Nowon family sushi buffet with corn pancake pizza: Kuu Kuu, Seoul

My family visited the Seoul Museum of History (서울생활사박물관) in Nowon-gu, and while searching for good restaurants nearby, we ended up at Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch, which is apparently well known for family gatherings in the area.

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch sits on the 6th floor of Seoul Oncheon Building — once you enter the building and take the elevator up, the entrance is easy to find.

The place is quite large, so from the moment we walked in it felt less like an ordinary restaurant and more like a big banquet hall.

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch: location, hours and prices

📍Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch 6F, Seoul Oncheon Building, 247 Nowon-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul ✔️Hours Mon–Fri 11:00–21:30 / last order 20:00 Sat, Sun, holidays 11:00–22:00 / last order 20:30 ✔️Parking Building parking available / first 120 minutes free for diners Kids' play area available Group bookings and reservations available Adult weekday lunch: ₩27,900 Adult weekday dinner: ₩31,900 Adult weekend/holiday: ₩35,900 Elementary school weekday lunch: ₩16,900 Elementary school weekday dinner: ₩17,900 Elementary school weekend/holiday: ₩18,900 Preschool kids: ₩9,900

How big is Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch, and where do families and groups sit?

As soon as you reach the 6th floor, the entrance and waiting area come into view.

Inside, the food stations run in a long line down the center, with seating arranged on both sides.

There were so many seats that it could easily handle not just families but larger groups gathering together.

Instead of tables all crammed into one open space, some sections were separated by partitions, so eating didn't feel too chaotic.

There's a play area and high chairs for families with kids, plus separate spaces you can use, which seemed handy for planning birthday parties, family events, or group gatherings.

Reservations are possible, and you can also register for waiting on-site depending on how busy it gets, so at peak times it seems more comfortable to book ahead.

The first round at Kuu Kuu: sushi and rolls

Since we came to Kuu Kuu, the sushi corner was naturally what I was most looking forward to.

There were so many types of sushi that my plate filled up fast just from the first round of picking things out.

From basic fish sushi like flounder, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and eel, to sushi topped with shrimp or beef, the variety was pretty impressive. There were also many kinds of rolls and gunkan (battleship sushi), so it was easy to pick based on personal taste.

Personally, I found it better to grab a few pieces of whatever caught my eye rather than loading up the first plate — with this many options, if you go overboard early you might get full before trying everything else.

The rolls were quite unique too — combinations like woo-samgyeop (beef short rib) rolls or cheese salmon rolls, which you don't usually see at a typical sushi buffet.

The gunkan selection was also varied, with flying fish roe, taco wasabi, soy-marinated shrimp, and crab meat, plus curiosity-inducing items like monkfish liver (foie gras) gunkan.

Sashimi and seafood at the Kuu Kuu Nowon counter

Around the sushi corner, there was also a range of sashimi and seafood dishes.

You could grab salmon and tuna separately, plus dishes like soy-marinated crab, soy shrimp, mulhoe (cold raw fish soup), and kkomak bibimbap (blood clam rice bowl), so it didn't feel like just eating sushi on repeat. The raw salmon sashimi in particular caught my eye.

Unlike salmon over sushi rice, you get to taste the fish itself, so it was nice to pair a slice or two in between sushi bites.

When the rice started to feel heavy, switching to sashimi or mulhoe helped reset my appetite.

LA galbi and hot dishes that stood out more than expected

If you came here thinking Kuu Kuu is just a sushi buffet, the hot food corner might surprise you.

LA galbi (LA-style short ribs), pork ribs, lamb chops, smoked duck, smoked pork belly and neck meat — the meat lineup was quite varied.

On the seafood side there were steamed crab, steamed shrimp, and steamed oysters.

There was also a good amount of Chinese-style food — dongpo-rou (braised pork belly), pal-bo-chae, mala shrimp, chili shrimp, lemon cream shrimp, and guobaorou (sweet and sour pork). Korean dishes weren't missing either.

With dogani seolleongtang (ox knee bone soup), samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), dakbokkeumtang (braised spicy chicken), tteokbokki and sundae, and gamjatang fried rice, there were plenty of options even for people who don't like sushi.

Especially if you're visiting with someone who isn't into sushi, this range of choices would really work in your favor.

Kuu Kuu dishes that taste best straight off the warmer

There was also a separate made-to-order station where you could order jjajang, jjamppong, udon, or cold soba and get it fresh.

At buffets, noodle dishes made in advance tend to get soggy, so I liked that you could just tell them what you wanted and get it freshly cooked.

And the dish that especially caught my attention that day was the ankeurte soup (bread bowl soup).

It's warm soup served inside bread, crispy on the outside and soft with soup on the inside — a nice thing to grab midway through the meal.

There were also several types of pizza, like gorgonzola and pepperoni, but the corn pancake pizza felt a bit different — the sweetness of the corn gave it a flavor unlike everything else on the table.

Fried food, chicken, fries and cheese sticks were also available, so kid-friendly food wasn't hard to find either.

Salads and cold dishes at Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch

After eating so many greasy dishes in a row, it was nice to have a salad corner to turn to.

There were various vegetables and dressings, plus ready-to-eat dishes like sweet potato salad.

Yogurt and toppings were also set up separately, good either mid-meal or like a dessert.

At a buffet, flavors easily start to blend together after trying so many dishes, but sprinkling in lighter items like salad or fruit made it a lot easier to keep eating all the way through.

The dessert corner: corn pancake pizza and marble ice cream

One of the things that impressed me most at Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch was the dessert selection.

There was cake, jelly, fruit, waffles, and crepes, plus many types of ice cream.

You can make your own waffles, and there's a chocolate fountain too.

Dipping cookies or marshmallows into chocolate is the kind of thing kids love.

What I found most fun, though, was that they had marble ice cream (구슬아이스크림).

There were already several types of regular ice cream, but having marble ice cream on top of that meant I kept lingering at the dessert corner even after finishing my meal.

There was also a good spread of fruit — watermelon, melon, pineapple, grapefruit, oranges — and personally, the watermelon and melon were great for cleansing the palate.

Bingsu (shaved ice) ingredients were available too, so you could top it with red beans, rice cakes, or fruit however you liked.

Coffee and tea were also available, a nice way to wrap up the meal with something warm.

What drinks does Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch pour?

Beyond soda, there was plum juice, lychee juice, sikhye (sweet rice drink), and slushies among the options.

At the time of our visit they even had ube latte, which made the drink lineup feel a bit different from a typical buffet too.

The slushies came in several flavors, refreshing after a meal, and with dessert plus a cup of coffee at the end, it really felt like a very long meal.

There was a sign about unlimited draft beer, but that may vary by period or conditions, so it's worth checking before you visit.

Why Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch works for a family meal or group gathering

Looking back at everything, I could understand why so many families come here.

Young kids can pick pizza, chicken, fried food, ice cream, or marble ice cream, while adults can go for sushi, sashimi, meat, and seafood.

Even eating with parents, the range from Korean soups to raw fish and meat meant there was little chance of disagreeing over what to eat.

The store itself is spacious, and having group-friendly spaces is another plus.

That said, weekends and holidays can get busy, so for family gatherings or larger groups, using the reservation system seems like the easier route.

Why 'a buffet with lots of sushi' doesn't cover Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch

After this visit, I found that this Nowon restaurant, Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch, has a range of food too broad to sum up as just 'a buffet with a lot of sushi.'

Starting from sushi, rolls, and sashimi, we also ate our way through meats like LA galbi and lamb chops, seafood, Chinese and Korean dishes, pizza and pasta, and fried food, all in one place.

And it ends with fruit, cake, waffles, ice cream, marble ice cream, and bingsu, so the meal inevitably stretches on quite a while.

Personally, I think the best way to enjoy this place is not to focus only on sushi, but to do a lap of the whole restaurant first and then grab a little of whatever you're craving.

It felt especially convenient for people with different tastes and ages, like a family, eating together.

If you're in Nowon looking for a place for a family meal or a gathering with several people, this large buffet with such a wide menu is worth keeping in mind.