Mapo restaurant kaisendon set with cheese fries: Makise Hapjeong

I met up with a hometown friend in Hapjeong for the first time in ages, and we went for kaisendon—basically a rice bowl you eat like scoopable sushi. Every piece of sashimi was fresh without any fishiness, and even the rice was delicious on its own, so this is somewhere I’d happily revisit.

Makise Hapjeong location and hours

Makise Hapjeong (마키세 합정) is at 44 Poeun-ro 2na-gil in Mapo-gu, Seoul. It is closed every Monday; otherwise, it is open 11:30–21:00, with a break from 15:00–17:00 and last orders at 20:30. There is no parking, and they recommended the Mapo Hangang Prugio Phase 1 apartment shopping arcade.

It is about a 400 m walk from Exit 8 of Hapjeong Station. Follow the road to the right of the Prugio shopping arcade into the little alley along the food street, and you’ll find this excellent kaisendon spot. We both left our cars behind, but if you are driving, they recommended parking at the Prugio arcade.

What came with Set A for two

• Set Menu A for Two ₩45,000
• Extra white fish sashimi, 2 pieces ₩4,000

We ordered Set Menu A for two, which includes two kaisendon bowls, two cheese fries, and one canned drink. Set B comes with two alcoholic drinks instead. They also had plenty of single-bowl options, including sake-don, aburi sake-don, seasonal yellowtail-don, and mackerel bo sushi.

Kaisendon is Makise’s signature dish, topped with 13 pieces: two kinds of white fish, tuna, salmon, two kinds of seasonal sashimi, soy-marinated shrimp, spear squid, ankimo (monkfish liver), and more.

The white fish and red fish were sliced nice and thick, and the colors of the ankimo, soy-marinated shrimp, and tamagoyaki were so pretty that I was utterly delighted.

Once the whole set arrived, I put it all together on the table for a photo. The warm soup had great savory depth, while pickles with danmuji, gungchae stems, and wood-ear mushrooms were set on each table for us to serve ourselves. They added a lovely crunchy-chewy texture between bites.

The set included mozzarella cheese fries, and

we also ordered two extra pieces of white fish sashimi.

How we ate the sashimi and shari

After carefully reading the staff member’s guide on how to eat it, we got straight into Makise’s kaisendon.

The fish’s natural textures really came through. With so many kinds of thick-cut sashimi in one bowl, it was a treat for both the eyes and the mouth.

I am not normally the biggest salmon person, but perhaps because it was so fresh, it was delicious even in those thick slices. The lightly torched salmon had a lovely rich flavor too. It was also tasty with wasabi, radish sprouts, and rice.

They brought us roasted seaweed sheets, and all the different combinations were so good that we ended up asking for a refill. In kaisendon or sushi, shari—the seasoned sushi rice—is just as important as the sashimi, and they use the Koshihikari variety here. This is exactly the moment when you say, “Even the rice is delicious.” It was soft and pleasantly chewy.

Spear squid piled high with ankimo was another great combination. It reminded me of a pricey kaisendon my husband and I had once eaten in Jongno. That one had a fishy smell that disappointed us, and the memory suddenly came back. Makise was better than expected, so I was very satisfied.

For the extra white fish, they gave us halibut—my absolute favorite. It was chewy and clean-tasting, and I loved it with Maldon salt and wasabi.

Adding wasabi brought out more of the sashimi’s sweetness, and I found myself eating away without a pause.

We finished with sweet tamagoyaki. Once you finish the kaisendon, tell the staff which sashimi was your favorite and they will make you an encore sushi. We were both ridiculously full, so we skipped it, haha.

Mozzarella cheese fries dipped in honey

It was immediately clear why the cheese fries were bundled into the set. Dipped in the honey served alongside them, they were seriously delicious. The crispy, salty, stretchy cheese with honey was such a special combination that I might have felt something was missing if we had ordered only kaisendon.

Some people were having a solo drink and meal at the counter, and there were lots of guests enjoying sets like ours. I had thought there was surprisingly little around Hapjeong Prugio, so I was thrilled to discover Makise.

A little aside: my hair is long, all the way to my waist. I had forgotten my claw clip and was constantly flipping my hair back while eating, so a staff member noticed and quickly brought me a hair tie. So touching, so sweet. They were incredibly kind. I was moved. I hope they get showered with money.

Makise is where you can enjoy a generous bowl of fresh, varied sashimi over rice in Hapjeong, like scoopable sushi. I was personally very satisfied, so I recommend paying it a visit.