Jonggak sushi brunch: 16-piece top set and kaisendon, Choe Uyeong

I went to Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch (최우영스시야 종로점), famous for great sushi in Jonggak, and ate assorted sushi sets, a very special kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) and a refreshing shrimp tempura udon! 🔥 It's a weekday office-worker lunch favorite and a weekend date favorite 💛 so let me introduce this Jonggak sushi spot.

Solo meals or group lunches at Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch?

The restaurant has both solo-diner tables and roomy group tables. Since Jongno and Jonggak are full of office workers who eat alone on weekdays, the solo tables were really well prepared. Even though I went on a weekend, there were plenty of people eating alone!

The group tables are also nice and wide, so a company group lunch works perfectly 👍🏻

Menu at Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch

There's a wide variety of sushi and sashimi, so even if you come with several people, everyone can eat to their own taste. There are lots of side single-item dishes too, so plenty to add on 😉

Basic table setting

The basic setting is neat and tidy! And it comes with a clear, refreshing broth 😉

Weekend brunch order: 16-piece top sushi, special kaisendon, shrimp tempura udon

My boyfriend and I ordered the 16-piece top sushi set, the special kaisendon, the shrimp tempura udon, plus single pieces of sea bream and monkfish liver gunkan (seaweed-wrapped sushi).

I'd vowed to come to this Jonggak sushi place first thing and skipped breakfast, so I ordered everything I wanted ✨ Looking at the table full of sushi, I felt full before even eating!!!!!! The fish was seriously thick 👍🏻

What's in the 16-piece top sushi set?

True to a 16-piece top set, it was packed with all kinds of cuts....! Not a single repeat, what perfection 👍🏻

The thick slices of fish on the rice, and the fish cut so big you can't even see the rice... before I'd even tasted it, it was a 100% pass 👍🏻

Scallop, flounder, sea bream, salmon, sea urchin roe, tuna, eel, small squid, abalone, sweet shrimp and more. It was basically everything I love in one set.... Okay, enough photos, let's eat quickly 💕

The moment I popped one piece of top sushi in my mouth, the chewy texture of the fish hit first! It was so fresh, chewy and springy, filling my whole mouth, getting nuttier the more I chewed, with a faint scent of the sea, and the lightly tangy rice balanced the seasoning so, so well.....!

I really love raw fish and seafood and eat it often,,, and I wonder why I only found out about Choe Uyeong Sushiya today,,, it's truly a life-changing sushi place 💛

Single pieces: sea bream and monkfish liver gunkan

For single pieces we ordered monkfish liver gunkan and sea bream. My boyfriend happily ate the monkfish liver, and I enjoyed the chewy, clean-tasting sea bream...!

ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ seriously insanely delicious x10000000

Special kaisendon at Choe Uyeong Sushiya: portion and taste

The special kaisendon 🐟 has sashimi piled high over the rice, so much that I wondered if one grown woman could finish it alone. Wow..... is this real, how does it look like that on top of rice

Is this the bottom of the sea? haha It looked like that. They really heaped it on,,, and I was amazed again by the freshness and thickness of every piece of sashimi.

Mix it all up, wrap it in seaweed and eat it, and you get the fragrant sea scent and salty soy sauce together in one bite, pure deliciousness.

Of course my love for sea bream showed up in the kaisendon too haha so chewy,, just springy through and through ㅠ

Shrimp tempura udon with the sushi

I ordered the shrimp tempura udon because it felt like we needed some broth, and it was seriously generous haha First, the portion is huge,,,, so hearty I wondered if the price was right.

A bite of shrimp in the cool udon broth. The tender shrimp meat, the refreshing broth and the springy udon noodles all came together perfectly. Right down to the last bit of udon, it was perfect 👍🏻

Location of Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch

Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch is at Unit 104, B1F, 7 Jongno 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Recommended for a weekday Jonggak office lunch, or a weekend date or brunch when you want to eat your fill of thick-cut sushi!