Chilly-day Japanese lunch at Gardenfive: eel bowl & maze udon, Gomemui

The weather's getting chilly, so I've been craving a hot pot rice dish. Let me introduce Gomemui Gardenfive branch (고메무이 가든파이브점).

What kind of place is Gomemui for lunch at Gardenfive?

Gomemui Gardenfive is a Japanese restaurant inside the Gardenfive shopping mall where you can enjoy Japanese-style dishes. When you're shopping or grocery-hunting at Gardenfive, lunch is surprisingly hard to decide.

You don't want something too heavy, but you also don't want to just grab anything and be done with it, right? This time I visited Gomemui Gardenfive.

What I ordered this time: an eel rice bowl and maze udon! Both are Japanese, but one is eel with sweet-savory sauce over rice, and the other is noodles you mix with sauce, so they each have their own charm. I also ordered the tenderloin katsu as a side, crispy outside and juicy inside, and next time I'm getting it as a main.

Gomemui is a good stop whenever you need a meal at Gardenfive. It's inside the mall, so it's easy to visit before or after shopping, and you can choose between rice dishes and noodle dishes to suit your taste. The variety is really wide. If you're eating with others who want different things, there's plenty of choice.

How does the Gomemui eel rice bowl taste?

The Gomemui eel rice bowl (장어덮밥, jangeo deopbap) pairs the distinctive flavor of eel with a sweet-savory sauce that melds into the rice. It's a good pick if you prefer rice dishes or want a filling meal.

With eel, a sauce that's too strong gets tiring fast, and if it doesn't go with the rice, that's a letdown too. The charm of an eel bowl is scooping up eel and rice together and enjoying the sauce's flavor. If you like that eel flavor, it's worth a look.

Maze udon for days you want noodles

The other dish I ordered with the eel bowl was Gomemui's maze udon (마제우동). Unlike regular udon served in broth, maze udon is a dish where you mix the sauce and toppings into the noodles.

The key is to mix well so the sauce coats every noodle. Its charm is a richer flavor than broth udon. Ordering a rice dish and a noodle dish together lets you enjoy two different styles of Japanese food, which makes it a good combo to share.

The side tenderloin katsu was the hidden star

Along with the mains at Gomemui, I added one tenderloin katsu (안심카츠) as a side. I didn't expect much, but wow! It was the hidden star of the day.

The outside is fried crisp and the inside is juicy and tender, so every bite felt great. Since it's tenderloin, it's lean and clean-tasting, not greasy at all.

It was especially good as a side dish. I put a piece on hot rice and dipped it lightly in sauce, and it was a total rice thief. Don't underestimate it just because it's a side! Next time I'll order plenty from the start!

If you're wondering where to have lunch at Gardenfive

Gomemui Gardenfive is a place where you can pick rice or noodles depending on your taste when you're looking for a meal at the mall. Whether you're in the mood for a hearty rice dish like the eel bowl or a different kind of noodles like maze udon, it's worth putting on your list.

If you're shopping at Gardenfive and looking for somewhere to eat, take a look at Gomemui too.

Visit info

• Name: Gomemui Gardenfive branch (고메무이 가든파이브점)
• Location: Gardenfive, Munjeong-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul (B1, 66 Chungmin-ro)
• Dishes ordered: eel rice bowl, maze udon, side tenderloin katsu