DIY uni and aged kimchi gimbap at Ilpum, a Gwanghwamun sushi spot

I finally made it to Ilpum, a well-known restaurant in Gwanghwamun. Ilpum is already famous as a spot loved by celebrities like Lee Young-ja and Hwang Jung-min, and I went in with high expectations for this Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant — but it exceeded them. I left stuffed and thoroughly happy. Getting this quality of kaisendon at this price?? Genuinely satisfying! Let me write up my honest review of Ilpum Gwanghwamun.

Where is Ilpum Gwanghwamun, and what are its hours?

❤️Restaurant info

• Name: Ilpum Gwanghwamun
• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–21:30, closed every Sunday
• Location: right behind the Kyobo Book Centre building at Gwanghwamun Station, close to both Gwanghwamun and Jonggak stations
• 2-minute walk from Gwanghwamun Station Exit 4, 2-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 1

This is the exterior of Ilpum Gwanghwamun. It's on the basement level of the Lemeilleur Jongno Town building.

Ilpum specializes in sushi, kaisendon and unagi don, and it's already appeared on TV many times and become known as a favorite of celebrities! It's famous as a favorite restaurant of Lee Young-ja and Hwang Jung-min, both known for their discerning taste.

Do you need a Naver reservation? Bar seats for solo diners

I booked through Naver Reservation before visiting, and I'm so glad I did. The place was completely full with a waitlist when I got there — good call booking ahead!

Here's a look at the interior. There's a long bar table running along one side plus quite a few regular tables. With the bar seating, it also looks like a good spot for solo dining in Gwanghwamun.

The interior is really clean, with nice little touches everywhere — even coat hangers placed around the space.

There's a water dispenser right at every table. It's so convenient being able to pour water yourself whenever you want without waiting — everything you need is right there in front of you.

True to a well-known Gwanghwamun restaurant, there are tons of celebrity autographs on the walls — seriously a lot of famous names.

Ilpum Gwanghwamun menu: what two people should order

Here's the Ilpum menu — take a look for reference. The most famous signature dishes are kaisendon, premium kaisendon, whole unagi don, and the sushi omakase platter. There were two of us, and we ordered the kaisendon and the premium kaisendon!

If you take part in the Naver review event, you get two croquettes free!

First they bring these out: egg pudding, soybean paste soup, and old kimchi.

I ate the egg first. It's so springy! The texture is bouncy, moist and soft, with a really savory flavor — truly a standout. There's even shrimp inside!

Watching the sashimi sliced and plated at the bar counter

We got to watch the staff carefully slicing the sashimi and plating it beautifully, right in front of us at the bar.

You could really feel how hygienically everything is handled and how fresh the fish is. And they weren't just plating it — every single piece was arranged with care, beautifully.

Premium kaisendon vs. regular kaisendon at Ilpum Gwanghwamun

Ta-da, this is the premium kaisendon. The visuals are insane. The quality of the sashimi is fantastic.

And this is the regular kaisendon. It's plenty impressive on its own too, honestly???

This kind of happiness, honestly~~ The portion is huge. The sashimi is piled up so beautifully I couldn't decide what to eat first, haha.

The sashimi is fresh and there's such a nice variety — salmon, uni, sweet shrimp, scallop. There's whole abalone in there too, and tuna.

The sashimi slices are cut really thick, so honestly you'd get full just eating the fish alone, haha.

This one is ankimo — monkfish liver! Eating it with rice is so rich and delicious. Not a hint of fishiness!

How to wrap the sashimi in gim and gamtae

Try wrapping it in gamtae (dried seaweed flakes) like this. The salty flavor is really delicious.

There's really so much sashimi, haha. It was hard to keep scooping rice, so I decided to move everything onto my own plate first and eat from there.

I only moved part of the sashimi onto my plate and it was already this much!!! And that wasn't even all of it — there's really so much sashimi, haha. So generous~ Confirmed, this is a great Gwanghwamun sushi spot~

They give you gim (seaweed sheets) like this, and if you finish it, just ask for a refill and they'll bring more — so ask for a gim refill and enjoy, haha.

Dip the tuna in soy sauce and wrap it in gim — absolutely delicious. It melts right away. How can something be this good..

Every single bite made me go 'wow'... the kind of flavor that makes you want to applaud. Looking around, everyone else was clearly enjoying their food just as much.

Making aged kimchi flounder gimbap and uni gimbap

And everyone, try wrapping gim like this — put rice in, lay sashimi on top, and finish with old kimchi on the very top~ It's the trendy style these days~ old kimchi flounder gimbap~

Uni gimbap, complete! So salty and delicious. There's genuinely zero fishiness, which makes it so good.

Cold udon and karaage included in the set meal

Partway through the meal, they bring out cold udon for each person — it's included in the set. It's a chilled udon, and the noodles are really chewy and springy. Having cold udon in the middle of the meal is so refreshing, don't you think?

Freshly fried karaage! Crispy and warm.

The premium kaisendon comes with whole abalone like this. Making it into whole abalone gimbap is unbelievably delicious..

Tuna belly! The cut is so good. Tuna sashimi can easily turn fishy if it's not handled well, but this had zero fishiness — just plain delicious..

We wrapped scallop and sweet shrimp in gim too. Is it even allowed to be this good.. Both of us usually eat a lot, and here they really give you a huge amount of rice and sashimi. So we were basically about to burst, haha. Totally satisfied with both quality and quantity!

Mango pudding dessert, and why Ilpum Gwanghwamun suits a date

Right as we were finishing up, they brought out dessert too — a pudding topped generously with mango purée, so delicious. Soft and sweet, the perfect way to cleanse the palate at the end.

So if you're looking for a good restaurant in Gwanghwamun? A great spot for a Gwanghwamun blind date? Gwanghwamun kaisendon, Jongno kaisendon, a good Japanese restaurant in Gwanghwamun, a sushi place in Gwanghwamun, a restaurant near Jonggak Station? Definitely give Ilpum Gwanghwamun a try~

The atmosphere is great, the food is genuinely delicious, the service is good and it's clean — I'd recommend it for a blind date or a second date! You're sure to leave satisfied and full. Definitely visit Ilpum Gwanghwamun, famous as a Gwanghwamun restaurant!!!

Next time I want to try the Yeouido branch too~ There's also an Ilpum Yeouido and an Ilpum Gangnam, so feel free to visit whichever branch is closest to you~