Seolleung sushi sakaba with snow crab and house sake pours: Sakai

Sakai, a Seolleung izakaya where you can enjoy delicious sushi with a draft beer or sake

Hi, this is Park Ttokttok. Today I went to Sakai, a sushi sakaba style izakaya near my office in Seolleung. I love the sushi sakaba format where you pick whatever nigiri you want and pair it with sake — I've been to pretty much all the famous spots — and among them, Sakai was hands down number one. I felt genuinely happy with every single bite, so here's my recommendation review of Sakai.

Where Sakai is in Seolleung, its hours and how to book

Sakai sits inside a small alley in Seolleung. It's open daily from 17:00 to 01:00, closed on the first Tuesday of every month, and also closed 9/21–27. Reservations can be made through Naver Reservation or Catch Table.

There are both table seats and bar seats, and the bar seats — where you can watch the sushi being made right in front of you — were clearly the popular choice. I had reserved and got a bar seat. Three chefs were nonstop making nigiri the whole time.

Sakai's menu and what we ordered at the bar

They had soju, beer, highballs, and a whole range of sake. Prices for drinks were not intimidating at all, and having soju on the list meant it was easy to just pop in for a casual drink too. Being an izakaya, there were plenty of side dishes beyond sushi as well.

The nigiri available for order that day was posted right on the bar counter! Popular pieces sell out fast, apparently. I ordered the today-only special — king crab meat picked tableside — plus jaetbangeo (yellowtail amberjack), horse mackerel, akami, otoro, mottled squid, and sweet shrimp nigiri. (Plus reorders of horse mackerel, otoro, and engawa.) For sake, I went with the house sake Sensation White (180ml).

House sake at Sakai: Sensation White

House sake usually gets poured generously, but this was the first place that poured it this generously, overflowing the glass haha! It was also nice being able to choose from six different house sakes that pair well with sushi.

Tasting Sakai's sushi piece by piece

Jaetbangeo (yellowtail amberjack) nigiri

The chef hand-forms each piece omakase-style and sets it on the plate in front of you. Since it comes seasoned already, you can eat it straight away without dipping in soy sauce, which I appreciated. The jaetbangeo, a fatty summer amberjack, came topped with a garlic sauce — the rice seasoning, the way the grains held together, and the temperature were all spot on, and it went beautifully with the soft neta. Genuinely delicious...

Mottled squid nigiri

The mottled squid came with yuzu zest and salt on top. It was chewy and full of umami, scored for better texture, and the salt plus yuzu gave it a nice fragrance — a really enjoyable piece.

Horse mackerel nigiri

The horse mackerel was another genuinely delicious piece. Soft, fatty mackerel with ginger to cut any fishiness, topped with a perilla-leaf and wasabi pesto that added even more umami. So good I reordered this one! Highly recommend ✨️

Akami (lean tuna) nigiri

The akami came lightly marinated in soy sauce. It was thick-cut, soft, and rich, with a lovely tuna aroma — a delicious piece. I love toro, but whenever I visit a sushi place I always try the akami too, since if the akami is good, the toro usually is too. On that front, Sakai's akami passed with flying colors!

"Snow crab someone else picked for you," the today-only special

This is today's special — the king crab picked tableside for you, haha. I ordered it as a side dish for drinking, and the visual was outrageous... piles of sweet shrimp and uni on top of the picked crab meat! I tried an indulgent bite, and I had no idea crab, uni, and sweet shrimp could pair this well together. Great pairing with sake.

Otoro (fatty tuna belly) nigiri

No need to say much about otoro sushi. As expected, this was the tastiest piece of the day. Thick-cut neta with that rich, fatty texture when you bite in — it truly melted in my mouth. Reordered the otoro too ✨️

Sweet shrimp nigiri

The sweet shrimp nigiri came out next. Piled high with sweet shrimp, served with egg yolk to eat alongside it (very sushi-sakaba, sashimi-style vibe). The sweet shrimp was rich and chewy and paired well with the yolk. What surprised me most was that the yolk had zero fishy smell at all, haha — very much like Japanese eggs. This was every bit as delicious as it looked.

Engawa (halibut fin) nigiri

I finished with engawa. Fatty with a nice crunchy texture, it wrapped things up perfectly, and the careful scoring stood out too. Engawa can turn chewy-in-a-bad-way if not handled well, but the careful scoring here let you enjoy the fattiness while keeping it tender and pleasantly chewy rather than tough. Every single piece felt like it was made with real care.

Why Sakai is worth a trip to Seolleung

• Reasonable prices for the quality (great value)
• Order exactly the sushi pieces you want, a la carte
• A wide range of drinks and side dishes

Above all, it was just really, really delicious... I visited Sakai, a sushi izakaya in Seolleung, and I was so satisfied with the sushi quality that I think I'll be back whenever I'm craving sushi. A new sushi sakaba style place opened up and it's actually this good — I'm thrilled 😆