Seolleung sushi izakaya for salmon zuke and fried eggplant: Sakai

Why we chose Sakai, a sushi izakaya near Seolleung Station

Sakai (사카바) is a sushi izakaya on the ground floor of Yeoksam-ro 67-gil. My friend Vé is a total seafood fanatic. Since Vé just came back from abroad and we were meeting up for the first time in a while, I thought about where to take her and booked Sakai near Seolleung — it's exactly our vibe.

The zen-style interior is genuinely so good.

Something like this — we had a lot of bags with us so we just took the big table.

But honestly, if you can, sitting right here at the bar seats seems like it'd be great. I was a little shy but too curious not to, so I went over and took a photo.

Sakai's open kitchen and showcase: choosing the fish by sight

Sakai has an open kitchen, so you can watch the chefs make each order the moment it comes in. Chop chop, right in front of you. The showcase shows off all kinds of fish, and honestly I thought — wow, the freshness looks amazing. And when they show you everything like this, you can just pick by looking, even if you don't know the names.

They write out recommended dishes separately. And you can order exactly what you want, piece by piece — I really loved that. No need to take stuff that's not your taste. Just order exactly what you want, exactly how you want it. Being able to order individually by the piece like this is genuinely great.

What we ordered at Sakai: flounder, salmon, amberjack, sea bream, mackerel and fried eggplant

At Sakai we started with flounder, salmon, amberjack, sea bream, mackerel, fried eggplant, and a Kirin/non-alcoholic beer. *There were no soft drinks so I went non-alcoholic.

What was this called again? I learned it in Japanese class.

The lighting is so pretty that even carelessly-taken photos come out nice.

Your skin looks good too... here. This place is a sushi spot plus a natural filter spot. You should bring a blind date here.

The moment I posted this on my story, DMs kept coming in asking where this good-looking sushi was from. Thick-cut and just genuinely delicious — even I, who loves this stuff, thought it looked really fresh.

Fried eggplant. You squeeze lemon over it and dip it in mayonnaise? It just disappears. It feels like a drinking-snack dish but... it's so good.

The server explained each piece to us. For me, the amberjack was the best.

Why ordering sushi by the piece works so well at Sakai

Dip it in soy sauce, poke poke. Honestly, ordering piece by piece is really great because it means no problem even if the people you're with have different tastes. I don't really like mackerel, but Vé said it's her favorite and thought one piece wasn't enough, so she started with two. If you feel like you're a little short, you can keep ordering small extra bits — no pressure at all.

Second round at Sakai: caprese, salmon zuke and salmon aburi

Even though we were full, I was curious so we ordered more. We got one each of caprese, salmon zuke, and salmon aburi. The caprese seemed to be cream cheese rather than mozzarella — ah... a perfect way to cleanse the palate at the end, chomp chomp. With plenty of balsamic and nut chips on top, I thought I was too full, but I cleaned the plate anyway.

You have to order the salmon zuke and salmon aburi. Both Vé and I said, oh, this is the highlight. I don't know how to describe it, but it's a rich, luxurious, weighty flavor. Genuinely high-quality taste.

Next time I should try those bar seats. I like the big table, but I also like watching the chefs work right in front of me.

Is Sakai good for a group dinner or a first date?

Sakai is open until 1am, so this can genuinely be your second, third, or fourth stop of the night, and since it's not just heavy dishes — you can order sushi one piece at a time — it's a great izakaya for a relaxed chat. Keeping this one in my back pocket for group hangouts and blind dates.

GO CHILL :)