No east-West beef here: Ye enjoys a kilo of hanwoo at Seoul restaurant

Kanye West ate over 800,000 won worth of Korean beef at a Seoul restaurant on Monday, with a clear preference for wasabi as the accompanying condiment.

Online community users uploaded sightings of Kanye West, otherwise known as Ye, entering a restauraunt in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Kanye West ate 800,000 won ($600) worth of hanwoo, or Korean beef, at a restaurant in Seoul on Monday night, and didn't pay for the meal.

It was instead paid for by the store’s hip-hop superfan owner, who told the Korea JoongAng Daily that the rapper has a clear preference when it comes to the condiment accompanying his beef: wasabi.

West, who had been staying in Korea after holding a concert in Gyeonggi last Friday, was seen leaving a restaurant in Seoul on Monday night. Users in online communities posted sightings of the Grammy-winning rapper entering Dosan Hoikwan, a hanwoo barbecue spot in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

The rapper, with one other companion, ate over 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of hanwoo in an hour, the restaurant’s owner said. He ordered a variety of dishes and cuts including beef tartare, tenderloin, ribeye, hanger steak and marinated short rib.

West “seemed to be a huge fan of freshly grated wasabi” as he repeatedly asked for more of the spicy condiment but didn’t ask for other side dishes, the owner said.

He reportedly ate with his $850,000 grills on.

“Ye is an artist I really like. It was an honor to serve him, and we were happy to treat him,” the restaurant’s owner said.

“We were touched to see him take care of the staff working for him, which included bodyguards and a driver, by making sure they also ate,” he added.

He and West went back and forth over the bill, but the rapper left the restaurant smiling after the owner insisted it was on the house.

West arrived in Korea on Aug 23., the same day he held a listening event titled “Vultures Listening Experience" as part of his ongoing promotion for his new album, “Vultures 2,” made in collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign. It was his first performance in Korea in 14 years, last coming in 2010 for the “Summer Week&T” music festival held at Naksan Beach in Yangyang County, Gangwon.

He similarly made barbecue restauraunt Deungbul Garden, located in Yangyang, go viral after visiting in 2010.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]