Yeouido sushi restaurant with pop-up ankimo hosomaki roll: Ilpum

My friend and I went to see an exhibition and ended up hungry, so we headed to Ilpum in Yeouido for kaisendon (seafood rice bowl). We ordered 2 rice bowls plus mini gimbap as a side and came out patting our full bellies haha.

The sashimi was fresh and thick and so good — I'd definitely go back! Next time I want to try the sushi or a cheaper rice bowl and compare *_*

Ilpum Yeouido Branch hours, location and parking

Ilpum Yeouido Branch is 350m from National Assembly Station on Line 9, in the basement of Anwon Building. It's closed Sundays and open 11:00–21:30.

• Closed on Sundays
• Hours 11:00–21:30
• Break time 15:00–17:30
• Lunch last order 14:00 / Dinner last order 20:00
• Free parking for 2 hours at Anwon Building's own lot
• Great access — 350m from National Assembly Station, Line 9!!

What the entrance and seating at Ilpum look like

Go down to the basement and you'll immediately see the clean-looking storefront of Ilpum Yeouido Branch!

We stormed in right at 5:30 dinner opening and were the very first customers haha. The staff were busy prepping!! Love a clean open kitchen.

The bar seats wrap around the open kitchen in a U-shape. There are so many seats that even at busy office-worker lunch hours, it'd probably be easy to grab a spot. Good for solo dining too. We'd reserved a 2-person bar seat and were shown to the spot in the right photo!!

Near the entrance there are also table seats like these,

and further in there are comfy sofa seats, great for groups of 3–4 who want to chat over a meal. These seats are reservable for 3 or more! Naver reservation is available too, which is convenient~ Overall the interior is clean and I liked it.

Menu and prices at Ilpum Yeouido Branch

My friend and I were starving after the exhibition, so we stood there agonizing over the menu...

The basic kaisendon is a nice price at ₩26,000! I went with the premium kaisendon. If you like eel, the unagidon looks great too.

To try a variety, I also ordered the chicken karaage don. The honmaguro tsukedon, salmon sakedon, and aburidon all looked delicious too.

I was curious about today's sushi set as well... the futomaki and shime saba rolled sushi looked tasty. In winter there's yellowtail sushi too...!!!

And there was a pop-up menu item, ankimo hosomaki — gimbap (seaweed rice roll) with pickled gourd strips and pickled radish inside, topped generously with monkfish liver, an unbeatable combo...! It looked so good I ordered it! (It was delicious *_* Highly recommend.)

What two of us ordered at dinner opening

• ❤Premium kaisendon / ₩37,000
• Chicken karaage don / ₩22,000
• ❤Ankimo hosomaki / ₩15,000
• Total ₩74,000

We ordered without reading closely, but all main dishes come with chawanmushi, a noodle/fried dish, and dessert included ✨

The sides that come with every rice bowl

The food came out fast! Here's the basic side spread — the kaisendon and karaage don both had identical sides.

Japanese-style steamed egg custard chawanmushi was soft and delicious, and the miso soup and white kimchi were both clean and refreshing palate cleansers between bites.

And the side cold udon actually had karaage in it! Oh nice... if I'd read the menu more carefully I wouldn't have ordered the karaage don too haha. We ended up with way too much karaage haha. Since karaage already comes as a default side piece like this, I'd recommend getting a different rice bowl instead. The cold udon noodles were chewy and good~!

Once you finish the rice, they bring out mango milk pudding too, but after two of us demolished 3 dishes we were so full we just had a little of the pudding as a palate cleanser haha.

Is the 37,000-won premium kaisendon worth it?

Just as glossy and delicious-looking as the menu photo, and a hearty bowl!! At ₩37,000 it might be a bit much for an office lunch, but the freshness and flavor of the seafood are great, so I recommend it as a worth-the-splurge dish ❤

The sashimi was sliced thick and all delicious. The salmon roe wasn't fishy at all and had a nice sweetness, and the white fish, salmon, tuna, and squid were all fresh! The abalone was steamed tender and tasty too.

They gave us gamtae (dried seaweed) and gim (laver) too, so we wrapped the sashimi with white kimchi in them. Such a great combo haha.

Toward the back there was ankimo (monkfish liver) and some kind of seasoned crab meat. We ate every other topping but I think we left a bit of the crab meat 🥲 Overall this kaisendon was really satisfying — I'd like to try the basic version sometime and compare!

Is the chicken karaage don worth ordering too?

And the karaage don!! I ordered it to try a variety of seafood and other things, but since the udon already comes with karaage by default, we ended up with way too much karaage haha. It was tasty, but if I ordered again I think I'd get two seafood dishes instead haha.

Still, if you look at the back there's a generous serving of rolled omelet too, so it's a decent option for cheaper protein.

Ankimo hosomaki (monkfish liver mini rolls), 15,000 won

This seems to be a new seasonal item — ankimo hosomaki! Ankimo is monkfish liver, and hosoi means thin in Japanese. In plain English it's roughly monkfish-liver mini gimbap haha.

I really liked this one. The ankimo sauce on top was generous, soft, and not too sweet — just the right seasoning — and the gimbap itself was simple, just pickled radish and kanpyo (dried gourd strips simmered sweet and savory in soy sauce and sugar), but the umami and crunchy texture were delicious! Piling the ankimo on the gimbap with the refreshing scallion and onion shreds was so good. Highly recommend this one if you're deciding on a side dish!

How much should two people order at Ilpum?

The two of us had eaten a light brunch and went in starving for dinner, so demolishing 3 dishes left us satisfyingly full haha. If you skip the side dish, one rice bowl per person should be plenty!

This was my first time at Ilpum, and I found out they have branches all over Seoul besides Yeouido — Magok, Gangnam, Gwanghwamun, and more! I'll have to remember the other branches and check them out sometime.