Last-night trip birthday dinner with rice cake patty, seaweed soup

It was Cheol's birthday, so for the last dinner of our trip I wanted somewhere a little special, and after searching around I found this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu. Since it was both our last night of the trip and his birthday, instead of our usual casual spot I wanted somewhere with a nice mood where the two of us could eat quietly — and that's how I landed on Usu.

It's a place where you can enjoy a hanwoo (Korean beef) omakase course in a private room, so it seemed like a great anniversary restaurant to visit for something special like a birthday.

Getting to Usu from Gongdeok Station, and parking

This Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, is located on B2 of the Lotte Castle President building. It's basically connected to Exit 2 of Gongdeok Station — right in front — so it's easy to reach by public transit, and parking is available too if you're driving.

Best of all, there's a big parking lot with 3 hours free, which made driving there in Mapo-gu — where parking usually isn't easy — completely stress-free. Once you head down to the B2 dining floor, it's not hard to find at all.

For anyone like us wanting a calm meal for a birthday or anniversary, the easy access made this anniversary restaurant even more appealing. If you're looking for a Gongdeok restaurant for a special dinner, the location alone is pretty satisfying.

Every seat a room: the interior mood at Usu

One thing I was hoping for when choosing this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, was exactly this private atmosphere. Every seat is in a room, so you can eat comfortably without worrying about the next table. Since it was Cheol's birthday and just the two of us, I wanted to eat quietly and chat at our own pace. Because of that, it felt like a much better fit as an anniversary restaurant than a typical barbecue joint.

The rooms are clean and the overall mood is calm, which suited a date or a birthday perfectly. If you're looking for a private dining spot in Gongdeok, this is the kind of mood you'd be hoping to find among Gongdeok restaurants. It also seemed like it would work well for a meal with parents or an important gathering like a formal meeting between families.

Menu, drinks, and corkage at Usu

The menu at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, is primarily an omakase served as a course. They use premium aged hanwoo, and there are of course à la carte and single-dish options too. Both lunch and dinner have set courses, and lunch even has a ₩39,000 option, so you can enjoy it at a reasonable price too.

Usu also carries a good range of drinks. There's champagne, white wine, and red wine, plus domestic soju and beer if you'd rather keep it casual, and since corkage is free, it's also easy to bring your own favorite bottle.

What comes in the dinner course

We had the dinner course at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu. What was really nice was that before the course started, a staff member opened a showcase box and introduced us to the meat and ingredients we'd be eating that day. This little performance was both surprising and really cool.

First: beef and chicken jinjuk (rich porridge)

The course at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, opened with a soft beef-and-chicken jinjuk (deeply simmered porridge) — jinjuk means a richly brewed porridge — and the staff explained the dish while serving it, which made it nice to eat with some context.

Second: three bite-sized dishes

The second course at Usu in Gongdeok was three one-bite dishes in a row: one using brioche, hanwoo bulgogi and mushroom; one with scallop, clam, apple, onion, and gamtae (sea moss); and one with grilled seaweed brushed with pollack roe, abalone-innard rice, and sweet shrimp. The staff also told us the order to eat them in.

Being bite-sized, it was fun tasting each one little by little. This kind of course structure really made it feel like a proper omakase experience at a Gongdeok restaurant.

Third: shrimp and A-grade shiitake mushroom

The third course at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, brought shrimp with A-grade shiitake mushroom, plated together with zucchini, tofu, aged kimchi, and golden enoki mushroom — a different feel from what we'd eaten before. The green sauce was a chamnamul (aster) herb sauce, which was unfamiliar to me but had great umami once I dipped in.

Fourth: raw beef tartare and gamtae gimbap

The fourth dish at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, was raw beef tartare (yukhoe) and gamtae served in the form of gimbap (seaweed rice roll). It came with a house-made aioli sauce and yukhoe and gamtae, and we were told to roll it up sideways to eat.

Fifth: red tilefish in neungi mushroom broth

The fifth dish in the dinner course at Usu in Gongdeok was barley and chamnamul rice, trout roe, and red tilefish set in a neungi mushroom broth. The warm neungi broth was seasoned just right and fragrant, and the tilefish was chewy and plump, so I finished off the broth too. This was one of the dishes served only at dinner.

Sixth: hanwoo tteokgalbi

The sixth course was hanwoo tteokgalbi (grilled beef short rib patty). This is also only offered at dinner, and splitting the meat and eating it with the celeriac purée on the side gave it a slightly foreign flavor twist. The sweet-and-salty balance was so well done that this tteokgalbi is what I remember most from the whole course, haha.

Seventh: abalone five-color gardenia noodles

The seventh dish in the Usu dinner course in Gongdeok was abalone five-color gardenia noodles. Chewy abalone sat on top, and mixing the cool broth with the gardenia-colored noodles, the tangy-fresh gamtae dressing and mustard-garlic sauce brought out even more flavor.

The main table: 1++ hanwoo grill and hanwoo seaweed soup

The 1++ hanwoo grill and the rice table came out. Since it's grilled at the table yourself, you can cook it to whatever doneness you like, and after all those earlier courses, having the main dish arrive finally felt like a proper meal. The main rice table at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, came with hanwoo alongside hanwoo seaweed soup (miyeokguk) too — and since it was Cheol's birthday, getting to eat seaweed soup that day made it feel like a real birthday table had been properly set, which made me really glad we came on his birthday.

Because it's cooked on your own personal grill, you don't have to match grilling preferences with your companion — you just cut it up nicely and eat at your own pace, which was great. I'm not usually a fast eater, so eating together with someone else sometimes makes me feel rushed, but at this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, there was no need to worry about that at all.

I grilled the vegetables that came with the hanwoo in the main course at Usu's Gongdeok dinner properly too, and eating them with the various sauces made for a really satisfying meal. Honestly, with omakase I worried the portions might be small and we'd end up hungry afterward, but the portions were plenty and the composition was so good that I ended up incredibly full.

Dessert and tea to finish

At this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, the course ends with dessert. It came with corn ice cream, corn crumble cheese, grilled rice, sponge cake and a green tangerine cream sauce. It was fresh and cool, and the corn's clean flavor balanced everything nicely.

The tea served alongside dessert looked like jasmine, and even the ice cubes floating in it seemed to have been made by brewing the tea and freezing a leaf right in with it. That level of thoughtful detail was so cute... Finishing dessert this cleanly made the whole meal feel properly wrapped up. So for anyone looking for a Gongdeok restaurant for a birthday or anniversary, I really think being treated with this kind of thoughtful service is a huge plus.

The celebration service you get for noting a birthday

There's a specific reason I want to recommend this Gongdeok restaurant, Usu, especially as an anniversary restaurant. Because I noted in advance when booking that it was a birthday, they arranged photo service + a celebration dessert + two glasses of champagne. For the photo service, a staff member actually took the photos for us, so we got to keep a memorial photo of the two of us together. Whenever we go out to eat as a couple, we usually end up taking photos of each other and barely have any together, so it was great to actually get a shot of us both this time.

They also prepared two glasses of champagne so we could toast and celebrate the birthday together, and just because it was his birthday, the whole meal felt so much more special than our usual dinners. So for anyone who cares about this kind of service as much as the food when looking for an anniversary restaurant, I'd recommend letting Usu in Gongdeok know in advance if it's a birthday or anniversary when you book!

It's a Gongdeok restaurant where you can enjoy hanwoo omakase quietly and privately, so it should suit anyone like us who wants a special meal on the last night of a trip. A place where the delicious hanwoo, the mood, and the celebration all came together properly — if you're searching among Gongdeok restaurants for an anniversary restaurant to visit on a special day, how about Usu?

• Address: 109 Mapo-daero, B2 201, Lotte Castle President Commercial Building, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–22:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)
• Free parking, corkage free, open year-round, every seat a private room