Yeongdeungpo sushi restaurant with horse mackerel nigiri: Sushi Hibi

I’m usually more of a sashimi person than a sushi person, but lately I keep craving sushi?! Haha. Maybe because sushi omakase has become more widespread and there are so many more choices, but there seem to be so many truly satisfying sushi omakase spots at reasonable prices these days! >.< I visited Sushi Hibi (스시히비), a Yeongdeungpo sushi omakase restaurant that stays true to the basics of a classical course using fresh, high-quality seasonal ingredients.

Sushi Hibi’s space and today’s menu

As a newly opened place, even the restroom was extremely clean and comfortable!

Today’s menu

How were the appetizers and tsumami?

Tamago tofu

This is steamed egg made in the shape of tofu—in other words, chawanmushi presented as tofu. It was an appetizer topped with tender, silky, bouncy egg, kabocha squash, and shrimp. Savory, soft, and delicious.

Sunomono

A tart, refreshing appetizer with mozuku seaweed, vinegar jelly, tomato, and octopus. I really loved the distinctive flavor of the octopus.

Tsumami

For the tsumami, two pieces of large halibut were served. They use 2.5–3 kg halibut for sashimi and usually age it for about a day. I was advised to try the first piece with salt and the second with sashimi soy sauce.

With salt... the aging was just right. It was pleasantly springy and chewy, with the sweetness and umami coming through beautifully. The sashimi soy sauce worked wonderfully too, of course, but as you would expect from nicely aged halibut sashimi, it was especially great with salt.

Spanish mackerel yuan-yaki

The soy-marinated, grilled Spanish mackerel yuan-yaki came with ponzu sauce and daikon. The mild fish was grilled just right, while the skin was wonderfully nutty. Adding grated daikon made it even lighter and fresher.

Horse mackerel nigiri was my favorite

Before the sushi-making got underway, we were served soup. It was deep and rich, perfect alongside sushi. >.<

As always, I asked for as little shari (seasoned sushi rice) as possible. The first bite had squid’s pleasantly chewy texture and sweet, rich depth, which I loved.

Fried white scallion was tucked inside the sea bream. The chewy sea bream sashimi and sweet, nutty fried scallion came together for an unusual sushi that I really enjoyed.

Today’s best sushi! This was horse mackerel nigiri, which isn’t all that easy to find. Horse mackerel is delicious as sashimi, but people always say it is especially good as sushi, right? Haha. This was my favorite: oily and nutty, pleasantly chewy yet soft horse mackerel on sushi rice! The sweet-tart shari and the rich, nutty neta were the best combination. Personally, I like horse mackerel sushi more than fatty bluefin tuna sushi. ㅠ They must have used quite a large fish, because the horse mackerel was nice and thick too.

Monkfish liver marinated in soy-yuzu sauce was placed over the shari. I loved how nutty, rich, and creamy it was.

Two plump sweet shrimp topped this sweet shrimp sushi. Its sweet, rich texture melting softly in the mouth was so good.

Amberjack was topped with yuzu kosho. I ate a lot of this summer-season fish this year! It is one of my favorite sashimi fish because its mild flavor, bouncy texture, and moderate richness are all perfectly balanced, with nothing overdone.

The lean bluefin tuna was very soft and mild, without acidity.

A piece of shime saba sushi topped with shiso. The shiso neatly tempered shime saba’s characteristic aroma, completing a refreshing bite.

This was sea eel, or anago, sushi. A rather thick, large piece of anago sat on top. Its sweet, nutty flavor melted away beautifully with the shari.

An absolutely enormous futomaki! Even among the futomaki I’ve had, this one was especially packed with sashimi. >.< There was so much sashimi that it practically felt heavy! Hahaha. So, so delicious. >.< After all, lots of sashimi is the heart of a good futomaki!

All the way through the meal and dessert

Goto udon

The udon served as the meal! The noodles are thin, which makes them distinctive, right? I was told they use goto udon noodles, one of Japan’s three famous udon styles alongside Sanuki and Inaniwa. We encounter Sanuki udon most often, so it was really fun to try something much more unique and harder to find. >.< The salty broth and noodles with a springiness somewhere between udon and somyeon wheat noodles were memorable.

Gyoku

It always appears near the end of a sushi omakase course: gyoku, haha. This thoughtful dessert is made by grinding egg and shrimp meat, then baking it for around two hours. It was sweet and savory, and very tasty.

Strawberry sorbet

Strawberry sorbet was served for dessert. I was told that during peak strawberry season, they make it with real fresh strawberries. A clean, refreshing dessert.

This sushi omakase course really conveyed how intensely and carefully they had considered the ingredients and course composition. Perhaps because of that, the ingredients themselves were of very high quality, and I was highly satisfied with every part of the course. Haha.