Gasan Japanese restaurant: eel porridge to free shrimp aburi, Gapposo

What is Gapposo and how do you get there?

Gapposo is a Japanese restaurant on the first floor of Hyundai Terra Tower Gasan DK, within walking distance of Gasan Digital Complex Station Exit 8. I had a meal in Gasan with my younger sibling for the first time in a while, so I went looking for a Japanese place with a nice atmosphere and clean food, and ended up at Gapposo.

Gasan has plenty of office-worker eateries, but not many places where you can properly enjoy neat Japanese food and aged sashimi. Gapposo is run by a chef who used to be head chef of a five-star hotel's Japanese restaurant, so I was looking forward to it before I even got there.

• ⏰Hours: Mon–Fri 11:30–22:00 / Saturday 11:00–20:00 / Break time 15:00–17:00 / Closed Sundays
• ✨Amenities: reservations, takeout, group seating, private rooms, Wi-Fi, separate men's/women's restrooms, wheelchair accessible, Zero Pay, parking
• 🚗Parking: Hyundai Tera DK Tower underground parking / 2 hours free

It's within walking distance of Gasan Digital Complex Station Exit 8, so it's easy by public transport, and I hear you can also park free for 2 hours in the building's underground lot.

Inside, Gapposo felt calm and upscale overall. Besides regular tables there are private rooms and group seating, so it looked fine for family meals, company dinners or business meetings too.

Gapposo also offers a sushi lunch set every Monday, so if you work near Gasan Digital Complex Station, you can have a good-value lunch there!

Which two-person sharing set did we order at Gapposo?

My sibling and I ordered the Gapposo two-person sharing set that comes with both kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) and unagidong (grilled eel rice bowl). The menu had two sharing sets, and ours was the one that lets you try kaisendon and unagidong together.

What does the name Gapposo mean?

Gapposo serves both lunch and dinner and the menu is quite varied. I got curious about the name, so I looked it up, and here's what I found.

• Kappo (かっぽう, 割烹): a Japanese culinary term meaning to cut with a knife (割) and cook with fire (烹). It usually means premium Japanese dining where a skilled chef prepares seasonal ingredients and serves them directly in front of the guest.
• So (そう or しょ, 荘 / 所, etc.): a Chinese-character suffix meaning a place, house or restaurant. (Example: 割烹荘, a restaurant or inn specializing in kappo cooking.)

In short, "Gapposo" isn't an everyday word that already existed in Japan. It's a restaurant name made by combining Japanese words to mean 'a space specializing in kappo cooking.'

Gapposo is run by a chef who used to head the Japanese restaurant at a five-star hotel, so the food quality is pretty high. They're also running a review event, so it's worth joining.

Gapposo table setting and side dishes

Gapposo clearly pays attention to details like glasses, water and chopsticks. Personally I noticed the glasses and water most: the cup was ceramic, so it felt cool, and the water was barley tea, which was great for staying hydrated.

This is how the table was set, and what impressed me was the wooden chopsticks. Most wooden chopsticks have thick tips, which is honestly a bit awkward for picking up sushi. Having chopsticks with thin, pointed tips made me think, yep, hotel-chef background really is different haha.

The basic side dish was homemade pickled radish (danmuji) deeply infused with yuzu. It had just the right sweet-and-sour balance and really brought out the taste of Japanese pickles. The soy sauce also seemed to be one simmered with a special seasoning and strained with katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

The drink came out first: a Sunkist peach zero. The color was pretty, but taste-wise I think plain Coke Zero or Sprite Zero would've been better haha.

How were the eel porridge and mini udon?

The first dish out from the sharing set was eel porridge. I wondered if they catch the eel themselves, because it had a really rich savory depth, the eel flavor came through strongly, and it was a porridge that settled the stomach.

Next was a mini udon with noodles like those in kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup). Honestly the noodles aren't my personal taste, but they were very chewy and didn't get soggy or swell easily, so I was surprised that the springiness and chew lasted until the last bite.

What comes in Gapposo's two-person sharing set?

Here's what the Gapposo two-person sharing set we ordered included.

• Kaisendon
• Unagidong
• Gapposo aged sashimi
• Uni pillar
• Chili chicken karaage
• Noodle dish
• Drinks

What I liked is that, rather than ordering just one dish, you get to taste Gapposo's signature Japanese dishes across the board. It's a good choice when two people can't decide what to order.

Gapposo aged sashimi

The aged sashimi had the soft texture and savory depth typical of aged fish, and with so many kinds it was fun to try them one by one. It felt less like just slicing fish and more like each ingredient's texture and flavor had been brought out. The piece with skin was called samchi tataki (Spanish mackerel tataki), and the fish's flavor and aroma came through well.

Sweet, tender unagidong (eel rice bowl)

If the kaisendon is fresh and clean-tasting, the Gapposo unagidong is sweet and filling. Glossy eel sat on top of the rice, the flesh was tender, and the sauce wasn't too sweet or harsh. The eel's flavor and sauce soaked naturally into the rice, so every bite felt hearty.

The two bowls are so different in character that it was fun swapping bites back and forth with my sibling. It's a good combo even if one person loves raw fish and the other prefers cooked fish.

Kaisendon piled with fresh seafood

The Gapposo kaisendon had several kinds of sashimi and seafood piled appetizingly on the rice. Tuna, salmon and a variety of other seafood came in one bowl, and the slices were thick rather than thin or limp, so you could really feel the chew.

With kaisendon, freshness makes or breaks the dish. Gapposo says it prepares fish and seafood caught from all three seas around the Korean peninsula using traditional Japanese methods, and when I actually ate it, each ingredient tasted clean. Instead of pouring the soy sauce on all at once, I dipped a little at a time, and that let me taste the ingredients' own flavor better.

Chili chicken karaage

The chili chicken karaage (Japanese fried chicken) was crispy outside and juicy inside. A slight kick of spice made it a nice break between the sashimi and rice bowls, and it balanced the meal so it didn't feel too mild all the way through.

What was the free raw shrimp aburi like?

The free raw shrimp aburi (torched shrimp) Gapposo gave us, and the fried item that looked like tempura of shrimp innards, were also really good. I don't know if there's a separate menu for it, but it felt like an izakaya-style snack that could easily be its own plate, and a happy bonus that let us taste the real charm of Japanese food!

Who should go to Gapposo in Gasan?

Gapposo felt less like a place for a quick meal and more like somewhere to sit and talk slowly with someone you like. The composition and plating were neat enough to show the head-chef background, and the overall quality, from kaisendon to unagidong to aged sashimi, was solid.

Going with my sibling and sharing different dishes meant we got to taste more variety, which I loved. If you're looking in Gasan Digital Complex for a date, a family meal or a quiet gathering, I'd recommend the Gapposo two-person sharing set, where you can enjoy kaisendon and unagidong in one go.