Kaisendon and mango panna cotta at Ilpum, a Gangnam restaurant

Why Ilpum Gangnam Branch on a seafood kind of day

Ilpum Gangnam Branch is a Japanese restaurant known for kaisendon near Gangnam Station. I was trying to decide what to eat around Gangnam Station and ended up craving seafood, so I headed over to Ilpum Gangnam Branch~ Ilpum is famous for how fresh and delicious its kaisendon is, so I'd been looking forward to it for days.

Ilpum Gangnam Branch hours and break time

It's closed Sundays, open Monday to Saturday 11:00–21:30, with a break time from 15:00 to 17:30. Ilpum reopens right at 17:30 on the dot, so there's no need to show up early.

There was also a Seoul Foodie Map 2026 poster on the wall, and since I'm someone who goes around hunting for good restaurants, it naturally caught my eye.

Ilpum Gangnam Branch menu and prices

Starting with the signature items, there's kaisendon at ₩26,000 and premium kaisendon at ₩37,000! Unagidon is also famous as a best-menu item, and if you're a sushi lover, I'd recommend the omakase-style sushi platter for a quality meal.

There was also uni ikura don for sea urchin lovers and honmaguro zukedon for tuna fans, plus various other options~ One nice thing about Ilpum is that every main dish comes with chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), udon, and dessert, so you get a satisfyingly full meal!

Last time I visited Ilpum, I also tried the sashimi moriawase aged sashimi platter and remember it being really tender~ It included uni sahap at ₩69,000, shime saba sashimi at ₩25,000, and seasonal sea urchin at ₩42,000 for 100g or ₩22,000 for 50g. We also got Hokkaido scallop cream croquette and crab cream croquette on the house, and they were packed with genuinely smooth cream.

On the sushi side, there's today's sushi at ₩28,000, futomaki (thick seaweed roll) at ₩28,000 for a full roll or ₩17,000 for a half, and you can also order various individual sushi pieces à la carte!

Drinks to pair with dinner at Ilpum

The drinks menu was pretty extensive too. There were several kinds of sake, plus highballs, beer, soju and soft drinks — it seemed like a good spot to swing by in the evening for a light drink alongside your meal.

With herring season now in full swing, herring maki has just come out as a new menu item~ I regularly enjoy mackerel and herring sashimi, so it made me want to come back with a friend and try it. I also liked that they've set up coat hooks along the wall so you can hang up your coat in winter~

Bar seats for solo diners and the room at Ilpum

The interior of Ilpum Gangnam Branch was done up in wood tones overall, giving it a more relaxed atmosphere than I expected~ There are bar-style seats as well as regular table seats, so it seemed fine to visit alone for a meal, and also comfortable for eating with a friend or partner haha.

First up, the chawanmushi was a really soft style! There was shrimp on top of the warm, moist egg custard, which was nice to eat before starting the main meal, and since it wasn't too strongly flavored, it paired well with the kaisendon haha.

What comes in the 26,000 won kaisendon?

Finally, the kaisendon I ordered arrived. It looked hearty in photos, but seeing it in person, the plate was piled full of seafood and the visual alone was incredibly satisfying~ Each slice of sashimi was thick and generous, making it feel even more substantial.

The kaisendon was topped with a variety of seafood — salmon, tuna, hancheok (squid), scallop, sweet shrimp, sea urchin, salmon roe, and more. I really love salmon in particular, and both grilled salmon and raw salmon were on top, which was such an exciting moment.

There was also a generous amount of sea urchin on top, and taking a bite of the plump uni, it had a savory, buttery-like richness with a hint of ocean aroma that made it even more delicious.

Eating the salmon roe together with it added a salty, popping texture to the sea urchin's smooth richness, which made for a fun contrast of flavors~

I also picked up a piece of tuna with my chopsticks and tried it — the vivid red color was beautiful, and eating it with the rice made for a clean, well-matched bite~ The rice was more generous than I expected, and it had a slightly savory, umami-rich flavor, so I scraped the bowl clean haha.

Cold udon, karaage and wraps with gamtae seaweed

Cold udon came along with the meal too, and since it's summer, the cool broth was so refreshing~ The udon noodles also felt extra chewy. When I cut the warm karaage in half, the inside was moist, making for that crispy-outside, juicy-inside texture~!

The kaisendon also had monkfish liver (ankimo) and crab meat piled on top, great to eat with the rice, and it was also a special treat wrapped up with gim (dried seaweed) and gamtae (a thin, delicate seaweed). Make sure to try wrapping it with gamtae!

These two pieces are the complimentary crab meat croquette and scallop cream croquette~ Freshly fried, they were crispy on the outside but packed with rich, melty cream inside, making them an extra special treat!

Mango panna cotta to finish

After finishing the meal, mango panna cotta came out as the finale~~ Maybe because the meal was mostly seafood-focused like kaisendon, the sweet mango dessert felt extra refreshing and sweet, which I loved!

If you like kaisendon, I'd recommend the basic kaisendon, and if you want to enjoy an even richer variety of seafood, go for the premium kaisendon! On a day near Gangnam Station when you're craving sashimi and sushi, if you want a hearty seafood rice bowl, I recommend Ilpum Gangnam Branch, a sushi spot near Gangnam Station~