Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant for two: shared sashimi moriawase, Ilpum

I was looking for somewhere to eat around Gwanghwamun and ended up at Ilpum Gwanghwamun (일품 광화문점). That day I didn't want a heavy course meal, just sashimi and sushi at a relaxed pace, and the menu turned out to be pretty varied, from kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) to sashimi and sushi sets.

Rather than ordering lots of things for two, we picked one sashimi plate for 1 person and one today's sushi plate and shared them.

Ilpum Gwanghwamun location and opening hours

Ilpum Gwanghwamun is at 223, Basement 2, 19 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul. It's open Mon–Sat 11:00–21:30, with a break from 15:00 to 17:30. Last order is 14:00 for lunch and 20:00 for dinner, and it's closed on Sundays.

It's about a 4-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 1, so it's a handy spot for a meal around Gwanghwamun or Jonggak.

Ilpum Gwanghwamun atmosphere: small and quiet

The restaurant has both counter seats (dachi-seok) and table seats. There's a lot of wood tone, so the mood is calm, and it felt a bit more put-together than a very casual sushi place.

It's good for a quiet meal for two, and an easy choice for a lunch or dinner meetup around Gwanghwamun. At lunchtime it gets a lot of office workers, so I hear there can be a wait at peak times. If you want to eat in comfort, booking ahead or arriving right at opening seems easiest.

Review event

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Ilpum Gwanghwamun menu and what we ordered

• Sashimi moriawase (assorted sashimi) for 1 person ₩37,000
• Today's sushi ₩28,000

I did think about the kaisendon for a bit, but I wanted to taste the sashimi one piece at a time rather than eat it all piled on rice, so I went with sashimi. Today's sushi lets you try several kinds at once, so it was a good thing to pair with it.

What's in the sashimi moriawase for 1 person? From tuna to abalone, uni and salmon roe

The sashimi moriawase for 1 person at Ilpum Gwanghwamun comes with tuna, salmon, white fish and shrimp, plus abalone, uni (sea urchin) and salmon roe, all on one plate. My first thought when it arrived was, "For a 1-person dish, there's a lot more variety than I expected."

I like eating a little of many things rather than a lot of one thing, so I liked this setup more. The tuna was quite thick and had real presence when I picked it up with chopsticks, and the white fish was comparatively light, which made it nice to eat in between.

Tuna on seaweed, too

Seaweed (gim) came with it, so instead of only dipping the tuna in soy sauce, I also tried it on top of the seaweed. The seaweed aroma hits first and then the soft tuna texture follows, so it's fun to eat each piece a different way.

Uni, salmon roe and a big piece of abalone

The uni and salmon roe sat on one side of the plate separately. The uni was soft and rich, while the salmon roe popped in your mouth, so they went in totally different directions.

The abalone was quite large and I ate it with the separate sauce. After mostly soft raw fish, picking up a piece of abalone changed the texture completely, which I liked.

What comes in today's sushi?

Today's sushi at Ilpum Gwanghwamun (₩28,000) puts a variety on one plate: shrimp, futomaki (thick sushi roll), egg, salmon, white fish and more. It's not just one or two kinds, so we got to taste many at once.

With a piece of futomaki included, the meal felt much more filling toward the end.

The shrimp sushi also felt a little different from each other. One had the springy texture typical of cooked shrimp, and the other was softer to chew, so it was fun to alternate even though both were shrimp. There was egg sushi in the middle too, which made a nice break from eating raw fish nonstop.

Finishing with warm udon and a mango dessert

After the sushi, Ilpum Gwanghwamun also brings out warm udon. After eating sashimi and sushi for a while, a sip of hot broth at the end made it feel like this was where the meal began to wrap up.

At the very end, a mango dessert arrives. After that fresh, sweet finish, even though we'd ordered just two à la carte dishes, it felt like we'd had a full course.

What would I order if I went back?

Personally, the 1-person sashimi at Ilpum Gwanghwamun was what I remembered most that day. You get to eat a little of many kinds, so I'd order the sashimi again, and next time I'd like to try the kaisendon or another maki roll instead of today's sushi.

If you're near Gwanghwamun or Jonggak and want a Japanese place where you can slowly enjoy sashimi, sushi and warm udon rather than just a few pieces of sushi, it's worth saving for later.