Mero mabushi lunch at Una, a Yongsan hitsumabushi restaurant

Welcoming a guest who was in Seoul after a while, I decided we should have a proper, upscale lunch. This time I picked Una Yongsan Main Branch (우나 용산본점), south of Yongsan Station, an area that's become dense with hip restaurants lately. I went for eel rice bowl, but by the time I finished, it felt like I'd enjoyed an entire course built around eel and mero. I hesitated a bit at first over the price, but after finishing with the green tea ice cream at the end, I was already thinking about my next visit!

Where is Una Yongsan Main Branch, and what is the restaurant like?

Una Yongsan Main Branch is about a 10-minute walk from Yongsan Station, on the 2nd floor of the Episode Yongsan 241 building. You can also book through Naver or Catchtable. The entrance already feels quite polished, and the interior continues that with a mostly black, modern look. Personally, I felt the dark background made the food's colors stand out even more. The tables were spaced generously too, which made it comfortable to chat and eat leisurely with company.

Ordering is done through the kiosk on the table. We ordered two dishes that day!

While ordering, I noticed that everything except the main ingredients could be refilled via the kiosk. At this point I was still planning to eat more rice. A very ambitious plan, haha.

Charcoal aroma the moment the Una tray arrives

It wasn't long before the rice bowl set arrived. The moment the staff set it down in front of us, a pleasant charcoal aroma tickled our noses first. For someone who once spent hours in front of a grill trying to smoke meat themselves, it's a very welcome scent.

The spread is generous too. Four side dishes — muk (jelly), mushrooms, sweet potato salad, and cucumber with mentaiko (pollock roe) — plus three kinds of pickles. There's also a clear soup, ochazuke broth, wasabi, seaweed flakes, scallions, and perilla leaves. Everything you need to enjoy the same rice bowl in several different combinations, all laid out at once.

First bite of mero mabushi: how springy is the fish?

First I tried the main ingredients on their own, without rice. Starting with the grilled mero! The soy-braised mero I'd had before at Japanese restaurants was, in my memory, just simmered fish. But after eating this mero, I found myself thinking, 'what was I eating all this time?' The flesh is genuinely springy. If I said the mero felt like it was still flopping around in my mouth, would that be too much of an exaggeration? But that was exactly the impression of that first bite.

Chewing the springy flesh brings up charcoal smokiness and a subtly sweet soy flavor, followed by mero's characteristic nutty richness. I liked that it wasn't just the sauce flavor dominating — the fish's own taste and texture came through clearly. It was the kind of flavor that made me want to grab a few more pieces of mero before even touching the rice.

Soft grilled eel with wasabi at Una Yongsan Main Branch

The eel was outstanding too. Where mero left an impression through springiness, the eel's charm was its nutty, tender texture. Eel actually has some chew to it, but coming right after the springy mero, it felt relatively softer by comparison.

To me, the eel felt a bit heavier than the mero. At first I ate it plain to enjoy the eel's own flavor, then gradually added wasabi. As the wasabi's sharpness cut through the richness, my palate felt refreshed, and the eel's nuttiness and savoriness came through even more clearly. Eel and wasabi really do go together!

The mentaiko hitsumabushi comes with a big chunk of mentaiko alongside the eel! It's a block of salty umami that's delicious eaten plain with rice, and later added into the ochazuke, it's absolutely incredible.

Add rice and toppings: the same hitsumabushi tastes different

Having tasted the ingredients on their own, it was time to enjoy them with rice. I put a spoonful of rice with mero or eel on top and tried different combinations of wasabi, scallion, and perilla leaf. Both proteins have a nutty, hearty flavor, so the toppings with strong aromas paired really well. There's also a separate tare sauce, and pouring that on top is amazing too. The main ingredients aren't heavily seasoned, so you can add as much tare sauce as you like to suit your taste!

My personal favorite was the perilla leaf combination! Even mid-way through a Japanese-style rice bowl, the moment perilla leaf comes in, it suddenly tastes familiar. The Korean habit of wrapping grilled eel in perilla leaf couldn't stay hidden here either, haha. Cleansing the palate with pickles between bites and switching to different combinations, I found there was quite a lot of variety in the eating experience even though it was just one bowl.

Mentaiko ochazuke, the last course that still goes down when you're full

Now for the final stage of the meal. Ochazuke! I scooped the remaining rice into the empty bowl provided, added scallion and seaweed flakes. Then I placed a piece of mentaiko on top, and poured over the prepared broth.

I was starting to feel full, but rice with warm broth poured over it goes down in a completely different way. Once I put a spoonful with a piece of eel or mero on top, I found myself moving my spoon busily again before I knew it. Tasting the broth alone, there's a strong bonito flavor, with a subtle green tea note lingering behind it. Add in the richness of eel and mero and the saltiness of mentaiko, and the umami becomes quite full-bodied.

Grilled at first, then as a rice bowl, and finally as ochazuke. It was fun how the same ingredients tasted different depending on how you ate them.

Green tea ice cream: the included dessert that ends the meal

Now, really the last step. I requested staff service from the kiosk's call menu and asked for dessert, and green tea ice cream arrived. The dessert is included in the meal price.

This green tea ice cream was quite good too. It wasn't the kind of sweet ice cream that's just green in color — the bitterness of green tea came through strongly. It cleanly cut through the richness left in my mouth from the eel and mero. Even while saying I was full, I dutifully finished the dessert too, and only then was the meal truly over.

One rice bowl at Una that feels like a full course

Honestly, at first I thought the price was a bit high for a single meal. Before eating, I wondered, 'will I even come back here?' But by the end, that thought had flipped to, 'I need to come back here.' Above all, the eel and mero were delicious, and I loved the process of switching toppings and finishing with ochazuke.

It's not technically a set course, but the flavors change step by step within one meal, leaving a satisfaction that felt like eating a course. The atmosphere and service were relaxed too, which made it a great fit for dining with someone special. I thought it would even suit my parents' birthday. It was a day my palate got properly pampered after a while.

For a good day, with good people, when you want a slightly special meal. Una Yongsan Main Branch is the kind of place that will come to mind again.