Mapo sushi omakase with no-bake cheesecake: Danya, Seoul

Last week was my birthday week! So I wanted to have a slightly more special dinner than usual, and I went to Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel for dinner.

The menu I chose was the dinner sushi omakase at 85,000 won per person. It included sashimi and 10 pieces of sushi, as well as a signature dish, a rice course, and dessert. If you're looking for a sushi omakase in Mapo, let me show you exactly what the course looks like :)

Danya in three lines

• Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel's dinner sushi omakase is ₩85,000 per person
• 5 kinds of sashimi and 10 pieces of sushi, plus a rice course and dessert — a pretty solid lineup
• What stuck with me was the small, dimly lit space and the attentive service, which even checked my portion sizes

Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel: hours, location and booking

Danya is located on the basement level after you walk into Seoul Garden Hotel. It's a Japanese restaurant inside the hotel, but the space itself isn't large. So instead of a busy, sprawling dining hall, it was a small space where I could focus quietly on the meal.

What the counter and dining room feel like

The first thing I noticed walking into Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel was that the overall lighting was quite dim.

Rather than lighting the whole space brightly, they used soft lighting so your eyes are drawn toward the table where the food sits. With a small basement space and dimmed lights on top of that, it felt like I'd found a slightly hidden dining spot, haha.

Great for staying focused on conversation and food through the long meal time typical of omakase.

Menu and prices: the 85,000-won dinner omakase and corkage

What I had this time was the dinner sushi omakase. There was a premium course too, but looking at the composition, the basic dinner course looked like plenty of food already. In short, unless you normally eat a lot, the basic dinner is quite filling, haha.

Corkage varies depending on the type of alcohol.

• Wine/sake/champagne: ₩40,000
• Whiskey: ₩70,000

Eating the full omakase course at Danya

It started with 3 appetizers. When I first saw the Japanese-style egg dish, I honestly thought dessert had already arrived — it looked like a soft bread, haha. It's called shingiya (steamed sponge cake). There was also pickled tomato and fig with cream. A great start to whet the appetite before the main course.

Steamed abalone. The bowl alone is striking, isn't it? It looked dazzling under the light. The abalone was cooked just right — tender and not chewy, easy to eat in one bite.

Five kinds of sashimi

Halibut, red seabream, greater amberjack, sea bass, and croaker all came out together. The sashimi was well-aged, so you could really feel the springiness when you chewed.

Since sushi followed the sashimi, they seemed to spread out the fattier fish across the whole lineup rather than front-loading it, keeping things light overall.

Ten pieces of sushi and choosing your rice portion

After sashimi came the sushi. A total of 10 pieces came out, ranging from white fish to tuna to futomaki (thick sushi roll).

I don't love a lot of rice, so I asked early on for smaller portions.

Around the middle of the course, the chef noticed I was starting to feel full and kept checking, every time he served the next piece of sushi, whether the current rice portion was okay.

When choosing a sushi omakase in Mapo, service like this matters just as much as the food, so I really appreciated the attention — and it made me really satisfied 🥹

The main course: sea bass steak

And the main dish was the sea bass steak.

The sea bass flesh was cooked moist, and the skin came out fried crisp.

Dipping the crispy sea bass skin into the seaweed cream underneath brought out that distinctive seaweed aroma — it was delicious.

Clam udon and the fish rice bowl

The rice course was clam udon and a fish rice bowl. I was already feeling pretty full from everything before, but taking a sip of the warm clam broth alongside the rice made it feel like the meal was properly coming to a close.

No-bake cheesecake and green tea to finish

And finally, dessert and green tea. They said it was a no-bake cheesecake, and —

Instead of a heavy, dense style, it had a really soft cream cheese feel, finishing things off on a light, refreshing note.

And just as memorable as the taste was this flower-shaped dish. The moment that last plate landed on the table, it genuinely lifted my mood — a dessert that did that on its own.

Tips for visiting and ordering at Danya

• If you don't eat much, ask upfront for smaller sushi rice portions
• Even the basic dinner course, with the rice course and dessert included, is quite filling
• If you want to eat quietly while listening to the chef's explanations, consider counter seating
• Close to Mapo Station, so it's convenient by public transit
• If you're driving, Seoul Garden Hotel offers 3 hours of free parking
• Good for anniversaries or dates since the whole outing can happen within the hotel

Is Danya's omakase worth 85,000 won?

Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel wasn't about flashy presentation but about calmly carrying a meal through its natural flow. Above all, thanks to the chef's attentiveness — noticing when I was getting full and continually adjusting the rice portions — I was able to enjoy the meal comfortably all the way to the last course.

This was my birthday-week dinner, and it turned into a review of Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel that left me with good memories all the way to the last plate :)

Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel, where they matched not just the flow of the food but also the pace of the guest

Who Danya suits best

• Anyone curious about Danya at Seoul Garden Hotel
• Those looking for an omakase dinner in the 80,000-won range
• People who prefer a small, uncrowded restaurant
• Those looking for an anniversary or date-night dinner spot
• Anyone who wants to enjoy not just sushi but also a signature dish and dessert