Gangseo eel restaurant dinner in a private room: Kikukawa

An eel dinner discovered at One Grove in Magok

As the seasons change, it feels like allergies, rhinitis, and colds are already waiting before I can even recover from the summer heat~ Times like this make me think I should nourish myself with healthy, delicious food, so my partner and I went out for dinner for the first time in a while!!

This time, we visited Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa One Grove Branch. I had often spotted it while passing through One Grove during the day, but visiting in the evening gave it a completely different feel, with cozy, ample lighting that put me in a good mood as soon as I walked in.

The soft, cozy atmosphere, spacious layout, and generously spaced tables already made it seem like a comfortable place for a meal. Since we had reserved ahead, though, they showed us to a neat, quiet private room—how lucky were we?

It was nice to be able to eat while chatting quietly, so I think it would be great for a date or for a meal with parents or other elders, too.

Choosing eel dishes for dinner

As you would expect from an eel specialist that has cooked across four generations, eel dishes were the main attraction.

Looking over the menu, my anticipation grew at the thought of properly prepared eel, so we ordered the hitsumabushi (grilled eel over rice) and tempura set meal without hesitation.

Two neatly presented dinner set meals

Here are the two dinner set meals, served so neatly.

The plating was simply immaculate, too! Naturally, the hitsumabushi was what caught my eye and hand first.

It is an eel dish in the style of a rice bowl, with finely cut eel placed over fluffy, separate grains of rice. The eel was tender to chew, with a rich, distinct eel flavor that went so well with the rice—I was happy from the first bite~

I usually do not like the sensation of tiny bones when I eat eel, but the eel we had that day had almost no noticeable bones, which I absolutely loved.

Thanks to its soft, easy-to-eat texture, I thought not only eel lovers but also people hesitant about eel could enjoy it. Personally, if you are looking for a good eel rice bowl in Magok One Grove, this is a dish I would recommend trying.

Soft and moist umaki

The umaki (eel omelet roll), a side with the hitsumabushi set, wraps eel in egg. It was much softer and moister than the rolled omelets we already knew, which surprised me.

The eel flavor and fluffy egg texture came together so well that it was easy to pop into your mouth without feeling heavy. I found it appealing that eel can be enjoyed in so many different ways!

A tempura set meal with many ingredients

We also ordered the tempura set meal because it would have been a shame to eat only eel.

The plate included a range of ingredients—shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, kabocha squash, peppers, lotus root, bell peppers, and eggplant—so we could enjoy lots of different flavors.

Perhaps because they used quality ingredients and fried them to order, I loved the springy shrimp, sweet kabocha squash, crisp lotus root, eggplant and peppers, and chewy shiitake mushrooms.

It was fun to savor each ingredient's own texture. Even when I make fried food at home, it is not easy to achieve textures like these; as expected, the tempura felt finished on another level at a specialist restaurant.

A calm atmosphere and attentive service

I liked the food, but another thing that impressed me was the staff's polite, friendly service.

The overall mood was calm and comfortable, and the service felt attentive as well, so I felt truly looked after throughout the meal. I thought that if I came with my parents or other elders, reserving a room and bringing them here would make for a relaxed dining experience.

At this changing-of-the-seasons time, when physical and mental fatigue can come all at once, having a satisfying dinner of delicious eel dishes made me feel energized, haha.

If you are looking for an atmospheric dinner spot at One Grove or want to try properly grilled eel dishes, it may be worth remembering Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa at Magok One Grove.