Soogoong Korean Barbeque Restaurant in Seoul, Korea

Last night, the local team mentioned this place to me in passing (77 Samseong-dong, 545-9646). It was notable because they served local Korean beef, and was expensive at that (like over US$100/person). I wasn't prepared to pay that much, but I was nonetheless curious. So I stopped by after work to take a peek.

The menu didn't look that expensive at first...until I realized that one had to place a minimum two portion order of say, their signature 45,000 Won (US$42) meat. Fortunately, the boss took empathy on me as a solo diner and let it slide with just one portion, which he carved himself at the front of the house and brought to me. The fat was indeed tasty, but one had to make a conscious effort to taste it (i.e., no wrapping in a ssam with gochujang, lest it cover up the taste).

And it turned out that the one portion really wasn't enough. I had to order not just a yukhoe bibimbap but also galbitang to fill myself up. The good thing was that these dishes all featured that same local beef, which was good as long as I made an effort to focus on the beef and its fat on its own. But to be honest, if no one had told me that this place was pricey for its local beef, I would've never known. It seemed like just any other random shop down the street.