Sushi restaurant in Songdo: kiosk queue & KakaoTalk alert, Sushi Doku

I went back to Sushi Doku, which I visited a few months ago. This is my third visit, and it's such a popular Songdo, Incheon restaurant that there's a line every single time I come.

How does the kiosk waiting list at Sushi Doku The Songdo work?

Sushi Doku The Songdo is on the 2nd floor of Onesta Mall. You put your name down at a kiosk and get a KakaoTalk notification when it's your turn. Once the alert arrives, you have to enter within 10 minutes.

Sushi Doku The Songdo opening hours

• Daily 11:00–21:00
• Break time 14:30–17:00
• Last order 20:15

How to get to Sushi Doku The Songdo at Onesta Mall

To reach the 2nd floor of Onesta Mall, you can take either the escalator or the elevator.

Inside Sushi Doku The Songdo: rooms and curtained tables

Sushi Doku The Songdo has private rooms and tables out in the open hall. Instead of hard partitions there are fabric screens, so it doesn't feel stiff, and I saw quite a few groups chatting away over their meals. It felt right for a family meal or a get-together with friends.

Sushi Doku is a chain with its main branch in Seoul. Usually the further a chain spreads, the more food quality and staff friendliness slip, but the Songdo branch is the one place that hasn't changed at all.

Sushi Doku The Songdo menu and how to order

You pay after the meal at Sushi Doku The Songdo, so just read through the menu layout and descriptions and pick what you like.

I heard that if you join the Naver receipt review event, you get one free premium sushi piece per person.

I ordered two Premium Sushi Sets. If you tap the magnifying glass, you can see which ingredients go into each one.

Let's sip some water while we wait. The soy sauce dishes come out with the food, so pour some as you need it.

What comes with the ₩25,900 Premium Sushi Set?

The Premium Sushi Set at Sushi Doku The Songdo is ₩25,900, and it came out as these two trays.

On the menu it reads "Dignified Premium Sushi, special set, 10 pieces, ₩25,900," with flatfish, sea bream, salmon, squid, sweet shrimp, lean tuna, red shrimp, red crab meat, eel and ankimo (monkfish liver).

Salad, udon, steamed egg and fried sides

I started with the salad and udon that come with the set, as a palate cleanser. The salad, lettuce I think, comes with balsamic and the tanginess really wakes up your appetite. There's a Nemo (fish cake) swimming in the udon, and it's salty, so if you're someone who needs a soup while eating sushi, have it alongside. The pudding-like steamed egg (chawanmushi) has a single ginkgo nut hiding at the very bottom, so be sure to find it. And then the shrimp tempura and karaage, which are as popular at Sushi Doku as the sushi itself.

The crispy karaage with tartar sauce went even better than the shrimp tempura. The shrimp tempura came freshly fried in clean oil, like at a proper Japanese restaurant, and you could taste the plump shrimp meat. I almost ordered another one!

The 10-piece sushi set, starting with white fish

This is the Premium Sushi lineup, with 10 kinds of fish. ₩25,900 is good value for the amount of sushi alone, and the selection is solid, isn't it? A staff member told us to eat the white fish first so you can better taste the richness of the fatty red fish.

You can spot the sea bream right away because its back is slightly reddish. It isn't fishy and nothing is brushed on top, so try adding extra soy sauce or wasabi. The red crab meat looks like imitation crab (crami), but the taste is completely different. It's sweet with a texture like soft salmon, only more watery. The red shrimp is regular shrimp, and it didn't seem frozen, since there was no mushiness. My husband ate the eel instead of me. He said it's probably not pre-grilled, but it was salty, and with the smaller amount of rice the flavor came through even better.

See how different the colors of the sweet shrimp and red shrimp are? I once ate nothing but sweet shrimp sashimi, and the shrimp itself was really sweet. Definitely wasabi with this one. The one on the right looks like small cuttlefish, though, hmm ㅠ

I also handed the tuna to my husband, and he said it was very clean, with no bloody taste. The salmon was so fatty that I wished there was more than one piece, so I ate two. They stretched the tail part out long to make the portion look generous, and I love that. The salmon and tuna both looked oily and glossy, so I finished with just one piece each.

What does ankimo (monkfish liver) sushi taste like?

The white fish sushi topped with ankimo (monkfish liver) is like eating the butter of the sea, with seriously good umami. I thought the one wrapped in gamtae (a seaweed) would be the plainer option, but it's full of buttery richness.

Verdict: is Sushi Doku The Songdo worth the wait?

Sushi Doku, a Songdo, Incheon favorite with great portions and flavor, is a strong recommendation for anyone looking for good-value sushi. If you want sushi in Songdo, do pay a visit. If you're looking for sushi anywhere in the Incheon area, this is the answer 😆