Gwanghwamun sushi restaurant, 37,000-won premium set: Choe Uyeong

Hi everyone! It's Miyu. The weather's gotten so nice lately that a date route of eating in Gwanghwamun or Jongak and then walking along Cheonggyecheon is perfect! So I actually tried that route ^ㅡ^~ While looking for a good sushi restaurant near Gwanghwamun, I found Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch. It has a wide range of prices and sushi types, so I'd totally recommend it for an office lunch or a couple's date course.

• 📍 7 Jongno 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, basement 1F
• 🚘 2 hours free parking in the building's basement lot
• ⏰ Daily 11:00–21:30, last order 21:00 / break time 15:00–17:00
• ✔ Recommended if you're looking for sushi near Gwanghwamun
• ✔ A great sushi spot near Jongak Station for an office lunch

Where is Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch, and is there parking?

Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch is right near Gwanghwamun Station, so it's an easily walkable sushi restaurant. Using the building's basement parking gets you 2 hours free, which is convenient for office workers and couples alike. The restaurant is on basement level 1, so take the elevator down. There are stairs too — I used them on the way out!

Right out of the elevator, there's Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch!

The menu and prices are posted outside the restaurant, which is nice to browse if there's a wait. If you want takeout, you don't need to go inside — you can order at the kiosk outside!

Solo seats to 8-person tables: the dining room and tablet ordering

Fitting for a popular Gwanghwamun office lunch spot, Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch is pretty spacious inside! There are 6- and 8-seat tables for groups as well as solo-friendly tables. It looked like it could seat over 50 people!

You order via the tablet on the table, and cups, chopsticks, spoons, soy sauce dishes, pickled radish, and ginger are all set out as basics.

And there's house-made soy sauce developed by Choe Uyeong Seafood, which makes the sushi taste even better! This soy sauce is a secret weapon..!! It really made the sushi taste better.

What we ordered at Choe Uyeong Sushiya and what it cost

• Premium sushi set (17pcs) ₩37,000
• Mixed tempura ₩13,000
• Fried tofu udon ₩5,000
• Individual sushi add-ons (tuna belly, uni, cuttlefish, red sea bream, egg sushi)

Once you finish ordering, they bring out a water bottle and miso soup! The miso soup base was rich and good to drink. Our premium sushi set and the individually added sushi pieces came out together.

What comes in the 37,000-won 17-piece premium sushi set?

The premium sushi set really is made up of varied and pricier sushi types, so it's great when you want to eat well and get full on good sushi! It includes abalone, flounder fin, tuna, uni and more, so it's fun to work through ><

Tuna belly and cuttlefish sushi added by the piece

We love uni, red sea bream, and egg sushi, so even though they were already in the premium set, we added 2 more of each. We also added tuna belly separately, and it was seriously amazing.. Definitely add it!! Cuttlefish sushi can honestly go wrong — thick, fishy, or hard — but the cuttlefish sushi at Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch, despite having some thickness, was soft and fresh rather than hard, and I really enjoyed it! Totally recommend this one.

The spread looked so pretty I had to include this photo haha. The mixed tempura and udon took a bit of time, so we finished the individually ordered sushi first and returned the plate before the next dishes arrived.

What's in the 13,000-won mixed tempura?

The mixed tempura comes with 5 fried shrimp, 1 fried sweet potato, 1 fried scallop, and 1 fried sticky rice mochi. My companion loves tempura so we ordered it, and it was genuinely delicious and generously portioned! The scallop especially was so soft it was insane.. and the sweet potato tempura was surprisingly like honey sweet potato inside. Normally when sweet potato tempura is that thick it turns hard and you bite into fibrous stalks, but this one was sweet and soft, which surprised me. If the mixed tempura seems like too much, I'd recommend ordering individual tempura pieces instead!

Fried tofu udon for 5,000 won

Shrimp udon is 6,000 won and fried tofu udon is 5,000 won, so we went with the fried tofu one! Since we'd been dipping sushi in soy sauce, things got a little salty, but the udon broth was mild, so we drank it almost like water. Good for washing everything down..!!

The uni sushi, red sea bream sushi, and flounder fin sushi were the tastiest! Honestly everything was good, but we were enjoying it so much we forgot to take photos of some.. haha. I'd definitely recommend adding these on top of a basic sushi order!

We finished all the individual sushi, and ended up with the full spread of premium sushi, mixed tempura set, and fried tofu udon haha. If you're looking for a sushi restaurant near Gwanghwamun, a sushi date course near Jongak Station, or a good sushi spot for an office lunch in Jongno, I highly recommend Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch! I'd definitely go back next time I'm in the Gwanghwamun area.