Atmospheric Japanese bar in Sadang for eel and uni bowls: Bunko Dining

Hi, it's Jjulli, a girl who takes restaurants seriously ♥️ Last weekend my husband and I had a restaurant date in Sadang 😍 The place is called Bunko Dining, and the atmosphere was so good that I thought it was perfect for blind dates, get-togethers with friends, and even meetups with your partner's friends or family (the Korean "cheongmo" gathering)!!! So let me start my review of this atmospheric Sadang spot 😝

Bunko Dining Sadang location and parking: public lot 2 minutes away, ₩3,000 per hour

Bunko Dining is very close to Sadang Station, so it was really convenient by public transport 👍🏻 You can get there quickly on foot from the station, which makes it a good meeting spot, and easy to find even for blind dates or group meetups!!!

We went by car!! There's a public parking lot two minutes on foot from the restaurant, so it was easy. Being a public lot, the fee was cheap too, which I loved. We stayed at Bunko for about an hour and parking only came to ₩3,000. Pretty good, right? 😝✨

With parking done smoothly, we headed to Bunko Dining in Sadang 🚶🏻‍♀️➡️ The restaurant is on the second floor of a building tucked inside an alley ☝🏻 It felt like a hideout you want to keep all to yourself!!! (❁´◡`❁)

Atmosphere and seating: counter seats, tables, and name tags if you reserve

Bunko Dining Sadang is a Japanese dining restaurant with a classy interior, a dark room lit by soft lighting. The moment I opened the door I was surprised by the moody atmosphere ✨

What surprised me even more was how many people were there. Since it's deep in an alley, I assumed it would be quiet and empty...!!!! But inside it was full of people, so I could really feel it's a popular Sadang spot.

The seating is varied too!! There are tables where several people can eat together and counter seats (dacchi-seok) for a more atmospheric meal, so it works for dates as well as small gatherings like blind dates or meeting your partner's friends 💖

We were guided to the counter seats! Since it's quite crowded, if you're planning a blind date or a gathering, please reserve before you go 😊 With a reservation they even prepare name tags like this one! It's a small thing, but this kind of thoughtful service made me feel a little more specially treated 👍🏻

The table setting was neat and modern too! The tidily placed tableware and the simple yet refined setup felt so upscale ✨

The water wasn't plain bottled water but nutty Solomon's seal tea (dungulle-cha) 🍵 Maybe because it came in a stylish cup, even the water tasted fancy. It's just barley-like tea, though, haha.

What we ordered: special hitsumabushi ₩56,000, special kaisendon ₩36,000

We ordered the special hitsumabushi (eel rice bowl) and the special kaisendon (seafood rice bowl)! They were ₩56,000 and ₩36,000 respectively, and both are signature dishes at Bunko Dining Sadang, so it was a real struggle to pick... In the end we ordered one of each and shared!

**For reference, the regular hitsumabushi comes with one eel, and the special hitsumabushi comes with one and a half eels.

Drinking snacks were set out as soon as we ordered 😂 The restaurant also has plenty of sake, so I highly recommend it as an atmospheric Sadang spot for blind dates or meetups with your partner's friends 👍🏻✨

Back to the main story!!!! If you order the eel rice bowl, you get ginseng liquor.

Wow... eel with ginseng liquor!!!! Just hearing it makes me feel energized!!!!

Meanwhile, the chef was grilling the eel! The counter is an open-kitchen style, so we could watch the cooking right in front of us, which was fun.

How is the special hitsumabushi? One and a half eels and broth ochazuke

And here is the special hitsumabushi 🤤 The set came with miso soup, salad, side dishes and even dessert!! Wow.. can food really look this stylish? The presentation was great.

The glossy eel rice bowl ✨ shone even more under the lighting above, hahaha.

I tried the salad first 🥬 Fresh vegetables with seasonal chamoe (Korean melon) as the main ingredient (❁´◡`❁) It was crunchy, sweet and refreshing, a salad that really got my appetite going!!!!

Then I went straight for a piece of eel. Wow... this is why people eat eel. It was tender the moment I lifted it with my chopsticks, and in the mouth it was moist with a rich, nutty flavor!!!

The sweet sauce added deep savory flavor from the very first bite!!! It wasn't just sugary; it brought out the richness of the eel, so it went really well with rice 💖

After eating a good part of the eel bowl, I poured in the broth 🤤 Isn't that the charm of hitsumabushi? With the broth, the sweet sauce on the eel loosened up softly and tasted even better.

One slight disappointment, though.. the broth had gone cold while we ate ㅠ_ㅠ Since we ate slowly, the broth at the end wasn't as warm as at the start. My husband still said it was delicious, but!!! If you want a warm hitsumabushi, ask them to reheat the broth 😊

Special kaisendon is 1.5 servings: sea urchin, salmon roe and sea snail

This is the kaisendon I buried my face in. And it's the special size, no less!!!!

The kaisendon set was fantastic too. The one difference from the hitsumabushi is that two slices of sashimi come as a side dish 🤤

I'm not sure what fish it was, but it was aged sashimi, thick and delicious. My husband and I each had one piece 😊

And the special kaisendon...💖 It's roughly 1.5 servings, so it was generous from the start!! True to the special size, it was generously topped with seafood like salmon roe, tuna, sea snail and sea urchin. To eat it, drizzle plenty of sauce over the seafood bowl and mix it all together-

One bite and.. it was pure heaven 😍 The chewy thick aged sashimi, the popping salmon roe... and the crunchy sea snail, so many textures in one bowl, I loved it 💖 You'll understand why I said I buried my face in it once you try it, hahahaha.

I also tried it with roasted seaweed, but the distinctive aroma of roasted seaweed slightly covered the seafood flavor, so personally I preferred the plain taste of the kaisendon!

The miso soup was high quality too! I was surprised to see clams as big as hard clams. It was salty and savory, the perfect partner for kaisendon, haha.

Is it worth recommending for blind dates and meetups?

After that generous, blissful meal, we finished with fried shrimp and cheese-stuffed dried persimmon. Thanks to Bunko Dining's neat and substantial lineup, we really enjoyed the meal 💖 The atmosphere was so good that it felt like going back to our dating days, too!! I'd happily recommend it to anyone looking for a good place in Sadang for a special day like a blind date or meeting your partner's friends 😍