Seongsu izakaya with mackerel bou-zushi and aged sashimi: Kitpou

It had been ages since I'd met up with Hopy-yeosa in Seoul, so we headed to Seongsu. Since it was a rare meetup, I wanted to pick somewhere good, and I heard this was the third space from 'Irou,' which has held it down on Seongsu's main Yeonmujang-gil for 7 years — so I trusted it blindly and went. Today's spot is a hidden gem in Seongdong-gu, Seoul.

It's called 'Kitpou.'

Where is Kitpou, and where do you park? 5 minutes from Seongsu Station Exit 1

Kitpou is a 5-minute walk (about 456m) from Seongsu Station Exit 1, straight down the alley past the Seongsu pig's trotters street. I went on foot that day, but the building itself (Korea IT Center) offers paid parking — first 20 minutes free, then ₩1,000 per 10 minutes (max ₩50,000) — and if it's full, I'd recommend the 'Seongsu-dong 2-ga 3-dong Public Parking Lot' 3 minutes away on foot.

• 📍 Address: 26 Seongsu-illo 12-gil, Unit 110, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🚇 Access: 5-minute walk (456m) from Seongsu Station Exit 1
• 🕒 Hours: Daily 17:00 - 02:00
• ✨ Keywords: Seongsu Station izakaya, Seongsu Station bar, Seongsu izakaya, Seongsu Station sashimi

It's located at the far end of the ground floor of the IT Tower building.

Kitpou's mood and seating: why it works for a date

Step inside Kitpou and you're greeted by heavy dark-wood interiors and soft pin lighting.

It feels shielded from the usual bustling noise of a busy district, so it's a great Seongsu Station bar mood for having an important conversation or spending quiet time as a couple.

From the bar (dachi) counter to cozy tables for 2-4, the seating is packed in well — there was a small group gathering going on, and plenty of couples like us as well.

The narrower bar seats had these handy lockers for storing bags and belongings.

It's an open kitchen, so you could watch the cooking happen right in front of you — nice touch! (And it was clean and tidy.) For the restroom, you take this cute little key with you — there's a shared restroom split into men's/women's (also clean).

The Kitpou menu and what we ordered: how much did dinner for two come to?

Let's get into the menu.

Kitpou has a solid Japanese-dining-style lineup, from sashimi plates to nabe hot pot, yakisoba, and various grilled dishes.

[Drinks] The drink selection is wide too — from everyday soju to a neat sake decanter to whisky highballs that suit any taste. They display the draft beer and signature menu right at the entrance, so you can decide what to order the moment you walk in — very convenient.

We'd both sworn we were on diets and would just eat seafood, but our appetites completely took over and we basically cleared the whole menu.

My receipt looks blurry because I was tipsy, but wow, we really ate a lot.

• [Food] Sashimi plate: ₩39,000
• [Food] Saba bouzushi (grilled mackerel sushi): ₩25,000
• [Food] Brisket yakisoba: ₩25,000
• [Drinks] Sake decanter (300ml): ₩23,000
• [Drinks] Suntory whisky highball (oolong): ₩10,000
• [Drinks] Saero soju: ₩6,000
• Pepsi Zero: ₩3,000

The basic banchan of salty seasoned danmuji (pickled radish) and our decanter came out quickly. We had a mountain of things to talk about, so we poured drinks first and got started.

Sashimi plate, 39,000 won: thick-cut aged fish

The food started arriving, and the first Kitpou sashimi plate to come out was pure art in its plating.

The fish was sliced thick, not thin, so you really got that satisfying chew — the assorted aged sashimi rotates by season, and since I was too busy eating to ask what was on it, I had to guess from memory.

From what I could tell: octopus/flounder or sea bream, sweet shrimp, smoked salmon, tuna tataki, tuna, swordfish belly or possibly Spanish mackerel/white fish, and grilled Spanish mackerel.

There wasn't a hint of fishiness — just the chewy sweetness of well-aged sashimi spreading through my mouth. I immediately thought, this place really knows how to handle sashimi near Seongsu Station. Hopy-yeosa and I like different cuts, so we each dug into our own favorites, haha.

Saba bouzushi (grilled mackerel pressed sushi), 25,000 won: the must-order at Kitpou

And if you go to Kitpou, you absolutely have to order the saba bouzushi (grilled mackerel sushi).

Honestly, it's not an exaggeration to say I came just for this dish. The surface is lightly torched (aburi), so a burst of smoky aroma hits your nose right away. I'm normally sensitive to fishy smells and don't love mackerel sashimi, but there wasn't a trace of fishiness here — just rich, savory fattiness. Hopy-yeosa lives out of town, so mackerel sushi like this is hard to get outside Seoul, and she was thrilled (proud moment for me).

It's wrapped in gamtae (dried seaweed), which makes the flavor even cleaner. And as a former 'sushi king' at Ashley (a buffet chain), I could tell this takes some skill to torch just right. Pair one bite of this mackerel sushi with a sip of sake and — wow, you'll end up spilling stories you never meant to tell.

Free dish from the owner 1: fried tofu

At this point the owner brought out a taste for us on the house,

I'm not sure of the exact name, but it was like an okonomiyaki made of fried tofu topped with bonito flakes. The tofu was so soft that frying it gave it a unique flavor — really tasty.

Beef brisket yakisoba, 25,000 won: why we ordered one more dish

We'd finished off even the free dish and thought about moving on, but the mood was so good, and the couple at the next table were clearly on a blind date, so people-watching was too fun to leave — we ordered more. The brisket yakisoba was a total pass!

The sweet-and-salty special sauce soaked perfectly into the chewy noodles and brisket — I couldn't put my chopsticks down. Weren't we supposed to be dieting? Hahahahahaha. Soju really is a carb, after all.

Washing it down with a clean, nutty Suntory oolong highball cut right through the richness, and just as I felt ready to start a whole new round of food, the ever-thoughtful owner...

...brought out another dish on the house — potato salad crackers. Wow, seriously, you all need to order this. I expected something like Chivas mashed with potato and cheese, but it was surprisingly bright and refreshing! Good food just makes the drinks go down even faster.

Booking and corkage tips for Kitpou

• Reservations are available via Catch Table or Naver Reservations — definitely worth booking ahead.
• Corkage is available for a fee, so feel free to bring along a wine or sake you especially want to pair.
• If you follow on Naver and leave a photo review, you can apparently get a free mochi rice cake.

Understated and atmospheric enough for a blind date, but the food is so good you'll end up stuffed anyway — a Seongsu izakaya 🐾

If you're looking for a quiet Seongsu Station izakaya near the station with solid food quality, Kitpou is the answer — go check it out. (And in case you're curious, the blind date couple at the next table over didn't seem like they were hitting it off — but that's just between us.)