It took a trip to Philly (and authentic hoagie rolls) for this cheesesteak shop in Seoul to thrive

SEOUL, South Korea — Nestled on a side street alongside high-end boutiques in Seoul’s bustling Sinsa neighborhood lies an unexpected slice of Philadelphia: an authentic cheesesteak shop.

Signposted by an American flag that waves in the wind, Wiir Philadelphia welcomes Koreans and tourists alike to indulge in Philadelphia’s signature sandwich with a dash of the city’s all-encompassing — and often misunderstood — sports culture on the side. A flat-screen TV airing Phillies games sits on the wall in the intimate bar, which is lined with man cave-esque levels of Philly sports memorabilia, from personalized Philadelphia Eagles jerseys to pennants for seemingly every major, minor, and collegiate sports team in the region.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Henry Jeong, a former product manager at Samsung who lived in Philadelphia for 10 years and studied at Penn State University, and his business partner Adam Choi.

During regular trips to Pyeongtaek — a South Korean city with a U.S. military presence — Jeong visited a restaurant that sold cheesesteaks. Almost immediately, he said, memories of enjoying sandwiches on seeded rolls overflowing with shaved ribeye at John’s Roast Pork flooded back. Jeong saw a gap in the market in Seoul. What if, he thought, there was a way to bring a taste of home back to the capital?

Jeong opened Wiir Philadelphia in 2022. It was not an immediate success, said Jeong, who had to sell his car and stock portfolio to keep the business afloat. When Wiir first opened, Jeong struggled to market his cheesesteaks since their price — ₩16,000 ($10.60) — was higher than what many Koreans were used to spending on sandwiches. The recipe also had its own set of problems. Jeong’s first hoagie rolls were too “pale,” he said, and kept coming out in “a weird shape.”

So Jeong and his head chef, Joon Lee — who lived in Philly for five years while working at Korean and Mexican restaurants — returned home.

“I went back to Philly and I just thought to myself, ‘What am I doing in Korea?’ I’m selling garbage food and pretending I’m selling authentic cheesesteaks,” Jeong said. “I had to change. My goal is to make a sandwich that, if you served it in Philly, they’d say, ‘That’s a nice cheesesteak!’”

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During his trip back to Philly in 2023, Jeong had met with the owners of Angelo’s and Del Rossi’s — two of the city’s Michelin-honored cheesesteak shops — to soak up as much knowledge as he could to bring back to Korea. Jeong said he learned that the best cheesesteak shops in Philly either bake their own rolls or source from classic Italian bakeries.

“Bread is everything, said Jeong. Still, he said, mastering the hoagie roll was Wiir’s biggest hurdle to success.

In Korea, most bread is sugary and served more often as a dessert or snack instead of for sandwiches. At Seoul’s other cheesesteak shops, Jeong said, this lends itself to softer and less traditional rolls.

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It took four years of experimentation and research trips to Philadelphia and Japan, where Jeong spent time with the Philly-obsessed owners of the acclaimed Nihombashi Philly sandwich shop, to create a bread Jeong is proud of. Similar to Del Rossi’s, Wiir’s seeded rolls are baked on-site daily and involve a 48-hour cold fermentation process.

Now, Wiir’s cheesesteaks look like the real deal: Served on an 8-inch roll with a smattering of seeds, the sandwich arrives in a basket with a side of thin-cut beef tallow fries and is packed with USDA Prime Ribeye, sautéed onions, and Whiz. The bread especially stands out. It’s fresh, slightly crusty, and salty with enough heft to not smush under the weight of its filling.

The change has led to effusive praise.

“This isn’t as close as it gets to the real thing. This is the real thing,” said Ian Barnes, a Philadelphia native who moved to Seoul to become an English teacher. After many failed attempts at finding a passable cheesesteak, Barnes said he became a regular at Wiir. The restaurant reminds him of a college frat house. It’s “the kind of place you bring Korean co-workers when you want to give them a real taste of America,” he said.

After Wiir’s initial financial difficulties, Jeong said he was contemplating whether to cut his losses and close up shop. Then in 2025, he was handed a lifeline when Shinsegae — one of the biggest department store brands in Korea — offered him a one-year deal inside their ritzy Gangnam location. They opened in August.

Jeong said opening the second location proved that authentic cheesesteaks could be successful in Seoul. Getting his new customers to think of it as its own sandwich, however, has been a different story.

“Korean people will come here and ask for a ‘cheesesteak hotdog or burger’ because they’re not familiar with the sandwich itself,” said Jeong. “But, at the end of the day, food explains itself. If they like it, they will come back.”