Gwanghwamun sushi lunch with 1,500-won tempura: Choe Uyeong Sushiya

A Gwanghwamun sushi stop before the drive back to Pyeongtaek

This is a record of a meal at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant known for thick cuts of fish, where I ate a hearty spread of cuttlefish sashimi and ankimo (monkfish liver).

After a rare trip into Seoul, before heading back to Pyeongtaek, it felt like a waste to just go home like that — so I thought, let's at least have lunch at a good spot in Seoul before driving back. Searching for Gwanghwamun sushi with thick cuts of fish turned up Choe Uyeong Sushiya.

Since I'd driven into Seoul, parking mattered too, and this building offers 2 hours of free parking, so I headed straight to the sushi restaurant.

Choe Uyeong Sushiya is located in the basement of the Tower8 building — take the parking garage elevator up, go around past a barbecue restaurant, and you'll spot the Gwanghwamun sushi spot right away.

Once inside, there are solo tables set up for eating alone, and aside from those, the rest are 4-person tables — and the tables themselves are quite large, so it felt comfortable to eat there.

What's on the menu at Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch?

I personally like when a place sets up a standing sign with a menu and photos out front — it lets you know what's on offer, the price range, and how the food is presented without having to step inside, which felt convenient as a customer.

This Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant doesn't just sell sushi — you can also order single sushi pieces, kaisendon (seafood rice bowl), tempura, sashimi, and even ankimo, so it seemed like a great place not just for a meal but also for a drink after work.

The order and what comes with every meal

• Top sushi 16pcs: ₩27,000
• Special sushi 15pcs: ₩19,000
• Cuttlefish sashimi 100g: ₩10,000
• Fried tofu udon: ₩5,000
• King shrimp tempura: ₩1,500
• Sweet rice cake tempura: ₩1,500

This is the basic setup at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant with thick cuts of fish. Pickled ginger and pickled radish were set on the table along with house-made soy sauce. Warm broth was also brought out when the food arrived.

Special sushi 15pcs, 19,000 won: what's in the set?

First up, I ordered the special sushi. It's ₩19,000 for 15 pieces, and beyond the price, the composition was really good.

Sushi prices have gotten so high these days that a decent sushi meal for two easily costs at least ₩40,000, and yet there are still so many places serving a solid basic set like this.

But at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, the set included salmon, squid, flatfish fin, shrimp, tuna, scallop, gunkan (battleship roll), egg, and even red seabream. This kind of lineup at this price felt unbelievable — the sushi pieces were sizeable and the fish cuts were really thick, so every bite filled my mouth completely.

I'd once had eel sushi at a 'great value' spot that turned out fishy, so I was a bit worried, but thankfully there was no fishy smell at all here.

And the 15 pieces for ₩19,000 truly lived up to the 'great value' label — usually you only get one soaked tuna piece, but here they gave 2 pieces of tuna sushi, which was more than generous.

Top sushi 16pcs, 27,000 won: how does it differ from the special?

Second, I ordered the top sushi with 16 pieces. At ₩27,000, it's a bit pricier than the special sushi, but I could feel the difference in composition.

Starting with a whole abalone sitting on top of one piece, it looked similar to the special sushi overall but with subtle differences here and there — and that whole abalone alone was already enough to win me over.

And just like the special sushi, there was a gunkan piece with uni, which had a clean ocean flavor with no fishy smell at all — really nice.

It's pricier than the special sushi, but I think the top sushi was worth every extra won!

Cuttlefish sashimi, 10,000 won per 100g

I also tried the cuttlefish sashimi, a menu item you don't often see at sushi restaurants. I had no idea how much 100g would be for ₩10,000, but they gave about 10 pieces, so it was great value.

I'd recently had cuttlefish mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) and fallen for its soft, chewy texture, so I ordered cuttlefish here at this Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant too — and I could feel that same texture I'd fallen for.

Ankimo for 6,000 won: the best drinking snack here

This is my personal pick for the ultimate drinking snack — ankimo (monkfish liver).

It's ₩6,000 for a stated 100g, but they served enough to pair with sushi throughout the whole meal without running out — if you're having a drink at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, adding an ankimo order would be a great move.

Fried tofu udon for 5,000 won

I ordered this udon because I wanted some hot broth.

I personally think the portion and taste didn't make sense for the price — at only ₩5,000, it came piled high with fried tofu and served in a big bowl, enough to fill you up with just this one dish.

And since the bowl was so large, the owner thoughtfully brought out small plates and a ladle, plus chili flakes so I could spice it up — there was nothing to dislike about that.

Finishing with 1,500-won single tempura pieces

I think tempura is the true finishing touch to a Japanese meal, and since single tempura pieces were available at such a low price, I ordered one piece each of sweet rice cake tempura and shrimp tempura.

Tempura is best eaten fresh out of the fryer, and the batter was really crispy while still carrying the warmth of the ingredients inside.

The rice cake inside the mochi tempura was at just the right temperature — not too hot, not too cold — and the crispy batter paired surprisingly well with the chewy texture of the rice cake. The shrimp tempura was, as always, a reliable choice too!