Gwanghwamun sushi, kaisendon and highball for two: Elephant Sushi

I was dying to eat sushi, but everyone kept telling me to hold off in this heat. I resisted and resisted, until I heard that this Gwanghwamun sushi spot — one of Seoul's top three sushi places — uses fresh live fish and top-grade ingredients delivered every day. So I trusted it and went to eat.

Location and parking for Elephant Sushi Gwanghwamun

Elephant Sushi Gwanghwamun is at 178 Sejong-daero, B1 B109-5, Jongno-gu, Seoul, open Monday through Sunday from 11:00 to 21:00 (break time 15:00–17:00).

You can park in the KT Tower basement lot, supported for up to 2 hours, but spaces are tight, so I'd recommend taking public transit if you can.

It's located underground in the KT Gwanghwamun Building West, connected to Gwanghwamun Station Exit 2 on Line 5, so access is really easy. There's an open kitchen where you can watch the sushi being made, and seating ranges from counter bar seats perfect for solo diners to 2-person and 4-person tables — making it a great Gwanghwamun restaurant for a date, a meetup with friends, a family gathering, or even a work dinner.

Tablet ordering and the menu lineup

You order through the tablet at each table. Soy sauce, pickled radish (rakkyo), cups, sauce plates, and napkins are all set out on the table, and there's even a coat hook right behind each seat.

The menu is packed with sushi sets, à la carte sushi, mixed sashimi platters, kaisendon, fried dishes, a kids' menu, and drinks — great whether you're after a Gwanghwamun lunch sushi spot or a dinner and drinks place.

What two sisters ordered for ₩69,000

• Elephant Sushi B set (12P + cold soba) ₩28,000
• Kaisendon ₩23,000
• Gakku highball ₩5,000
• Kirin draft beer ₩5,000
• Amberjack (2 pieces) ₩8,000
• Total ₩69,000

As soon as we ordered, they brought out a cabbage salad and a light soy-based soup to get our appetites going.

Then came the gakku highball 🥃 and Kirin draft beer 🍺 — so refreshing that the heat vanished after just one sip. The AC was blasting inside too, so it stayed cool all the way through our drinks.

Then everything we ordered came out all at once. As sushi-and-sashimi-loving sisters, we were happy before we'd even taken a bite. 三⊂( ・ ̫・)⊃💘💘💘

Elephant Sushi B set: 12 pieces + cold soba

First up was my order, the Elephant Sushi B set, which came with cold soba to cool us down too.

The set includes 12 pieces total — fresh white fish, salmon, shrimp, a blue-backed fish, tuna, ankimo (monkfish liver), amberjack, striped jack, and futomaki (thick sushi roll) — though the exact lineup can change day to day. Everything was made from fresh sashimi with no fishy smell, and the fish slices weren't thin at all, which was really satisfying.

Trying kaisendon for the first time — ₩23,000

My sister picked the kaisendon, and somehow she'd never had it before — so this Gwanghwamun spot became her first taste of it.

It's essentially sushi rice topped with white fish, tuna, salmon, amberjack, swordfish, sweet shrimp, salmon roe, flying fish roe, and egg — a rice bowl version of sushi, with the exact toppings subject to slight changes. The portion of raw fish was generous enough that you never end up with just plain rice at the bottom — sashimi lasts all the way to the last spoonful. ദ്ദി(៸៸›ᴗ‹៸៸ )

Beer and highball paired with sushi — enjoying that combo at a sushi spot near Gwanghwamun Station is just the best.

The cold soba that came with the set turned out to be a pretty generous portion, so my sister and I shared it.

She finished her bowl of kaisendon and still wanted more, so she added an order of amberjack sushi on top.

We wrapped up the meal by savoring the pieces of sushi and futomaki we'd each been saving for last.

It's close to Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Kyobo Bookstore, Gwanghwamun Square, and Gyeongbokgung Palace, so if you're planning a food date in the area, try Elephant Sushi Gwanghwamun for fresh sushi near Gwanghwamun Station. =͟͟͞͞( ∩ 'ヮ'=͟͟͞͞) ੭ु⁾⁾