In the winter of 2024, a rapper walked into a third-floor dining room in Jongno carrying two bottles of Glenfiddich. The rapper was Choiza — one half of Dynamic Duo, and, in Korean food circles, something of a byword for a discerning palate. The room was KUT SEOUL, a Hanwoo omakase tucked above the Tom N Toms café at 96 Jongno, its windows facing Tapgol Park. The bottles were Glenfiddich 18 Year Old and the newly released Glenfiddich 30 Year Old from the Time Re:Imagined collection.
The visit was the tenth episode of Glenfiddich Corkage, an ongoing content series by William Grant & Sons Korea that pairs a single-malt from a guest's own bottle with a curated tasting menu at a Seoul restaurant. Bae Dae-won, Glenfiddich's Korean ambassador, hosted the pairing alongside Choiza. Within weeks of release, the video had drawn 720,000 views, cementing KUT SEOUL's place on the short list of Korean fine-dining rooms where a serious dram belongs beside the beef.
This is a look at what happened in that room — the drams, the dishes, the pairing logic — and how any guest can walk in with their own bottle of Glenfiddich and sit down to something close to the same evening.
What is the Glenfiddich Corkage series?
Glenfiddich Corkage is a video series in which the whisky brand visits a Seoul restaurant with a guest — a musician, a chef, an actor — and pairs its single-malts with the kitchen's menu. William Grant & Sons Korea's Glenfiddich launched the series to promote whisky corkage culture, borrowing the wine-world term "cork charge" — the practice of paying a fee to bring your own bottle to a restaurant, which now extends beyond wine to whisky and even makgeolli.
Each episode centres on a specific pairing philosophy. The very first episode of Glenfiddich Corkage paired the Time Series 30 Year Old with beef, and the format has since travelled through French tasting menus at The Shilla's Continental, contemporary Japanese cooking at Yield Cheongdam, and — with Choiza — a full-blooded Hanwoo omakase in Jongno.
By the time the KUT SEOUL episode aired, the series had built its own following. Glenfiddich's tenth Corkage episode with rapper Choiza drew more than 720,000 views, with ambassador Bae Dae-won and Choiza pairing Glenfiddich 18 and Glenfiddich 30 with a range of meat and seafood dishes at KUT, a traditional Hanwoo omakase in Jongno, Seoul.
Who is Choiza, and why does his palate matter?
Choiza — real name Choi Jae-ho — is best known outside Korea as one half of the hip-hop duo Dynamic Duo. Within Korea, he is equally well known as one of the country's most credible celebrity gourmands, the host of the YouTube food series *Choiza Road* (최자로드) produced with Hypebeast Korea, and a longstanding fixture in Seoul's fine-dining scene.
His brief in the Glenfiddich video was not to sell anything so much as to *react*. Choiza tastes carefully, comments precisely, and — crucially — collects whisky. In the video, Choiza mentioned that he personally keeps a bottle of Glenfiddich 30 Year Old at home, saving it for a good day. That kind of endorsement, offered in passing rather than pitched, is why brands seek him out.
The room: KUT SEOUL, above Tapgol Park
The restaurant chosen for the episode occupies the third floor of Hanol Tower, above the Tom N Toms café, on the north side of Jongno. It is a reservation-only Hanwoo omakase with a chef's counter for eight and five private rooms seating up to twelve.
3F Hanol Tower, 96 Jongno — 3 minutes from Jongno 3-ga Station (Lines 1·3·5) Exit 15 or Jonggak Station (Line 1) Exit 4; next to Tapgol Park; 20–25 minutes on foot from Gyeongbokgung.
Lunch 11:30–15:00 (last order 14:30), dinner 17:30–22:00 (last order 19:30), closed Tuesdays.
The interior draws on the same design vocabulary as many of Jongno's newer fine-dining spaces — low lighting, warm timber, quiet stone — but the reason it works on camera is the same reason it works over dinner: the room is calm. Each table has been placed with privacy in mind, and the third-floor windows give onto Tapgol Park, the small pagoda park where the March First Independence Movement was declared in 1919.
The whiskies: Glenfiddich 18 and Glenfiddich 30 Year Old Time Series
Two Glenfiddich expressions appeared in the KUT SEOUL episode. The Glenfiddich 18 Year Old — a Speyside single-malt matured in a combination of ex-bourbon American oak and Oloroso sherry casks — is the workhorse of a serious dram cabinet: dried fruit, baked apple, a whisper of oak spice. It pours easily and pairs generously.
The headline bottle was the newer of the two. The Glenfiddich Time Series 30 Year Old paired in the video is part of the Time Re:Imagined collection released the previous year. Overseen by Glenfiddich's sixth Malt Master, Brian Kinsman, the Time Series 30 captures the moment a whisky's maturation is halted at bottling — a study in restraint after three decades in oak.
A useful shorthand for the pairing logic: the 18 does the work of seafood and lighter meat courses, while the 30 is reserved for the deepest, most marbled cuts.
| Whisky | Character | Paired with |
|---|---|---|
| Glenfiddich 18 Year Old | Speyside, sherry-and-bourbon cask, dried fruit and orchard notes | Lobster sashimi, carpaccio, wild ginseng, caviar beef tartare, abalone |
| Glenfiddich 30 Year Old (Time Series) | 30-year Speyside, restrained oak, long honeyed finish | Châteaubriand and truffle, striploin, skirt steak, chuck flap sukiyaki, tenderloin sandwich |
The pairing, dish by dish
KUT SEOUL's kitchen did not build a special menu for the shoot. The dishes that appeared in the video are the same courses regular guests are served, drawn from the 13-dish Signature Course and the 15-dish Royal Course. What the episode did was propose a route through them, glass in hand.
The pairing moved through lobster sashimi, carpaccio, wild ginseng and Avruga caviar beef tartare, abalone, Châteaubriand and truffle, striploin, skirt steak, chuck flap sukiyaki and a tenderloin sandwich, plating each dish with restraint and treating each as its own moment against the whisky.
A few pairings deserve a closer look.
The lobster sashimi, sliced from a live lobster and finished with caviar, is the opening statement of the Royal Course — a course reserved for the private rooms. Paired with the 18, the whisky's orchard fruit lifts the sweetness of the shellfish rather than fighting it.
The wild ginseng and Avruga caviar beef tartare — a signature of the 13-dish Signature Course — is where KUT SEOUL's kitchen shows its hand. The bitterness of ginseng, the mineral punch of Avruga, the clean fat of raw Hanwoo: the 18 threads between all three.
The Châteaubriand with truffle is the anchor of the meal, cut from the eye of the tenderloin. With the Glenfiddich 30, this is the point of the evening. Thirty years in oak against four weeks in vacuum — long time on both sides of the pairing, meeting in a single bite.
The skirt steak (안창살) and chuck flap sukiyaki (살치살) close the beef arc, moving from the leanest premium cut to the richest. Both benefit from the 30's honeyed finish, which lengthens the aftertaste without adding weight.
The evening finishes with a tenderloin sandwich — a small, warm, unassuming closer that is often the dish guests describe first when asked what they remember.
The beef: how KUT SEOUL ages its Hanwoo
BMS No. 9 Hanwoo, vacuum (wet) aged four weeks — not dry-aged. Grades run 3/2/1/1+/1++; since December 2019, 1++ covers marbling scores 7–9 and the number is displayed. KUT serves No. 9 only.
The distinction matters when a whisky sits at the table. Dry-aged beef, with its concentrated funk and dry crust, tends to overwhelm delicate spirits. Wet-aged BMS No. 9 Hanwoo, by contrast, keeps its natural fat intact and gains tenderness rather than intensity — which is why an aged Speyside can meet it without either partner losing its shape. Guests curious about the reasoning behind the four-week wet-aging can read our full note on why KUT SEOUL wet-ages rather than dry-ages.
Can you recreate the Choiza pairing?
Yes — and this is the point of the Glenfiddich Corkage series in the first place. KUT SEOUL welcomes outside whisky under a fixed corkage policy: ₩100,000 per bottle for whisky or Champagne, one bottle per party. Bring your own Glenfiddich 18 or, if the occasion warrants, a 30 Year Old, and the kitchen will pour it against the same courses that appeared on camera.
A few practical notes for a pairing dinner:
- The full lobster-and-Châteaubriand arc that appeared in the video draws on both the Signature Course and the Royal Course. Both are served in the private rooms only.
- The counter serves the Posh Course in the evenings — an eleven-dish route through tenderloin, sirloin and select premium cuts that pairs beautifully with an 18-year expression.
- For a room, plan on three hours from welcoming tea to dessert. Ask for a 17:30 or 18:00 seating rather than a later start.
KUT SEOUL: Bar 8 dishes ₩69,000 (weekday lunch, counter only, 80 min) · Posh 11 ₩175,000 · Signature 13 ₩210,000 · Royal 15 ₩280,000 · Kids ₩45,000 (ages 7 and under). Signature and Royal are private-room only; Posh is also served in a private room at weekday lunch (counter at weekday dinner and on weekends and holidays).
For guests weighing which course fits the occasion, our first-timer's guide to choosing a Hanwoo omakase course walks through the trade-offs in more detail.
How do you book the same table?
Reservation only, through CatchTable or Naver. Deposit is 100% of the order; cancellation is free two days before, 50% one day before, none on the day.
When writing the reservation, three notes are worth including up front: that you plan to bring a bottle of whisky (so the room can chill glassware and set out water), any allergies to be worked into the course, and — if the occasion calls for it — a lettering message for the dessert plate, which the kitchen provides at no charge.
Guests planning to bring a full bottle should also be aware that the corkage rule allows one bottle per party. Two guests with two bottles of Glenfiddich is a conversation for another visit.
Ending Your Day in Jongno
The Glenfiddich Corkage episode with Choiza did more than promote a whisky. It documented, on camera, a small idea that Jongno has been living quietly for a while: that a serious Hanwoo omakase and a serious single-malt can share a table without either apologising for the other. Bring the bottle, book the room, and see for yourself.
To reserve a table at KUT SEOUL, visit kutseoul.com.
