Today, I want to introduce a best value steakhouse I found in Yeouido, Seoul. This will be the first post on my blog. As you can see on the About Me tab, my name is DaeLEE, and I was born in and currently live in Korea—I’m 100% Korean.
So, let’s start today’s story.
The restaurant I’m going to introduce today is called Heavy Steak, located in Yeouido, the financial hub of Seoul. I didn’t know this, but it’s a chain steakhouse with many locations throughout Seoul and other parts of Korea. It’s a fast-casual spot, you could say it’s the Subway equivalent for steak. As you can see from the exterior, the restaurant has a very Western feel to it.
Directions to the restaurant will be at the end of the post, but it was very accessible, located about a 5-minute walk from National Assembly Station (Line 9).
The Restaurant
Here’s a look at the inside of the restaurant. With an open kitchen, my first impression was that it felt very clean and hygienic. You’ll find that most Korean restaurants are very hygienic, so you can feel at ease. In fact, open-kitchen restaurants like this one feel even more sanitary and clean, which I really liked.
The dining area isn’t huge, but there are about 20-30 seats, so it felt comfortable. Most of all, the seating is arranged very efficiently, so I don’t think you’d feel uncomfortable dining with family, a partner, or even alone.
Also, each table has a kiosk(you can choose eng), so you won’t have any trouble ordering even if you can’t speak Korean at all.
Various sauces and utensils are neatly arranged at each table, which reinforced the clean impression I had from the start. There were many kinds of sauces, including Heavy Steak’s special steak sauce, salt, pepper, wasabi, and whole-grain mustard.
On each table, there was also a leaflet titled “Tastes Even Better When You Know About It.” It’s in Korean, but I think you can understand it well enough from the pictures. The part that stood out to me was the tip to mix butter and rice on the hot steak plate and eat it with the meat.
The Menu & My Order
‘ll get straight to the point and briefly explain the menu. While there are differences in toppings and side dishes, there are basically three types of steaks. You can choose one of three options: chicken, beef, or hamburger steak. The “Global Set” tab also sells set menus, so if you don’t want to choose everything yourself, picking a set menu is also a good option.
I visited with one other person that day and we ordered two menu items: a medium-sized beef steak and a chicken steak. The chicken steak originally comes in a fixed single size, but you can choose between S, M, and L for the beef steak. I ordered the Chicken Steak + Rice and the Medium Beef Steak + Double Butter (topping) + Rice.
As you can see from the photos, the biggest strength of this steakhouse is the ‘price’. You can’t find a high-quality steak at this price anywhere else in Seoul. The price for the Chicken Steak + Rice was about 8 US dollars, and the Medium Beef Steak + Double Butter + Rice was about 16 US dollars.
Once you complete your order, the kitchen staff in the open kitchen start preparing your meal. The wait time was a little less than 10 minutes. Watching the dishes being prepared in the open kitchen gave me more felt trust in the food.
This is the Chicken Steak + Rice I ordered. The chicken, corn, and onions came on a hot plate, and it was served with a basic teriyaki sauce on top. Since I also ordered white rice, it came on a separate plate.
This is the medium-sized beef steak and rice. Although the amount of meat might look small in the photo, there was actually a lot of it. For an adult man, the medium-sized steak and rice alone are quite filling.
This is the butter topping I ordered. The butter is provided in a separate, packaged container. (The reason there’s only one butter pack for a “double butter” topping is because I forgot and ate one before taking the photo. ㅎㅎ.)
As soon as the meat came out, I sprinkled pepper on it to enhance the flavor. The sizzling sound was mouth-watering. The meat was very tender and cut easily with the knife, which was nice.
Rating: ★★★★☆, “Extremely affordable, but not cheap in flavor. Highly recommend on days you want to have a casual meal with meat in Seoul.”
I’ll end the first post on my blog here. This is my first time writing on a blog, so I know I have a lot to learn, but thank you for reading my first post. It’s a pleasure to have you here. I will fill this blog with everything a “Korean local” sees in Korea, and I’m confident that this first post will be remembered as a historic one when the blog grows.
Lastly, I will leave the restaurant’s location information and wrap up. Thank you for reading this long post.
Location Information