Gangnam eel restaurant with umeboshi ade: Unagiwa

Gangnam hitsumabushi for a little taste of Japan

The yen has dropped so much lately, and I’ve been dying to go to Japan! But since I can’t just go right away, I went to Unagiwa for hitsumabushi to soak up a little Japanese atmosphere instead!

They are regularly closed every Saturday and Sunday, and open Monday through Friday from 11:00 to 21:00, with a break from 15:00 to 17:00.

I remembered the eel rice bowl I had in Fukuoka being seriously, seriously delicious, so I wanted to try a proper one in Korea too. Then I found Unagiwa, a restaurant around Gangnam and Yeoksam that is famous for eel rice bowls > < I booked it right away and went! So good~~~

Unagiwa was about a five-minute walk, give or take, from Yeoksam Station. I found it in no time! It’s close~~~

Even the exterior had that upscale, popular-restaurant feel, haha. It had a Japanese vibe too, and I wanted to get inside and eat already, so in we gooo > <

A tidy interior and what we ordered

As soon as we sat down, they gave us wet wipes, water, and cups! The restaurant was super clean too, so it felt really comfortable.

There were Japanese alcoholic drinks along the wall, which made the Japanese atmosphere feel even stronger~~~ I came because going to Japan is difficult right now and I wanted a little taste of it, but it only made me want to go even more, hahaha.

Unagiwa menu

We ordered two hitsumabushi (eel rice bowls) at ₩38,000 each and two umeboshi ades at ₩3,000 each! There was no need to deliberate > <

While waiting, I looked at the smart-order tablet and saw that Unagiwa uses only eel certified by the government as antibiotic-free... Amazing 💚 They also operate their own fish farm, Jaeyeol Susan, on Ganghwa Island, which made it feel even more trustworthy and had me even more, more, more excited > <

There was also a guide on how to enjoy it, so I took a photo as soon as it came out~~ hahaha. I was going to follow it while eating, but the staff explained everything too, you know? Hahaha.

Umeboshi ade and how to eat hitsumabushi

The umeboshi ade came first! I was so curious about this~~~~~~ They said umeboshi is a plum preserved in salt? I took a sip as soon as it arrived, and it was so delicious!!!!

Then they said it tastes even better if you pop the plum after drinking some, so I did that too~~~~ It was perfect to take a sip when the eel started to feel just a tiny bit rich! So nice to drink~~

Ta-da~~~ The food arrived, and the presentation is no joke, right!!! I went wow... as soon as I saw it. The bowl was so generously filled, and it looked incredibly delicious.

They said this was delicious drizzled on separately too, so I saved the plum sauce for last and poured it on then.

They gave each of us a little rice paddle, haha. You use it to scoop the eel and rice into the bowl beside you and eat it~~~

Enjoy it plain, then as ochazuke

Ahh... First, eat it plain! The eel was unbelievably tender... There were no bones, and it went down so smoothly. The portion was generous too, just right even for men~~~

For the second way, it was delicious to pour in the hot tea they gave us and make ochazuke (rice in tea broth)! I added shredded seaweed and perilla leaf and ate it together.

This was the way I liked best. I love ochazuke > < I scraped up every last bit, broth and all.

At the end, I mixed it with the plum sauce too~~~~~ Everything was so delicious that I kept marveling while eating and saying I didn’t even need to go to Japan, hahaha.

For a final palate cleanser, I had the steamed egg too. It was seriously soft, and the mushrooms on top added a nutty bite—I scraped up every bit~~~~ I was so full by the end. It had been a while since I’d had an eel rice bowl at such a good restaurant, so I was in the best mood and left after a truly delicious meal. I totally recommend this eel rice bowl restaurant near Gangnam Station and Yeoksam Stationnn!