Eel pot rice restaurant at Gardenfive: whole eel after work, Gomemui

You can feel the care in even a single spoonful of pot rice, and an ordinary meal turns into one you remember. Hearty pot rice, crispy tonkatsu and rich curry! Gomemui is where I went when I wanted a proper meal at Gardenfive.

Where is Gomemui Hyundai Gardenfive?

Gomemui Hyundai Gardenfive is on the B1 floor of Gardenfive at Jangji Station (장지역), close to Munjeong in Songpa. It's a good place to eat while shopping or hanging out at Gardenfive, and even the storefront felt neat and tidy.

I'm told the name Gomemui comes from the French word for "gourmet," meaning they want to turn even a single meal into a special experience with a gourmet's sensibility.

Their philosophy of starting from a single grain of rice and offering a one-of-a-kind taste and quality left an impression. In front of the shop, the menu is laid out nicely with photos. With pot rice, tonkatsu, udon and more, there's something for every taste.

They say they use fresh seasonal ingredients and try to offer new dishes every season! And what caught my eye: they use rice koji in every menu item to make healthy meals~!

Is Gomemui Gardenfive okay with kids?

Inside Gomemui Hyundai Gardenfive, they have baby tableware and high chairs too. When you eat out with a child, this stuff matters more than you'd think, right? I liked that they've thoughtfully prepared so even families with small kids can eat comfortably.

Gomemui's signature dishes and how to order

Gomemui's signature dishes are Japanese-style premium pot rice, tonkatsu and udon. They say the pot rice is made with a blend of top-grade rice, and the tonkatsu is aged at low temperature with salt koji to keep it juicy. The udon is prepared with house-made tsuyu (noodle sauce) and broth and top-quality noodles, carefully made every day!

You order easily with the tablet set up on each table.

What I ordered: eel pot rice and tonkatsu Ichiban curry

• ✔️ Tonkatsu Ichiban curry ₩15,000
• ✔️ Eel pot rice ₩23,000

I ordered pot rice and curry katsu together. They're two dishes with different charms, so I was looking forward to both!

What does Gomemui's eel pot rice (₩23,000) look like?

The eel pot rice came out first. Gomemui's eel pot rice pairs mild freshwater eel with pot rice made from a blend of top-grade rice, and with a whole eel lying on top of the rice, it looked really appetizing from the start.

Alongside the rice come mustard leaf kimchi, seed jeotgal (salted seafood), salted pollock roe and pickled ginger as side dishes, plus warm miso soup. They also gave me a separate broth so I could enjoy the eel pot rice in a special way!

How to eat the eel pot rice

I recommend not mixing the rice and eel together from the start❣️ Just put a piece of eel on the fluffy rice and eat them together; the eel's mild flavor and the nuttiness of the rice went together really well.

With a whole eel on top, there was plenty to enjoy, and it also went nicely with sides like mustard leaf kimchi and salted pollock roe.

They also gave a generous amount of eel sauce on the side for dipping, and anyway, the eel was just so, so tender🫶🏻 I was so worn out from work that day, and I was like, I really want eel.. One spoonful of Gomemui's eel pot rice and the whole day's hardship melted away~~🥰

Enjoyed it with all the different sides, and even the last tail is mine🤎

Finishing the eel pot rice: like scorched rice instead of ochazuke

When about a third of the rice and eel is left, you can move it to a bowl, add wasabi and shredded seaweed, and pour in the warm broth to enjoy it as ochazuke (rice in tea or broth) for a different twist. That way you enjoy the natural flavor of the eel and pot rice first, then finish softly with warm broth, or so I'm told.

But we just ate it like scorched-rice pot rice, and that was really delicious too, hehe. One dish, two ways to eat it, so I totally recommend Gomemui's pot rice!!

How does Gomemui's tonkatsu Ichiban curry (₩15,000) taste?

Next was the tonkatsu Ichiban curry. It's a tasty-looking tonkatsu cutlet on top of rich curry, and just from the color of the curry, it looked deep and delicious, so I was excited.

The curry was smooth with a rich flavor. It wasn't too harsh but still had depth, so it was great with rice. And the tonkatsu was truly crispy outside, juicy inside!

The outside was fried crisp and the inside was moist and tender. Since it's a cut with no fat, I could eat it light without feeling greasy, which I think made it go even better with the curry!

If you want pot rice and tonkatsu together at Gardenfive

What impressed me about Gomemui is that they put care into the ingredients and cooking even for a single meal. If you want a hearty meal after shopping at Gardenfive, or you're looking for a place near Munjeong and Jangji to have pot rice and tonkatsu together, I recommend Gomemui Hyundai Gardenfive :)