs, like a miniature garden had been transplanted onto the plate...! 🌱 It really lived up to the saying that you eat with your eyes first — impossible not to photograph.

Bulgogi sandwich bite

It's a cute one-hand-sized bite but tastes so full and satisfying! The brioche bread underneath was crispy on the surface but cloud-soft and moist inside, topped with hanwoo bulgogi and mushroom duxelles, so the rich beef juices spread through your mouth along with the deep aroma of truffle cream cheese!

Scallop and clam bite

This dish had grilled scallop and abalone-mushroom, soft clam cream sauce, and crunchy apple and onion rolled inside a thin, crispy brick pastry roll! Green gamtae (sea moss) powder was sprinkled on top, which made the colors so pretty too.

With the scallop & clam, you first taste the mild sweetness of the softly chewy scallop inside the crispy brick pastry! Then the savory, salty umami of the clam cream sauce spreads across your mouth, and the tart juice of the crunchy apple pieces along with the slightly bitter taste of the gamtae on top cuts through the richness of the cream cleanly. The savoriness, saltiness, and tartness came together for a light, non-greasy finish ✨

Sweet shrimp with crisp laver gimbugak

This dish comes with fried abalone-liver rice on roasted seaweed brushed with pollock roe, topped with sweet shrimp and yuzu sauce. First you notice the crispy texture and salty, savory flavor of the roasted, roe-brushed seaweed! Then the fried abalone-liver rice gives a crispy outside with a chewy inside and the deep savory richness unique to abalone liver haha

The sweet shrimp on top is chewy and springy with the shrimp's own gentle sweetness, and the refreshing tartness of the yuzu sauce lightened up the heavy taste of the abalone liver nicely.

Shiitake, shrimp and zucchini in peanut tofu sauce

The shiitake shrimp and zucchini dish is A-grade shiitake mushrooms stuffed generously with springy shrimp meat, and the mushroom's deep flavor pairs really well with the shrimp's umami. The peanut tofu sauce underneath is especially delicious!!!!

The zucchini next to it was lightly cooked to keep a crunchy texture, and the tofu and golden enoki mushroom stuffed inside added softness and bite, while the salty, tangy seasoning of the aged kimchi mixed in balanced everything out. It really felt like eating a high-end dish.

The peanut tofu sauce spread across the plate had the rich, savory taste of peanut mixed with the plainness of tofu, giving it a mellow, creamy-sauce feel without being overpowering!! With the wild chervil oil drizzled on top, you could subtly taste that fresh, herby aroma unique to Korean cuisine as you chewed!! ( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )

Abalone five-color gardenia noodles

A neat gardenia-noodle dish that arrived right before the main course! Thinly sliced abalone is piled on top of yellow gardenia noodles along with a heap of colorful garnishes — black sesame julienned radish, bracken fern, shiitake mushroom, seasoned wild chervil, and perilla leaf. The gamtae dressing and spicy mustard-garlic sauce clung nicely to the noodles, cleansing the palate haha

Main course: 1++ sirloin on the brazier with hanwoo seaweed soup

Next comes the main course — 1++ sirloin hanwoo and seaweed soup! The accompanying bansang set has neat side dishes like mustard leaf kimchi and pickled chili peppers to cut through the richness of the meat, plus salted seafood and salt on the side.

The main hanwoo grill & vegetable garnish comes with the beef lightly seared on the outside, along with vegetable garnishes you can grill to your taste! The garnish included fresh wasabi, king oyster mushroom, zucchini, and bell pepper, among others.

They also give you separate tongs for grilling the meat! You use these to grill it on the mini charcoal brazier like grilling gyukatsu. It was convenient that you could grill it to your own preferred doneness haha For me, the best was medium-rare, with the outside browned and just a hint of pink left inside!!

Even picking it up with chopsticks, you can feel how soft and tender it is — it easily pulls apart along the grain with barely any chewing, and the more you chew, the more the deep, rich natural sweetness and savory fat of the beef come through. There's no gamey smell at all, just clean umami, so even dipping it lightly in just salt lets you fully taste the beef's own flavor.

Sea bream pot rice at Usu

The staff check the pot rice first before neatly dividing it up according to the number of people. The sea bream flesh is crispy outside and soft inside, flaking apart gently among the rice grains haha The more you chew, the more the light yet savory-salty flavor of the sea bream fills your mouth.

The barley and wild chervil rice underneath has a lively, plump texture from the barley grains bursting, and the fragrance of chives and wild chervil cleanly cut through any fishiness from the fish!! The salty, popping umami of the fish roe mixed throughout the rice tied all the seasoning together perfectly.

And here's the hanwoo seaweed soup served alongside. It's really packed with hanwoo, and the broth has that deep flavor of having simmered for a long time. Even though I was already full, I finished this whole bowl of seaweed soup haha👍

Dessert: corn ice cream and sponge cake

This dessert comes with yellow corn ice cream served alongside sponge cake crumble! The ice cream is corn-flavored, and it's genuinely amazing lol The crumble underneath gives a crunchy bite that adds a fun textural contrast to the creamy ice cream!

The sponge cake served alongside had a fluffy texture, so when eaten with the ice cream, it soaked up moisture and melted softly. The dessert wrapped up the whole course's richness in a sweet, gentle, clean finish. I felt taken care of right to the very end!

Why Usu works for a lunch date near Gongdeok Station

Usu Gongdeok broke away from the familiar mold you'd usually think of for a hanjeongsik (Korean set course) restaurant, presenting a polished course that reinterpreted Korean ingredients from a fresh perspective. Between the neat atmosphere, kind and detailed course explanations, and high-quality dishes, it's more than fitting for a couple's date or a formal meal!

If you want to experience a not-so-common, special Korean course, I'd recommend enjoying a delightful meal at Usu in Gongdeok!