Gangnam eel restaurant with matcha pudding: Unagiwa

I’d been craving eel rice bowls lately, and I found a place near Yeoksam Station that looked promising, so off I went. It was Unagiwa! It’s within 300 m of Exit 7 of Yeoksam Station, so it’s nice and close on foot too.

Since eel rice bowls aren’t exactly a budget meal, I wanted to go somewhere where the eel itself would be good—and Unagiwa says it uses 100% antibiotic-free Japanese eel raised at its own farm on Ganghwa Island. They follow the Nagoya method, famous for hitsumabushi (Nagoya-style grilled eel over rice), which made me curious. Korean eel, Japanese cooking—that’s the idea! And fittingly for an eel restaurant, its name comes from the Japanese word unagi (うなぎ), meaning eel. :)

Inside Unagiwa near Yeoksam Station

Unagiwa is on the second floor of the building. (Though the stairs feel more like 1.5 floors?) The second I stepped in, I thought, yep, this is an eel specialist!! There were wood-toned lattice panels, huge Japanese-style lights, and even a painting that seemed to symbolize good fortune, all creating the feel of a restaurant in Japan. The wall even has うなぎ written across it in big letters—that’s Japanese for eel!

The wood tones made it warm, but it was also cleaner and more polished than I expected. It wasn’t overly casual, so it looked good not only for lunch but also for a date or a meal with your parents. Solo diners are welcome too.

Ordering Unadon and Ichi Unadon

The two of us ordered one Unadon and one Ichi Unadon.

Isn’t the atmosphere so lovely!! The mix of wood and white tones was pretty~

This was the vibe at the table for two :) There were waiting seats too~

We had ordered Unadon and were trying to eat it like ochazuke (rice with tea poured over it), wondering whether the bottle was tea. Drip, drip~~ Turns out we were just the people who poured water over their rice~ haha

They give you matcha pudding for the receipt-review event, and honestly, this could totally be a menu item they sell!!! Why don’t they sell it? ㅠ_ㅠ I wanted more~ And the Unadon ~~passed the visual test right away 🤎

Unagiwa says it uses tender eel in the 3.5- to 4-mi size range. Here, mi is a unit for describing eel size: 4-mi means roughly four eels per kilogram. The eel is Korean Japanese eel, while the sauce and grilling method are Nagoya-style. They grill it with Nagoya-style tare sauce imported from Japan. No wonder it was so, so good—you don’t need to go all the way to Japan haha.

Whole-eel Ichi Unadon and lots of accompaniments

The Ichi Unadon had a huge, long piece of eel stretched right across the rice, so it was incredibly photogenic. So glossy... Adding a little scallion, perilla-leaf greens, seaweed, wasabi, and more changes the flavor again. I started with just eel and rice, then mixed in different things as I went.

It also came with soup, salad, steamed egg, and more, making for a generous, neatly arranged spread. Especially that plump, pudding-like steamed egg, ahh...💛 I liked the composition much more than having only an eel rice bowl. Above all, the eel itself was so big that it definitely felt like I’d had a real eel meal.

The outside of the eel was nicely browned, and the lightly sweet tare sauce went beautifully with the rice. The eel was seriously, seriously tender too.

Sometimes eel rice bowls taste amazing for the first few bites but get a little rich toward the end, but I loved that this place served lots of accompaniments to eat alongside them. The red sauce was called... what was it again ㅠㅠ? It was unusual, sweet, and tangy!

And finally, matcha pudding 🍵

We had finished eating and were about to leave~ when the matcha pudding appeared. This was provided after joining the review event. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from an event dessert, you know? But... this little thing is delicious lol.

Deep green matcha sat on top of the white pudding, and the soft, sweet pudding with matcha’s characteristic pleasant bitterness was a much better combination than I expected.

After a filling eel rice bowl, this cool, soft dessert seemed to go down even more easily. If you like matcha, I recommend joining the review event and making sure you get one!

Seriously... I came for eel and ended up scraping clean the matcha pudding too lol. Totally cleared it all, right!!?

A proper eel rice bowl meal near Yeoksam Station

Overall, Unagiwa was a good place to go when I wanted a proper eel rice bowl meal near Yeoksam Station. Its use of Korean Japanese eel alongside Nagoya-style tare sauce and cooking is distinctive, and when the food arrived, I was especially happy with how large the eel was.

I also liked the variety of accompaniments, so I didn’t have to eat the same flavor from start to finish. That said, eel rice bowls aren’t a light meal, so if you have a small appetite, it’s probably best to choose your menu with the portion in mind! Still, I recommend it if you love eel. And... don’t miss the matcha pudding. Why am I promoting dessert at an eel restaurant lol?

They had group seating too, so I thought it would be a good option for a big family or a company dinner!

Unagiwa has such a lovely atmosphere ❤❤ The restrooms were clean and separated by gender, so they seem comfortable to use too~~

• Near Exit 7 of Yeoksam Station
• Open weekdays; regularly closed on weekends; break time from 15:00 to 17:00
• Valet parking available
• They say they use 100% antibiotic-free Korean Japanese eel
• Nagoya-style cooking and tare sauce are the specialties
• Try the cut-eel Unadon and whole-eel Ichi Unadon~
• Lots of accompaniments let you build each bite to your taste
• Matcha pudding was provided through the review event
• Recommended for lunch, dates, and gatherings near Yeoksam Station

An eel rice bowl and matcha pudding spot I want to revisit 🤎 I recommend it so, so, so x 1,000,000 times!