Nowon sushi buffet for a family of 5: cumin lamb and affogato, Kuu Kuu

My older sister, my brother-in-law and our family's darling niece came to visit again for the weekend!! With everyone together for once, I thought, "Why not a family meal out?!" and started looking for places that work with a kid. That's when I found Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch (쿠우쿠우 노원점), a Nowon family-gathering favorite that had just launched record-breaking new menu items!!

Honestly, pleasing adults and a child at the same time is never easy, but everyone in the family shouted "Okay!!" in unison haha. With five people, there's always someone who can't eat spicy food or someone who dislikes meat, so satisfying every taste is tough. And I especially wanted to match my niece's tastes.

I'd been wondering whether there was a place where adults and kids could all eat happily, and this was truly a paradise!! It's not far from home and easy to get to, so we headed out without a second thought!!

Parking and size: 2 hours free, a 300-pyeong hall

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch offers 2 hours of free parking at the "Seoul Oncheon Building" lot behind the building. Since the whole family came by car, parking mattered most, and this was really convenient! (On weekends it can fill up, and you may have to use a nearby paid lot, so keep that in mind!)

The moment we walked into the 6th-floor Oncheon Building location, the cozy natural wood and white tones felt bright and lovely. (My home is also wood and white, so it felt oddly familiar and calming haha)

The space is over 300 pyeong, wide open and airy, with no stuffiness at all. I was shocked to learn there are even private group rooms seating 14 to 50 people, up to 200... Wh-what, this place is that big?!...

The waiting area is huge too, so you can rest comfortably instead of standing in line. For year-end gatherings or a big company dinner in Nowon, nowhere else seemed to compare.

2026 Kuu Kuu prices for adults: weekday lunch ₩27,900, dinner ₩31,900, and weekends/holidays ₩35,900. (Please see the photo for children's prices!)

With such a big space, there's also a tidy kids' playground on one side, which looked perfect for families with children.

New raw salmon sashimi and seafood with no weak spots

We got a sofa seat by the sunny window and immediately set off to bring food!! Starting with the fresh salad bar or yogurt corner would have been fine, but our family is seafood-and-meat to the bone!! As if we had no stomach room for salad, we went straight to the sushi corner haha.

Wow... the sushi quality really felt different! The fish slices are much bigger than before, so the flounder and salmon sushi fill your whole mouth!

And the shrimp sushi, now made with botan shrimp (목단새우, a sweet spot prawn) for a richer shrimp flavor!!!

Every piece I brought to my plate felt like the sushi you'd get at a fancy Japanese sushi restaurant. Moved... as befits a famous Nowon sushi buffet, there was nothing to skip.

Norwegian raw salmon sashimi: I think I ate four plates

The biggest news: they launched "Norwegian raw salmon sashimi," which even the Kuu Kuu Gold branch reportedly doesn't have! (Note that it's only available at weekday dinner, weekends and holidays!)

This honestly surprised me most. The salmon quality is...... wow, really, totally great. It isn't greasy, they barely put out the unappealing cuts, and only the tasty sashimi cuts with a nutty richness are served to guests..!!

(As I mentioned in my Costco salmon fillet review, the weekend adult price at Kuu Kuu is about the same as delivery salmon from a regular raw fish restaurant, but the quality is on a completely different level ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I once ordered salmon sushi delivery, felt hugely betrayed and swore never to order from a raw fish place again... and Kuu Kuu's salmon sashimi moved me deeply ㅠㅠㅠ I love you, Kuu Kuu Nowon!!!)

The oily, soft, flavor-packed raw salmon made me wonder if this was really a Nowon sushi buffet, and we inhaled an enormous amount of it haha (about 4 plates, I think...). It was both what we ate the most and my favorite dish of the day haha.

Raw salmon is my favorite, but there's also salmon steak for those who prefer cooked salmon, so keep that in mind!!

The shrimp selection was huge too, from king prawns to mala shrimp. Arranged nicely on a plate, it looked just like a seafood platter from a fancy restaurant... so generous..!!! (Isn't it gorgeous?! haha)

Tender lamb ribs and unlimited Terra draft beer

Not just seafood: the meat lineup got seriously fancy too. There's chewy smoked duck that goes with anything, and tender, flavor-bursting lamb ribs holding a spot all day, which totally hit the adults' taste ㅠㅠ

I especially loved the lamb ribs!! I don't usually eat lamb as often as pork or beef, so it had been a while, and the quality was a surprise! Moderately fatty with just the right amount of that lamb smell, the kind of lamb ribs I think nobody would dislike.

And the generously!!! sprinkled cumin (쯔란, a spice used on Chinese-style lamb) flavor! I loved it so much haha. This was the second thing I ate the most!

When the various dishes are arranged prettily on a plate, they look like fancy bar snacks that would cost tens of thousands of won at a restaurant! And. on. top. of. that. ! Here's a huge tip!

If you join the Naver review event right now, "Terra and Kelly real draft beer" worth ₩5,900 is un. lim. it. ed. free!! (Not Filite, careful!) With so many tasty, high-class snacks... for those who didn't bring a car, who came by taxi or on foot,

set aside a day and fully enjoy the unlimited cold draft beer and fancy snacks at the cool, air-conditioned Kuu Kuu Nowon and fill your belly. It'd be pure heaven haha.

From raw salmon sashimi to seafood BBQ items, lamb ribs and all kinds of meat snacks.... this is beyond good value; by my standards it's a top-tier Nowon restaurant, no question!

Bead ice cream even at lunch: the perfect dessert finish

It's not just the adults who were excited haha. Bead ice cream (구슬아이스크림, tiny frozen ice cream pellets), once served only at weekday dinner and on weekends, has now been generously upgraded so it's available at lunch too, for the school vacation season when lots of kids visit!!

Yay! I loved this as an adult too haha. Bead ice cream is the best ice cream for all ages and genders ㅠㅠ My niece, whom I'd secretly worried might be picky about food, became a perfectly quiet little angel in front of the colorful bead ice cream haha.

Once my niece kicked off dessert with bead ice cream, the adults started heading out one by one to explore the dessert menu haha.

The bakery desserts range from three crepe cakes (green tea, chocolate, and yellow cheese) to lemon and apple tarts, and the fruit was super varied too, with watermelon, melon, grapefruit and more!

At the waffle corner, staff have waffles baked and ready; spread honey, top with whipped cream, take a bite and mmm..!!! This is what dessert should taste like!

Self-made affogato at the ice cream corner

And we made affogato (ice cream drowned in espresso) to finish haha. Next to the bead ice cream, there's a long ice cream corner as in the photo; you scoop vanilla ice cream and pour espresso over it! It's our family's own tip recipe that we make at any buffet, but!

Personally, Kuu Kuu's ice cream quality is good, so this was among the best of all the custom affogatos I've made!

And my niece's number one pick was this chocolate fountain!!! Next to the fountain are marshmallows, snacks and more, so you can dip lots of snacks and marshmallows in the chocolate,

and my niece was hooked and kept at it for ages haha. The mix-your-own-flavors slush is also a perfect hit with kids haha.

She said she mixed all the flavors into her very own rainbow slush haha, and she was so proud and excited eating it that I asked if I could try a bite, and she allowed it, so I had a few sips too haha.

How to put it... hmm.. it tasted like everything mixed together, but tasty anyway haha. Thanks to the dessert lineup that captured even the kids' tastes, I felt once again that this is a great place to bring a child on school vacation.

A big family gathering, perfectly satisfied

The splendidly upgraded new menu, unlimited draft beer, and the spacious, comfortable 300-pyeong facilities! Everything made for a perfect, leisurely weekend lunch! From my picky niece to my brother-in-law, can one place really match the varied tastes of a whole family this well...

Sure, sure... you might say "It's a buffet, of course it does?!" but I think buffets vary, and Kuu Kuu Nowon really deserves five stars from me! The food quality was better than expected compared with buffets I've been to, so my satisfaction was quite high. Thanks to it, the weekend outing with our lovey-dovey niece was a huge success!!

If you're looking for a restaurant for a family gathering, or worried about a spacious, comfortable, private spot for a Nowon company dinner, I recommend Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch, which can please everyone's tastes rather than just one person's. It's packed with high-quality raw salmon and lamb ribs, perfect as snacks, plus other BBQ items, and the unlimited draft beer event is running strong right now, so be sure to put it on your list of places to visit!