₩100,000 dinner omakase near Seoul National Univ. Station: Sushi Ryeo

Where is Sushi Ryeo, and where do you park?

I went and had the dinner course at Sushi Ryeo, a well-known omakase spot near Seoul National University Station! After coming out Exit 5, Sushi Ryeo is on the 2nd floor of the Yeongin MC building.

If you're visiting for lunch, you can use the tower parking lot to the left of the building, though apparently SUVs might not be able to park there! For dinner, you just park in front of the tower lot and move your car out before 10pm. If there's no space there, you can use the Ace A Zone underground parking lot instead — it's a cheap ₩2,000 per hour.

• 🏠 Sushi Ryeo
• 📍456 Bongcheon-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 2F
• 🕖 Daily 12:00 – 22:00
• Break time 15:00 – 17:30
• Last order 20:30

Taking the elevator up, I saw so many Blue Ribbon stickers on the door. It looked like a total hotspot, so I went in with high expectations.

Bar counter or private room: which seat to book at Sushi Ryeo

At Sushi Ryeo you can choose between a bar table or a room table. Room reservations are only available for 4–6 people! Group reservations can go up to 14 people.

It was nice that there were hooks to hang up your coat during the meal.

We were seated at the very back, and each of our seats had a small plate with salt, ginger, and wasabi already set out.

The table setting was really clean and neat.

Sushi Ryeo lunch and dinner omakase: what's in each course and what it costs

• Lunch omakase ₩50,000 (chawanmushi–3 tsumami–12pcs sushi–somen–dessert)
• Dinner omakase ₩100,000 (chawanmushi–5 tsumami–suimono–grilled dish–11pcs sushi–kaisendon–tempura–soba–dessert)

Chawanmushi and the five tsumami

The very first dish was chawanmushi (steamed egg custard). There were shiitake mushrooms inside the egg custard, giving it such a great chewy texture! Truffle oil was drizzled on top, and it went really well with the custard.

Now the tsumami begin — tsumami means appetizer! The first one was thinly sliced flounder mixed with konowata (sea cucumber intestines). The konowata was full of umami, and it paired really well with the flounder.

The second was amberjack sashimi with a garlic soy sauce. Even though it wasn't amberjack season, the fish was really fatty. It tasted even better with the garlic soy sauce.

Next was fatty tuna belly! Since it's such a fatty cut, they told us to dip it generously in wasabi and then lightly in salt. The fatty tuna belly was seriously delicious too!

Next was a mix of seaweed from Okinawa, whelk, minari (water celery), and tomato. The tangy sauce really woke up the palate.

Next was steamed abalone with abalone liver sauce. The abalone was so tender and warm, and the abalone liver sauce was so rich that I dipped the abalone generously into it!

Eleven pieces of sushi, horse mackerel included

With that, the tsumami came to an end and it was time for sushi, but before the sushi, a clear soup was served. It's a clear soup with fish balls and shrimp!

The first sushi was red seabream belly sushi. It really melted in my mouth the moment I took a bite — the expression fit perfectly.

The second sushi was striped horse mackerel sushi. My friend who came with me had a bad memory of horse mackerel sushi and asked to swap it out, but the chef said he'd turn it into a good memory and suggested we try it. It really was delicious enough to change that memory.

The third sushi was herring sushi! It was my first time trying herring sushi, and it was really tasty too.

The fourth sushi was soy-marinated tuna, the lean red meat part! It was so tender and delicious.

The fifth sushi was medium fatty tuna! This piece came with salt already sprinkled on top, so you don't need soy sauce or extra salt — just eat it as it's served.

The sixth sushi was sweet shrimp and uni sushi! The seaweed at places like this is always so good, and with sweet shrimp and uni wrapped inside, one bite spread this rich, deep flavor that I loved.

Next came grilled sablefish. I really love grilled Chilean seabass, and this grilled sablefish felt exactly like that! It was really tender.

The seventh sushi was grunt fish sushi! The surface seemed to be lightly torched, giving it a slight smoky flavor that I enjoyed.

The eighth sushi was hairtail sushi! It had a different kind of appeal from grilled hairtail.

Kaisendon, tempura and inaniwa udon to finish

Next up was kaisendon (seafood rice bowl)! It had minced tuna, salmon roe, and uni on top, and wrapped in seaweed it just melted in my mouth. Genuinely so good...

Fried shishito peppers and aji fry, which is fried horse mackerel, were served too! The fried horse mackerel was really delicious.

The last sushi was eel sushi. The eel was really plump and tender, and it came brushed with a sweet sauce, making it the perfect finish!

And of course, they couldn't leave out the egg castella!

For the noodle course, we had inaniwa udon, one of Japan's three great udon styles. The noodles are thin and smooth, in a dried noodle form! The broth was clean and light, making it the perfect way to finish.

For the final dessert, you can choose between mango ice cream and matcha ice cream. We both went with mango ice cream! It was so refreshing and delicious.

Who should book the Sushi Ryeo dinner course?

Sushi Ryeo, the well-known omakase spot near Seoul National University Station, also has a lunch course, so I'd recommend giving it a visit at least once!