Anniversary hanwoo course in Haeundae, Busan: sukiyaki at Usiya

Usiya is a great beef restaurant in Haeundae for anniversaries and special days. You get hanwoo (Korean beef) cut by cut in a course, and the meal and dessert were just a perfect dinner. If you want a hanwoo course omakase where every single piece is grilled for you, you have to visit at least once!

Where is Usiya, and do you need a reservation?

Usiya is in Haeridan-gil, Haeundae, Busan (2 Udong 1-ro 38beon-gil, 1st floor). It is open 17:00-01:00 on weekdays and 16:00-01:00 on weekends, and there is no parking. I recommend booking ahead.

The inside is all counter seating.

What comes in Usiya's A course?

Usiya has two courses, A and B, and you can also order à la carte. We ordered the A course, draft beer and a lemon highball. The A course comes as: beef sashimi, beef tongue, 5 cuts of beef, sukiyaki and oxtail, pot rice with aged kimchi stew, and dessert.

These are the side dishes. The white thing in the far left dish, next to the pickled chili peppers, is the gourd (bak) from the Heungbu and Nolbu fairy tale, apparently. I was surprised to learn gourd is edible haha. It's like a slightly chewy radish? It was delicious.

Usiya sets out the meat like this, explains it, and grills everything for you! The sauces at the top left are wild garlic-leaf wasabi and perilla leaf pesto. Next to the vegetables is the beef tongue, and the one on the far right is the beef sashimi. What's on the meat tray is the 5 cuts (tenderloin, striploin, flap meat, brisket, and flank).

Our draft beer and lemon highball came out too. It's not just the meat, the drinks were good as well haha

A start with beef sashimi and beef tongue

The A course starts with beef sashimi (yuksashimi). It already has seasoning on top, so you just eat it as is. It was tender and delicious.

The first thing grilled is the beef tongue. I'd had beef tongue in Japan and loved it, so when I heard it was in the course I was so excited, and

sure enough, it was so good. You know the first bite is always just with salt, right?

Which of the 5 hanwoo cuts was the best?

Tenderloin

The 5 cuts start with the tenderloin. I ate it with the wild garlic-leaf wasabi and perilla leaf pesto. Being hanwoo, it was so tender. The wasabi doesn't have much of a wasabi kick, so pile it on to make it tasty!

Striploin

Next is the striploin. It was my boyfriend's number 1. He said the striploin was the best. For me it was number 2 haha. Super tender, and it just melted away in my mouth?!

Flap meat (jebi-churi)

This one is jebi-churi, the flap meat. They also gave us a salad with onion and bangip (Korean mint leaves), which was fresh, went well with the meat, and was delicious.

Brisket (eobjinsal)

Next is the brisket (eobjinsal). I was told it divides into a lean part and a fattier part. The lean part had a bit of chew and the fattier part was a little softer. For the lean part, they brushed on a soy sauce glaze and grilled eggplant alongside, and the soy glaze itself was delicious.

Flank (buchaesal)

And last, my number 1: the buchaesal. Wow.. this was on a whole other level of tenderness. Honestly, when I first saw it, the portion looked small and I thought it wouldn't fill me up, but as I kept eating I got really full. So it was the meat I ate when I was fullest, and it was still the best, so you can imagine how good it was. The owner adjusted the pace to how fast we ate and paid so much attention to us that we could really enjoy the course in comfort.

Are the oxtail and sukiyaki any good?

But it doesn't end here! Next in Usiya's A course is the oxtail! The same oxtail that goes into oxtail soup. I held the bone with my hands and tore the meat off. It was chewy and tasty. The seasoning especially was great!

Next is the sukiyaki. You dip it in egg yolk. The meat was so good that I hadn't expected much from the meal dishes, but the sukiyaki was really delicious.. It's a little salty, but the soy sauce seasoning was honestly the best soy sauce of my life! The yolk softens the saltiness a bit, so they go well together. It makes you crave rice haha

Stone pot rice, aged kimchi stew and dessert

The meal at Usiya is stone pot rice (dolsot-bap) and aged kimchi stew. Doesn't kimchi stew sound amazing at this point? It was closer to jjageuri (a thick, reduced stew), which made it even better! Tastier than most kimchi stew places, tbh. Even though I was super full, it went down easily. With the stone pot rice, you scoop out the rice and can eat the scorched rice (nurungji) too. I was too full to eat the nurungji, but my boyfriend ate it happily haha

Dessert is Excellent ice cream. It was an absolutely perfect dinner right through dessert. I feel like I found the beef restaurant of my life, so it was a truly happy meal.

When is Usiya a good choice?

If you want a hanwoo course in Busan, definitely remember Usiya and pay a visit. You'll want to come back every anniversary haha. For a parent's birthday, a wedding anniversary, a partner's birthday or any important day, when you want to treat someone precious, Usiya is the answer. I enjoyed it so much that this got long 🩶