Gangseo eel restaurant for solo hitsumabushi and umaki: Kikukawa

Eel rice bowls at One Grove Mall by Magok Station

There’s a great eel rice bowl place that opened by Magok Station in January, and I’d wanted to go sooo badly for ages, so I finally went this time haha.

First of all, the restaurant was incredibly clean, and the eel rice bowl was seriously insanely delicious..ㅠㅠ

Come out of Exit 2 at Magok Station and head to Building A of One Grove Mall—you’ll see it!!! Here I am at Building A of One Grove Mall! Since it’s on the first floor, I think it was pretty easy to find.

It’s the place with Japanese writing like this haha. It says Kikukawa in English!

Ooh, it was spotless from the exterior alone, seriously ㅠ Old-school places have their charm too, but I feel like I’m more into clean-looking restaurants these days. Apparently it was selected by Michelin in 2019 too!! I’d wanted to come so badly, so I was sooo excited haha.

A spacious interior, counter seats, and rooms for four

The interior was crazy. Totally clean and super spacious!!

Honestly, I usually prefer grilled eel to eel rice bowls, but after coming here I realized that a truly great eel rice bowl restaurant just tastes different haha.

There were seriously lots of seats too. It would be so nice for a group lunch with coworkers, and I really recommend it as a date spot too.

Honestly, eel rice bowls tend to be on the pricier side, so I wanted to go somewhere for a proper one haha.

They have counter seats too! They open right onto the kitchen like that, so you can watch the eel being cooked. So reassuring, seriously haha.

Hygiene is especially important in summer, and since this is seafood too, I feel like I can just trust a place with such an open kitchen.

And besides the table seating, there were private rooms too!!!! You can eat in total privacy. Each room holds four people, so it would be perfect for a date or even a blind date, right? They even have high chairs~~ Totally perfect!!

Ordering premium hitsumabushi and umaki

They set out the menu and hojicha (roasted green tea) like this. That hojicha was so good that I drank that much all by myself lol.

• Premium unaju ₩48,000
• Mentaiko premium hitsumabushi ₩60,000
• Mentaiko hitsumabushi ₩48,000
• Premium hitsumabushi ₩50,000
• Hitsumabushi ₩38,000

I ordered the premium hitsumabushi and umaki here. Umaki is an eel omelet roll, and they have ₩15,000 and ₩8,000 options.

How to enjoy hitsumabushi

The white teapot-like container holds tare sauce, and the black container has sansho pepper powder.

• Taste the eel on its own
• Enjoy it with the toppings
• Serve eel and rice into your small bowl, then add dashi broth

My eel rice bowl finally arrived ㅠㅠ It was presented so neatly that it felt like I was being treated to a precious meal. And when the food comes out, a staff member explains how to eat it.

It has a whole eel in it. ₩50,000 is admittedly brutal, but once you taste it, you understand the price. It was seriously so delicious ㅠㅠㅠ

It also came with all kinds of toppings: scallions, wasabi, shredded seaweed, salad, soup, and more!!!!!

First, I tried enjoying the pure flavor of the eel. Seriously, this is exactly what people mean when they say something melts in your mouth ㅠㅠㅠ

Ah, seeing the photo makes me want it again ㅠㅠㅠ The eel rice bowl I had in Japan was so good, and this was honestly just as delicious!!

Then I had a bite topped with wasabi and scallions. It was a meal by myself, but I enjoyed it so leisurely. Eel rice bowls go amazingly well with wasabi, you know. I hated that it disappeared little by little with every bite ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

And this umaki!! It’s an eel omelet roll, and it was huge and soft. Is there anyone who could dislike this ㅠㅠ It seriously melted in my mouth. I totally recommend ordering this too!!!! It’s a flavor you can’t try at an ordinary restaurant.

Then I tried a bite with tare sauce drizzled over it too haha. I was such a mess, filming a video while pouring the tare sauce lolllll.

This tare sauce was so delicious too. Mix it into the rice, then eat it with the eel~~

If someone offered to buy me something delicious, I’d want to come here haha.

And finally, serve yourself some eel and rice, add the dashi broth, and eat it that way!! You have to eat this to say you’ve had hitsumabushi~

I added scallions and shredded seaweed, then properly scraped the bowl clean haha. It was so delicious ㅠㅠㅠ

I really enjoyed eating alone at such a relaxed pace, and it was the most healing meal I’d had in a while haha.