Seoul Botanic Park restaurant: hitsumabushi vs tori mabushi, Una Magok

So apparently my friend Dabokpangpang recently went to Nagoya and didn't eat hitsumabushi. (Dapangi... must've just been drinking the whole time, so young haha.) Well then, I had to show her the taste of Nagoya right here in Magok.

While looking for somewhere near Seoul Botanic Park to eat proper hitsumabushi, I found Una Magok.

Where is Una Magok? Directions, parking and hours

• 📍Location: 105-7 Magokjungang-ro, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, K-Square Magok Tower 2, 1st floor
• ⏰Hours: Daily 11:20–22:00 (break time 15:00–17:00)
• 🚗Parking: 1 hour 30 minutes free in the building

Exterior of the store

I drove over, and since Una Magok is in Tower 2, parking on this side is more convenient!

Una Magok, the place I found searching for proper hitsumabushi in Magok...!! The exterior alone was giving clean, upscale vibes.

The main menu items are hitsumabushi (Nagoya-style eel rice bowl) and tori mabushi (charcoal-grilled chicken rice bowl).

Inside Una Magok: is there a private room and a table for 6?

Interior of the store

The moment you walk in, you can watch the eel being grilled live. The lighting inside is exactly my taste, ugh... quite warm but clean, very Japanese-feeling.

There's also a room, which looks perfect for treating someone privately or having a gathering! Besides the 4-seat tables, there's a 6-seat table outside too, which looked great for a lunch work dinner!

What we ordered at Una Magok and the prices, plus kiosk refills

That day, Pangpang's team ordered hitsumabushi (small) for ₩32,000 and tori mabushi (charcoal-grilled chicken rice bowl) for ₩29,000. Refills can also be done via kiosk, which is convenient.

Oh, and to enjoy it properly, we all need to know the proper way to eat it hahaha. Hitsumabushi has three ways to eat it!

And then out came the full spread..! Now we're ready to eat. It came out so clean and easy to dig into.

This is the tori mabushi I ordered! Charcoal-grilled chicken brushed with sauce three times over real charcoal..!! You can tell just by looking that the portion is huge!

And this is the hitsumabushi Dabok ordered! It looks very similar to what I saw on my Nagoya trip before!!

But is it just me, or does this eel look even more tender and soft?

Four side dishes hidden under the bowl

If you lift the eel bowl! There are more side dishes underneath haha. They give you these cute little Japanese-style banchan.

The side dishes are cucumber salad, sweet potato salad, konjac, and mushroom salad, and the sweet potato salad is genuinely delicious. Definitely refill-worthy..!!!

The colors look so varied and clean at a glance, Una Magok feels perfect for a date or a blind date!!

How does the hitsumabushi taste? Eel and charcoal smoke

First I tried the eel with rice, no extras — the eel was soft and the sauce was salty-sweet, pairing perfectly with the rice!

Best of all, there was almost none of that typical fishy eel taste, and a subtle charcoal aroma came through, which I loved!! True to Nagoya-style hitsumabushi, you could really feel the care put into one bowl!

What does tori mabushi, the chicken bowl, taste like?

And this is the tori mabushi!! At first, since it's chicken on top instead of eel, it looked completely different from hitsumabushi!!

The chicken pieces are huge and glazed with a glossy tare sauce, so this one passes the visual test too hahaha.

Taking a bite, since the chicken was grilled over charcoal, you could really taste the subtle smoky flavor, and the chicken was chewy yet juicy inside!

I tried eating it the way the instructions describe, but honestly the chicken itself is so good it's delicious no matter how you eat it, ugh.

Ochazuke, the best part: how the eel and chicken broths differ

And now the true final boss of hitsumabushi and tori mabushi, ochazuke...!!!! Honestly, isn't this the whole reason you order hitsumabushi hahaha.

Put the eel into the empty bowl that comes with the set!

Then pour the warm broth over it in one go..! Wow, this is a completely different dish...!!!!

The eel is still soft, and eating it with the broth makes it so much lighter — even when full, your spoon just keeps going back for more, ugh.

You make ochazuke with the tori mabushi too! The broth here is different from the hitsumabushi one!! It's a milky white broth!!! I could tell it was going to be good before even tasting it.

For tori mabushi, you need to add the furikake on top too! Pretty impressive visually, right?

The chicken keeps its chewy texture, but overall it becomes much softer and lighter! If eel ochazuke felt soft and clean, tori mabushi felt like a bowl of restorative, nourishing food! Personally, I thought the tori mabushi ochazuke was even more delicious!!!

And at the end, if you ask for dessert, they give you green tea ice cream, which is the perfect palate cleanser.

Final verdict on Una Magok

Overall, the food was clean and the restaurant atmosphere was great, so Una Magok was good for a date or a gathering! The hitsumabushi was delicious too, but personally, the tori mabushi ochazuke was really my taste! Dabokpangpang, who missed out on hitsumabushi in Nagoya, got to eat properly here in Magok ^_^ hahaha.