Nowon sushi buffet after 10 years: rainy Wednesday dinner at Kuu Kuu

I hear Kuu Kuu is hot right now? Today I went to Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch (쿠우쿠우 노원점), the Hagye Station restaurant that has completely taken over my algorithm!

Honestly, sushi at a buffet is usually not fresh and often tastes fishy... But Kuu Kuu Nowon in Hagye-dong had a really wide variety of dishes, and the sushi quality was much better than I expected! So here is my honest review of my own visit.

Where is Kuu Kuu Nowon, and where do you park?

Kuu Kuu Nowon is at 247 Nowon-ro, 6th floor, Nowon-gu, Seoul, and it is open 11:00–21:30 every day. Groups are welcome, and you get 2 hours of free parking in the Seoul Oncheon Building underground lot.

It is a 7-minute walk from Exit 2 of Hagye Station, so if you come by public transport, it is not far from the subway. Just turn on your map and walk a little and you will find it quickly. Even my friend, who has no sense of direction, found it in one go. And if you drive, you get 2 hours of free parking in the Seoul Oncheon Building underground lot behind the building, so no need to worry haha. This area is actually quite tricky for parking, so this convenience makes it so easy to visit!

Rainy Wednesday at 6pm: is there a wait at Kuu Kuu Nowon?

I arrived at Kuu Kuu Nowon around 6pm on Wednesday, and maybe because it was pouring outside, there was no wait and a moderate number of customers! Thanks to that, I could eat in a relaxed atmosphere haha.

The interior feels clean overall, so I thought it would be perfect for a family meal or a date. The areas are divided up nicely and spaciously, so even at busy hours it doesn't seem like traffic would get tangled or chaotic! You can see they keep hygiene and cleanliness under careful control inside, so my trust went way up even before eating. It's a Hagye-dong favorite for good reason.

Kuu Kuu Nowon buffet prices and drinks

Prices at Kuu Kuu Nowon were ₩27,900 for weekday lunch, ₩31,900 for weekday dinner, and ₩35,900 on weekends and holidays. Sushi buffets these days usually run about ₩35,000–₩40,000 on weekends. I compared other places, and Kuu Kuu was an easy-on-the-wallet, reasonably priced sushi buffet.

Kuu Kuu Nowon sells a wider range of alcohol than I expected! Soju and beer are the basics, plus sake and even wine! Soju and beer are ₩4,900, sake ₩35,900, and wine ₩29,900, not expensive at all.

What's on the menu at Kuu Kuu Nowon?

The menu at Kuu Kuu Nowon was truly at the level of "I didn't know what you'd like, so I prepared everything." True to a sushi and roll buffet, the sushi corner stretched on and on.

Starting from basic raw fish sushi like flatfish, salmon and tuna, there was beef tartare sushi (yukhoe), eel sushi, and octopus-wasabi gunkan (seaweed-wrapped sushi). The variety was huge!!! This is why you come to a sushi buffet haha.

Beyond that, it was full of seafood dishes like steamed crab, steamed shrimp and salmon steak,

and the Western corner with pizza and pasta was well stocked too.

There were many kinds of fresh salad, great for cleansing the palate, and the dessert corner had waffles, cake slices, egg tarts, fruit, and even bead-shaped ice cream.

With this lineup, you don't even need a café afterward. Is that why it's famous as a family gathering spot in Nowon..? With a big group, it's hard to go to a café too!!

How the sushi and hot dishes tasted

At Kuu Kuu Nowon I piled my plate high with salmon sushi, raw shrimp sushi, beef tataki sushi and more. The rice portion isn't too big and the fish on top was fresh, so I really liked it!

The salmon especially went down smoothly without any fishy taste, and I lost count of how many times I went back for more. haha. The sauce on the rolls wasn't overdone and had a nice savory depth, so I thought, yes, this really is a famous Hagye-dong spot.

Next I tried the hot dishes. The meat dishes weren't tough and the seasoning had soaked in well, so even without rice they weren't salty and tasted great!

It warms up your insides too!

Dessert at Kuu Kuu Nowon: cake, watermelon and melon

My stomach felt like it was about to burst, but there's a separate stomach for dessert, right? I usually skip buffet cake because it doesn't suit my taste, but the cake at Kuu Kuu Nowon looks different from the start. It's so good. The watermelon and melon were really fresh too, so I could finish the meal on a refreshing note.

Back at Kuu Kuu Nowon after 10 years: verdict

It's been about 10 years since I last came to Kuu Kuu, and it still doesn't disappoint! I wonder why I haven't come more often. True to its name as a premium buffet, the quality of each dish holds up, and I ate my fill, so the weekday dinner price was not a waste at all.

Not just sushi lovers but also people who can't eat raw food can enjoy plenty of dishes, so whoever you come with, you can have a satisfying meal without anyone being left out. Kuu Kuu Nowon is spacious and comfortable, so I plan to visit again for a family gathering.