Seoul kaisendon restaurant with extra salmon topping: Makise Hapjeong

I really love sashimi, but I especially love kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) because you get to eat several kinds of sashimi with rice all at once. But kaisendon can be a bit of a gamble — some places put on just a few slices of fish and charge a lot, so the first thing I check is how solid the composition actually is haha.

This time I went looking for a place in Hapjeong that specializes in kaisendon. It's the Hapjeong kaisendon spot, Makise Hapjeong.

Where is Makise Hapjeong? Basement of a back alley by Hapjeong Station Exit 8

Makise Hapjeong is located at 44 Poeun-ro 2na-gil, B01, basement floor, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Coming out of Hapjeong Station Exit 8 and heading toward the back of Delight Square, it's right in the alley behind Hyundai Art Villa!

As I walked over, I noticed it's in the same building as Crazy Katsu. A building packed with nothing but good restaurants haha.

Makise is located here, in basement unit B01! Let's go in through the wide-open door~

I went after lunch hours so it was relatively quiet, but the waitlist is handwritten and looking at it on the way in, lunch had clearly been pretty intense today (?). The place isn't huge, but it has a variety of seating including bar seats facing the kitchen and tables. Solo dining is totally fine here!

Makise Hapjeong menu: kaisendon, sakedon and 2-person sets

I noticed they also have a 2-person set menu, so if you want good value, keep that in mind!

The menu ranges from the basic kaisendon to sake-don and ebi sake-don

They have quite a variety of donburi and sushi! It seems great for stopping by for a bowl of kaisendon at lunch, and in the evening you could pair sashimi with Suntory draft beer, a highball, or sake — solid.

Since I'd just stepped out during my lunch break, I ordered a Canada Dry instead of beer haha. It's my absolute favorite drink but weirdly hard to find places that sell it ㅠㅠ

Being solo made me a little self-conscious, but the staff kindly seated me at a two-person table anyway..

I nibbled on the side dishes while waiting endlessly for the kaisendon. The Canada Dry is a ginger ale tonic, and it's crazy good~!!

How to eat kaisendon: don't stir the wasabi into the soy sauce

I added 2 extra pieces of salmon~~

Before eating, I read up on the eating know-how unique to this Hapjeong kaisendon spot.

• Don't mix the wasabi into the soy sauce

Apparently you're supposed to dip the vinegared rice, wasabi, and sashimi together into the soy sauce and eat it on top like a piece of sushi! And eat the sashimi with the least seasoning first~!!

I didn't ask for it separately, but apparently if there's a sashimi you remember loving after finishing your meal, they'll give you more of it depending on what ingredients they have on hand... The thoughtfulness is next level.

What's in the 13-piece kaisendon: aburi salmon and ankimo

Makise Hapjeong's kaisendon sashimi comes with a total of 13 pieces — salmon and tuna of course, plus 2 kinds of white fish, 2 kinds of seasonal sashimi, shrimp, hantchi (mantis squid), and even ankimo! The day I went, I got a genuinely thick piece of aburi salmon (lightly torched on top with fire), and I was so happy..

Ankimo = monkfish liver. I like it 300 times more than uni (sea urchin roe), for real, so when the ankimo showed up I ate it slowly while practically tearing up..

The hantchi was chewy and delicious too, and overall there wasn't a single tough piece of fish — I was so~ satisfied. I went in with expectations, but honestly the price was on the cheaper side for a kaisendon given how prices are these days, so I was a little skeptical? But it was seriously good.. I ended up clapping to myself in the corner while eating

While I was eating, a staff member quietly set down a hair tie for me hahah ㅠㅠ so thoughtful bb

Is Makise Hapjeong worth it? Final verdict

What I liked most was that the sashimi wasn't just simple filler ingredients to fill you up — it was packed entirely with real seafood!! It was also very fresh, making this a perfect 100-point meal.

• Service 100
• Taste 100
• Atmosphere 100