Yukhoe soba and salmon kkakdugi combos at Bupyeong sushi buffet KuuKuu

Address: 264 Buheung-ro, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea, 9th floor of Donga Wellbeing Town

Hours daily: 11:00 - 21:30

Before you visit KuuKuu Gold, here's everything you need to get your money's worth, plus my favorite combo recipes — just trust me and follow along!

Where is KuuKuu Gold Bupyeong Branch, and is there a wait on weekday evenings?

KuuKuu Gold has a few separate branches nationwide, and I visited the Bupyeong branch. It's located on the 9th floor of Donga Wellbeing Town. I went on a weekday evening and there was no wait when I arrived.

As soon as I put my bag down at the table, I did a full lap around the buffet, and wow — Gold really is different. The number of dishes is insane. Let's go through each corner one by one.

How much does KuuKuu Gold Bupyeong Branch cost?

I visited for weekday dinner, and it's ₩31,900 per adult.

• Weekday dinner, adult: ₩31,900
• Elementary school kids: ₩17,900
• Preschool kids: ₩8,000

Just so you know.

Combo recipe 1 — yukhoe and sesame oil over cold soba noodles

Now that the initial menu scan is done, let's get into the combo recipes. First up: yukhoe (raw beef) sesame oil soba noodles.

There's a noodle corner where you can request jjajangmyeon, jjamppong, udon, pho or cold soba. Here, just ask for the soba noodles from the cold soba dish, on their own.

Top the noodles with yukhoe, then add three spoons of sesame oil, a big handful of gim (dried seaweed), one spoon of grated radish, and three spoons of green onion. That's your yukhoe sesame oil soba noodles, done. Season to taste — I recommend soy sauce plus wasabi to round it out!

Combo recipe 2 — yukhoe jjolmyeon (chewy spicy noodles)

Jjolmyeon (chewy cold noodles) + yukhoe + a generous amount of gim powder. That's the classic yukhoe jjolmyeon, right there. The yukhoe is frozen, but the seasoning base is so good it pairs perfectly with soba, jjolmyeon or rice. I'll skip yukhoe bibimbap in the tips section since it's just too basic!

Combo recipe 3 — salmon kkakdugi gunkan and soy-marinated crab rice

The salmon kkakdugi that once took over social media — you can enjoy it at KuuKuu too. What you need: salmon + flying fish roe gunkan + chogochujang (vinegared chili sauce) + horseradish sauce, and soy marinated crab. Wondering why the soy crab? Stick with me to the end.

First, take the flying fish roe from the roe gunkan and pile it onto the salmon. Then mix horseradish sauce and chogochujang to taste. Go easy on the chogochujang at first — too much and it overpowers everything. That's your salmon kkakdugi, done.

So why bring in the soy crab? Take the leftover rice from the roe gunkan (the roe already scooped off) and mix it into the soy crab's shell. Done. This is the real way to enjoy KuuKuu Gold, wouldn't you agree?

Sushi and roll corner — the menu differs by branch

Now let's look at the detailed menu at KuuKuu Gold Bupyeong Branch. Since KuuKuu's menu composition differs by branch and isn't listed precisely on their website, I'd recommend checking recent blog posts for branch-specific menus.

Just the rolls and gunkan alone come in this many varieties. I meant to photograph each one, but there were way too many, so click into the photos for a closer look!

With so many customers, the chefs kept restocking the plates nonstop.

The sushi corner at KuuKuu Gold Bupyeong Branch

There was a lot of shrimp sushi. I especially love salmon sushi, and there were even more varieties here — smoked salmon, salmon aburi, and more.

I started with a full plate: white fish sushi, salmon sushi, gunkan, eel sushi. The rice portion wasn't huge, but since I actually prefer less rice, that worked well for me!

The fresh corner: sashimi and raw seafood

There was seasoned shrimp, soy marinated salmon, smoked salmon, and grilled tiger prawns. And unlimited soy marinated crab and soy marinated shrimp too!

The salad corner

All kinds of vegetables and dressings were prepared so you could mix to taste. Besides the basic salad, there was mango, tomato and sweet pumpkin salad, plus jjolmyeon and yogurt. Next to the salad were sauces meant to be paired with sashimi or sushi — radish sprouts, horseradish sauce, capers, ginger, jalapeños, olives, pickles, and more.

The hot dish corner rivals a full-size buffet

If you think KuuKuu is only seafood and sushi, think again. (Yes, an old-fashioned line, I know.) The hot dish selection really doesn't fall behind a general buffet.

Chicken, crab, kanshao shrimp, mala xiangguo — the Chinese dishes were pretty solid. The basic dim sum and the character-shaped dim sum were so cute I had to try one of each.

There were also basics like palbochae, yaki udon, pasta, gambas and tteokbokki. Great menu for kids too.

Does the Bupyeong branch have a self-grill corner?

I believe the Guro branch has a self-grill station, but Bupyeong doesn't have a separate meat-grilling corner — you just take as much pre-grilled meat as you like. It's not as varied as a self-grill spot, but honestly, for someone clumsy and lazy like me, that's a plus haha.

For my first plate, I went with soup, a token salad, and a few pieces of meat. Skip the noodles — eat the meat! The meat!

There's also soup in Korean, Chinese and Western styles — I recommend the seolleongtang (ox bone soup)! The broth was rich and really delicious.

Drinks corner — from sikhye (sweet rice drink) to bubble tea

I've never done a separate write-up on a drinks corner before, but the herbal tea variety alone is huge, and beyond the basic sodas and fruit juice slushies, they even had sikhye (sweet rice punch) and bubble tea. I couldn't not mention it.

Fruit and desserts

There was more fruit than I expected. Quality-wise, I'd say just enjoy it casually.

The slice cakes and other desserts were amazing too. I recommend the macarons and crepes.

There's also waffles, a chocolate fountain and a strawberry fountain. For the waffles, just let the staff make one for you!

Whipped cream plus apple jam on the waffle is just the truth. The basics really are the best.

Ice cream and bingsu (shaved ice)

The ice cream comes in soft serve, scoop, sherbet and spoonable varieties — that many kinds. Bingsu (shaved ice) comes as regular or milk-ice, with plenty of toppings to customize.

By the time I got to dessert, I'm pretty sure I'd gained a solid +3kg.

With so many menu items, the fun of choosing and the fun of eating were both fantastic at this Bupyeong sushi buffet favorite, KuuKuu Gold Bupyeong Branch. Use my tips today and have a wonderfully gluttonous day haha!