Nowon sushi buffet family dinner: guobaorou, 10-minute wait, Kuu Kuu

Kuu Kuu is a go-to spot for family gatherings in Nowon. This time I visited Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch right before the holiday season — my first evening visit — and wow, so many people. Kuu Kuu's reputation has really been on the rise lately, and honestly it beats most other buffets these days.

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch prices: 31,900 won weekday dinner, 35,900 won weekends

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch's weekday dinner price is ₩31,900, and weekends are ₩35,900. I'd always visited on holidays before, but this time I came for weekday dinner. The quality is great — it never disappoints.

How long is the wait at 6:30pm?

It was around 6:30pm and the line was insane!!! But despite looking that way, the wait wasn't as long as I thought — about 10 minutes? Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch is genuinely huge, so tables turn over fast and you can get seated pretty quickly.

The inside is really, really spacious, so it's a great pick for family gatherings too. I'm definitely planning to have my parents' 60th and 70th birthday celebrations here.

The roll corner and cockle bibimbap at Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch

The first thing you see when you walk in is the roll corner. I couldn't even count how many kinds of rolls there were... Some kids can't eat sushi, but they definitely seem to love rolls. And the fried stuff, haha.

Eel, salmon, shrimp and more — every roll you could think of is here. That's how deep the roll corner goes...

At the far end was cockle bibimbap (marinated cockle rice bowl). It looked like a lot of people were eating a decent amount of it, so I tried some too — solid. Just the right amount of spicy.

Raw salmon sashimi: weekday dinner and weekends only

Raw salmon sashimi has launched!!!! I'd only ever visited on weekends before so I didn't know, but apparently raw salmon is a weekday dinner & weekend/holiday item. As someone who loves salmon, dinner is a must-visit... it's not on the lunch menu!

Right next to it is the salmon nigiri corner though. But the flavor is clearly different from raw salmon. Both are delicious, so I ate salmon nigiri plus raw salmon. Double the salmon!!!!

The flounder and salmon nigiri are made even bigger than the standard size, so one bite is completely packed with flounder and salmon. Is this sashimi or sushi?

Egg, shrimp, tuna belly??? Screaming. The shrimp nigiri also felt like it had even more flavor than usual, probably because they use botan shrimp instead of regular shrimp. I used to only eat shrimp nigiri... but coming to Kuu Kuu, there are just so many other kinds of sushi too, haha.

Eel, beef, salmon-and-cheese sushi and so many more varieties — I could honestly hold my wedding here^^!.. seriously... I mean it... Kuu Kuu is the kind of place you can invite anyone to without getting complaints, and lately I've been craving it on a regular basis, haha.

The meat corner and the first plate

This is the meat corner! Beef, tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties), yukhoe tataki (seared beef tartare) and more. There's also sushi at the meat corner, so kids who don't eat raw fish can just eat that instead, haha.

So this is our first round of plates. Giggling. We didn't want to keep going back and forth, so we grabbed two plates each in one trip. You didn't think this was going to be the end, did you...

This is my boyfriend's plate. Nicely balanced selection.

Is this the barbecue corner? As someone who loves fried food, I loaded up hard, lol. I was hoping to get corn dogs, but the corn dog station was empty when we got there. I really wanted a bite, ugh.

This one's mine! I'm the type who thinks veggies are basically mandatory, so I added a little salad, and while cream shrimp is usually my Kuu Kuu killer dish, this time the sweet-and-sour pork (kkwabaro) was just insane. You absolutely must try the kkwabaro!!!!! I went back for seconds, haha.

This is my sushi corner plate. I went full salmon-killer mode. Since it's raw salmon, it's so incredibly soft... ugh. The salmon nigiri was also amazing, ugh.

The cream shrimp was so good I grabbed two, but the kkwabaro was seriously bbbb.

Barbecue corner pork ribs and all-day lamb chops

This is the barbecue corner. A surprising number of people were eating that corn — not me though!

The pork ribs are the famous item, so I grabbed one, and the newly launched lamb chops are available all day. As expected, people clearly know what's good — the lamb chops kept running out fast, haha.

Make sure to try at least one rib!

The cream pasta spot in the middle is empty. I had the oil pasta instead, and Kuu Kuu's pasta is genuinely great too. Is there anything this place doesn't do well?

A Nowon family gathering spot with parking support

There's a reason it's a famous Nowon restaurant, ugh. Technically it's located in Hagye... so maybe it's a Hagye restaurant?! Anyway, since parking is supported, there's no reason to go far if you're looking for a family gathering spot in Nowon.

Slushie, yum yum.

This was the item every table with kids seemed to have one of, haha. I had one too — cool and delicious.

Already full, and then corn dogs show up! Myeongrang corn dogs have been all over my feed lately, so I really wanted to try one, ugh. Too bad.

Made-to-order noodles and the hot food counter

Jajangmyeon, jjamppong, udon, and cold buckwheat noodles (naengmomil) are made to order at the counter with toppings added in front of you. I usually always get the buckwheat noodles, but I missed out this time, a bit of a shame.

There's so much food that if you look closely, there's even pasta salad here too. I grabbed a ton of that as well, lol.

There are several kinds of vegetables too! Let's all eat our veggies~

Flower buns (hwajuanmantou) and braised pork belly (dongpo-yuk) and more. The hot dishes stay kept warm the whole time, which made them taste even better.

Kung pao chili shrimp, save me~~~ I skipped the shrimp since peeling them felt like a hassle, but this is a pretty popular item too.

The kkwabaro was seriously so good... seriously, seriously...! I skipped the tteokbokki and sundae this time. Ha, success this round.

Draft beer at Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch: Terra and Kelly, unlimited with a review

Did you know Kuu Kuu is also known for waffles?~ Kuu Kuu doesn't serve Filite, it's real draft beer. They pour Terra and Kelly, and if you leave a review, you get unlimited draft beer worth ₩5,900! If you love draft beer, definitely take advantage of that~

This was my third round... haha... I also went back for more pasta and salad in between, haha.

Babe, what is this? Get it together~!

Marble ice cream is now an all-day item

The finale was ice cream. Kids love it, but so do I^^! There are so many kinds, ugh.

But the real highlight is marble ice cream!!! It used to only be available for weekday dinner/weekends, but now you can enjoy it all day! Even at lunch, marble ice cream is a go.

And that's a wrap! It had been a while since my last Kuu Kuu visit, and as always, it doesn't disappoint — the staff were so kind too, making me want to come back again. So delicious... let's keep coming back together for a long, long time!!!!