Jung-gu Seoul unagi rice bowl grilled at the bar: Tawa

Tawa, reserved in advance for my day off

I took Thursday off and reserved Tawa, a popular spot near Deoksugung Palace, for lunch in advance!

It was a little sad not to have any special plans during my day off, but thanks to Tawa near Deoksugung Palace, I could start the day in a great mood. So satisfying!

How do you find Tawa near City Hall Station?

Tawa (타와) is near City Hall Station. See the address below! ✅️ In the building right beside Exit 10 of City Hall Station ✅️ Located in the basement ⏰️ Opens at 10 AM, has a break time, closed Sundays It was really easy to find, haha.

But at first I couldn’t find the entrance, so I went inside the building and came down the stairs.

When I was leaving, though, I saw there was a separate staircase outside the building leading down. I recommend coming down that way if you visit!

I visited at 11 AM.

It opens at 10 AM, but I came at 11 AM, which still felt early for lunch.

But from 11:30 AM on a weekday, more and more people started arriving.

There are probably lots of offices nearby, so Tawa also seems like a popular lunch spot for office workers 👍 Looking at the menu, there were also 📌 options in the ₩15,000 range that looked good for lunch. But since this was a special day, I tried the ✅️ ₩30,000 hitsumabushi!

Watching eel grill at a solo bar seat

I visited alone that day.

Tawa has a whole row of bar seats that are great for dining alone. But this seat has one huge advantage. 📍You can watch the eel being grilled right in front of you, haha. Honestly, even on the way there, I kept debating: should I get kaisendon (seafood rice bowl)? Or an eel rice bowl?

But once I saw the staff grilling eel right in front of me, I immediately chose the eel rice bowl. Since the eel was being grilled right in front of me, though, I could feel a bit of heat.

I had felt this at an eel-grilling specialty restaurant before too—the heat used to grill eel is seriously intense. Even with glass between us, I could feel it a little, so I turned on the mini fan in front of my table, haha. Still, watching the eel cook right before my eyes only made me more excited.

How did I eat the hitsumabushi?

The eel rice bowl finally arrived!

📍Apparently, it is Nagoya-style eel rice. I didn’t get to eat eel rice when I traveled to Nagoya, but here I was trying it in Korea, haha. It looked absolutely delicious from the start. The staff explained that I should divide the eel rice bowl into four portions with the rice paddle that came with it and enjoy it in different ways. First, I served some into a bowl and had it as ochazuke (rice with tea broth). The ochazuke broth itself was seasoned, so it was tasty even on its own.

I especially liked how smoothly it went down when I mixed the rice into the broth. I also had the rest simply with eel and rice. But my favorite combination was rice + eel + wasabi + gim (roasted seaweed)!

I had no idea gim and wasabi would pair this well with eel.

The eel’s texture and sauce

The eel itself was incredibly tender too. No discomfort from bones at all! I loved how easily it ate.

The sauce was on the sweet side! I already like grilled eel, but having it as Nagoya-style eel rice had a charm all its own.

A refined interior and private rooms

The food was great, of course, but I really loved the atmosphere here too.

✅️ Clean throughout ✅️ Refined atmosphere I dined alone, but it made me want to come back next time with other people rather than solo.

There are private rooms too, so it looked like a good option for ✅️ a work dinner near City Hall Station or ✅️ a meal in a nice setting.

100% willing to revisit

It was so delicious that I think I’ll be back.

This was Tawa, the City Hall Station eel rice bowl spot that gave me a very strong desire to revisit. Seriously!! And one little episode from that day.

I was supposed to come out of Exit 10 at City Hall Station, but I took the wrong exit and ended up by Deoksugung Palace. Thanks to that, I happened to see this kind of event near the palace.

I took the wrong way, but it turned into a small, fun thing to see.