Seolleung sushi bar for kuruma prawn and cucumber shiso salad: Sakai
In short
Sakai is a sushi sakaba on Yeoksam-ro 67-gil near Seolleung Station in Gangnam, Seoul, where instead of a chef-led omakase you write the cuts you want on a Post-it and order them one piece at a time. The writer booked ahead and worked through sea bream, flounder, mackerel, horse mackerel, mottled squid, scallop, kuruma prawn, sweet shrimp, abalone, needlefish, benjari, akami, engawa and egg nigiri with a cucumber shiso salad and Suntory draft beer, and the kuruma prawn and the cucumber shiso salad were the standouts. Sakai's red-vinegar rice had a balanced tang and light seasoning, putting it above the usual entry-level sushi bar.
Good to know
- Address
- 15 Yeoksam-ro 67-gil, 1F Unit 101, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
- Hours
- 17:00 - 01:00
- Reservations
- Available through Naver Reservation
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Parking
- Not available
- Seating
- Counter seats with a view of the sushi chef at work, plus tables
- Sea bream / Flounder
- 3,700 won each
- Mackerel / Horse mackerel
- 4,500 won each
- Mottled squid / Scallop
- 5,300 won each
- Kuruma prawn
- 12,000 won
- Sweet shrimp / Akami
- 4,500 won each
- Abalone
- 8,000 won
- Needlefish
- 3,700 won
- Benjari (chicken grunt)
- 4,500 won
- Egg
- 2,900 won
- Cucumber shiso salad
- 8,000 won
- Suntory draft beer
- 10,000 won
- Price reference
- ₩8,000 ≈ $5.8 · ₩10,000 ≈ $7.2 · ₩3,700 ≈ $2.7 (2026-09-20)
as written by the visitor on Sep 19, 2026
A space for okonomi-style sushi and small dishes
- Address: 15 Yeoksam-ro 67-gil, 1F 101, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
- Hours: 17:00 - 01:00
- Naver Reservation available
- No pets allowed
- No parking
What kind of place is Sakai? A Seolleung sushi sakaba where you pick every piece
I visited Sakai, a sushi sakaba and izakaya near Seolleung Station in Gangnam, after making a reservation. Places run this way seem to be called sushi sakaba. Unlike omakase, where the chef serves whatever comes next in the flow, here you can request the sushi you want and eat it piece by piece. You get to eat while the shari (vinegared rice) is still at the right temperature, and the sushi quality was great, so I'd recommend it to anyone who loves sushi.
Inside Sakai: counter and table seating
Sakai had both counter seats where you can watch the sushi being made and table seats. The sake cups were so cute!
The sushi available that day was posted on a wooden board up top. There were quite a lot of neta (sushi toppings) types to choose from.
Sakai's menu and nigiri prices
We mostly ordered nigiri. Cucumber shiso salad / ₩8,000, a refreshing salad of cucumber and shiso with umeboshi sauce. Suntory draft beer / ₩10,000. Some sushi listed on the menu wasn't available that day, so we couldn't order it.
How Post-it ordering works at Sakai
At Sakai, you write down the sushi you want to order on a Post-it and hand it over. Here's our first round of orders, haha
The ingredients used for the sushi were kept in a small fridge right in front of the table.
We ordered our beer as draft! The beer at this sushi sakaba was Suntory draft.
Sakai nigiri one by one, from sea bream to kuruma prawn
Sea bream ₩3,700 / flounder ₩3,700. I preferred the sea bream over the flounder.
Mackerel ₩4,500 / horse mackerel ₩4,500
Mottled squid ₩5,300. I loved that it came with shiso ㅎ.ㅎ
Scallop ₩5,300
Sweet shrimp (botan ebi) ₩12,000. I recommend this one! It's pricier than the other sushi but worth every won. The shrimp is lightly cooked so it's soft, and lately not many sushi restaurants serve botan ebi, so it was nice to see it again after a while haha
Sweet shrimp ₩4,500
I'm not sure what kimi sauce actually is, but it was sweet. It paired really well with the fresh sweet shrimp.
Abalone ₩8,000. Abalone with liver sauce.
Needlefish ₩3,700
Benjari ₩4,500
Cucumber shiso salad, 8,000 won: the must-order at Sakai
Cucumber shiso salad ₩8,000. I really recommend this one,,,❤️ With shiso, cucumber, and umeboshi in it, I imagine opinions will be divided, but if you like these ingredients there's no reason not to order it. The flavors seemed so intense that I wondered how it could even be called a salad, but the tangy sauce keeps the cucumber from being bland and the pop of shiso flavor made it delicious. Personally I couldn't really taste the cucumber and felt its whole job was texture ㅎ.ㅎ
Why an oily-fish lover reordered the mackerel
The blue-fish fanatic in our group reordered three more pieces of mackerel sushi — that's the charm of a sushi bar. You can order exactly the type of sushi you want, however much you want. This fanatic went on to order even more mackerel.
Akami ₩4,500. It was well aged in soy sauce, so there was no fishy taste at all.
Engawa
Egg ₩2,900
Two more pieces of benjari, two more pieces of mackerel
The color of the mackerel skin was so pretty.
How was Sakai's red-vinegar shari, and what fell short?
Sakai's shari was akasu shari (vinegared rice made with red vinegar) with a moderate tang. Personally, it didn't feel strong enough to divide opinions. It also wasn't too salty! Since all my favorite neta were available, this wasn't an issue for me, but the friend in our group who loves blue fish was disappointed she couldn't get gizzard shad, haha. It was great being able to order the available fish exactly how we wanted right away, but not every neta on the menu is actually in stock, so if you have your heart set on something specific, that could be a letdown. Well... what can you do, you just have to check ahead >.<ㅋㅋ
I only ordered sushi, but they also serve sashimi, so if you're near Seolleung Station or looking for an izakaya in Daechi-dong with delicious aged sashimi, or just want to pair sake or beer with simple sushi, I'd recommend this place! The satisfaction level was well above a typical entry-level sushi restaurant, so I think I'll be thinking of it the next time I'm craving sushi!
Where it is
15 Yeoksam-ro 67-gil, 1F 101, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 강남구 역삼로67길 15 1층 101호
