Sunjeong Hanwoo Jeongyuk Sikdang Hanwoo Cow Beef

Post by Chiefeater Luke Soon

A jeongyuk sikdang is a butcher’s shop with a dining room attached. You pay roughly counter prices for the meat, and the restaurant usually adds a sangcharimbi, a per-head table charge for the banchan, sauces and grill. The sign at Sunjeong Hanwoo Jeongyuk Sikdang makes the point plainly: 상차림비 없는, no table charge. The brand only sells amso Hanwoo, meaning cow (female) beef, which Koreans prize for finer marbling and a sweeter, cleaner fat.

The room is modern and calm: cane-back chairs, brass extraction hoods and booths by the window. It feels more like a smart neighbourhood grill than an old-school butcher hall. At dinner it fills with the Teheran-ro after-work crowd.

The banchan tray deserves praise before any meat arrives. Around a brass bowl sit seven small dishes: white kimchi, spicy pa-kimchi, crunchy pickled stems, sweet-chilli radish, braised greens, a fragrant herb paste and a leafy kimchi. The brass bowl holds the house dipping sauce: a raw egg yolk over soy, chilli and mushroom, which you stir together and use like a sukiyaki dip for the brisket. It is a clever idea and the most memorable thing on the table.

We ordered the Sunjeong Signature Platter (순정모듬): loin, boneless short rib (galbisal), oyster blade (buchaesal), thinly sliced brisket (chadolbaegi) and a fat Hanwoo sausage, with a king oyster mushroom, onion, shishito pepper and pumpkin. The cuts are 1++ grade, the top Korean grade, though the mix changes with the day’s supply. The marbling on the brisket is beautiful. The staff grease a cast-iron skillet with a cube of beef suet and then cook everything for you, which Korean reviewers rate highly. Season the meat with flaky sea salt, or use the soy dip with pickled onion and green chilli.

Signature Platter (순정모듬): 8.5/10. The galbisal and oyster blade are the stars: juicy, beefy and with a clean finish. Ask for them medium-rare at most.
Chadolbaegi with egg-yolk dip: 8.5/10. Thin, rich and gone in a second. The yolk dip makes it.
Hanwoo Sausage: 7/10. A good sausage, but a filler next to the beef.
Banchan Tray: 8/10. Unusually generous for a butcher-restaurant and seasoned with care.

Value: Hanwoo is never cheap. Still, ₩99,000 for 500g of 1++ grade cow beef, with no table charge and staff grilling for you, is fair for central Gangnam. Lunch is the bargain: Hanwoo minari gomtang (beef bone soup with water dropwort) at ₩13,000, down from ₩18,000, and Hanwoo bulgogi at ₩14,000.

Verdict: It does not have the theatre of Majang-dong or the prestige of a ₩300,000-a-head Hanwoo omakase. What it offers is excellent cow beef, an inventive banchan tray and honest pricing a few minutes from Yeoksam Station. For the money, it is one of the best Hanwoo dinners in the area.

It’s definitely up there with Cote in New York and Singapore – it’s a solid 7/10. The Hanwoo cuts were perfection- all degrees of melt in your mouth 👄 was achieved tonight. The only thing that might be controversial -I cooked everything myself. So it’s like reviewing my own control of fire and timing; but no faulting the cuts of meat. 🥩

Nearby station: Yeoksam (Line 2) or Gangnam (Line 2 / Sinbundang)

Business Hours

Monday to Saturday
11:30 am to 03:00 pm
05:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Last order at 08:50 pm

Closed on Sunday