Woochampan Seorae Village: Premium Beef for Special Occasions

2024-01-09 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

A former coworker made a lot of money from stock options at their new company, so we had a celebration party. I gritted my teeth and tried to take them somewhere incredibly expensive, but for various reasons, we settled on Woochampan. Not that Woochampan is cheap... It's only cheaper than a hotel; it's still a really expensive place. Anyway, I visited with a heart full of congratulations.

Dark-colored restaurant entrance wall with the word Uchampan written on it and a fire hydrant

Woochampan is especially great for gatherings because they provide private rooms even for small groups, allowing for an intimate get-together. Plus, corkage is free for the first bottle. Of course, most restaurants charging these prices probably offer free corkage anyway.

Restaurant table setting with a cast iron pan topped with potatoes and various side dishes

The celebration kicked off as our ordered special sirloin arrived alongside the neatly prepared mitbanchan (side dishes). We opened the whiskey and wine we brought and dug into the meat. The servers expertly grill the meat for you, so there's no need to worry about ruining such expensive cuts. I'm not sure who started the trend, but all the high-end beef restaurants use cast-iron skillets these days, which I personally feel makes it taste a bit better.

The quality of the meat is naturally excellent—it just melts in your mouth. Beef can get a bit heavy if you eat too much of it, but it was still delicious enough to completely empty the host's wallet.

Thick raw beef and thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms placed with rosemary on a wooden cutting board

A thick piece of beef being grilled with potato slices and beef fat on a cast iron pan

Beef with a seared exterior cut into several pieces and placed on a cast iron pan with potatoes

A piece of well-cooked beef held up with chopsticks

Raw beef with clear marbling and sliced shiitake mushrooms placed on a wooden cutting board

Beef, garlic, mushrooms, and potatoes being grilled on a black cast iron pan

A piece of well-grilled beef held up with chopsticks with a wine glass visible in the background

A piece of well-grilled beef held up with chopsticks and side dishes on the table

After who knows how many orders, we couldn't possibly eat any more grilled meat, so we switched to yukhoe (Korean beef tartare). Pairing the beef tartare with Kavalan whiskey was absolutely fantastic. I only recently learned that Taiwan produces such great whiskey, but apparently, it's already famous among drinkers, making it hard to find and quite expensive now. Personally, I highly recommend whiskey with yuksashimi (raw beef slices), though that's just my preference.

Five pieces of red raw meat neatly arranged on a black plate with sauce and wasabi

Yukhoe (raw beef tartare) shaped into a ball on top of julienned pears, sprinkled with pine nuts and sesame seeds

People sitting around a table clinking their glasses in a toast

At premium beef spots like Woochampan, you always have to finish the meal with fried rice. After eating nothing but protein and fat, you naturally crave carbs, and fried rice made with beef fat tastes incredible. However, Woochampan's fried rice falls a bit short compared to other places. I'm not sure why, but it feels like it lacks a bit of MSG. It just doesn't have that addictive, savory kick.

Kkakdugi bokkeumbap (radish kimchi fried rice) in a black cast iron pan being mixed with two spoons

Bingsu (shaved ice dessert) in a stainless steel bowl topped with red bean paste and condensed milk

The fact that they don't have branch locations yet suggests they might not be in the top three premium beef restaurants, but honestly, premium beef tastes pretty similar wherever you go, so I think it's more of a branding and marketing issue. There are plenty of beef restaurants in Gangnam and Yeouido, but if you're having a gathering around Banpo (a neighborhood in Seoul), this is a place worth recommending.