Hagye Station sushi buffet: flounder fin, salmon belly at Kuu Kuu

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch: near Hagye Station, with 2 hours of free parking

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch (쿠우쿠우 노원점) is a sushi buffet on the 6th floor of 247 Nowon-ro, near Hagye Station, and parking is a whopping 2 hours free. I'm not someone who goes to buffets all the time, but I heard there was a sushi buffet in Nowon with seriously top-tier quality, so I went. It's really close to the subway station, so it's easy to get to by public transport. The access is excellent.

The moment I walked in, I was amazed at how wide open the place is. The tables are spaced generously and the interior is clean, so it seemed perfect for group meals or family dinners. It felt so comfortable that my first impression was great.

Unlimited Kelly draft beer at Kuu Kuu Nowon: free if you write a review?

The unlimited Kelly draft beer at Kuu Kuu Nowon is ₩5,900 per person, but if you write a Naver receipt review it's ₩0, apparently. After being shown to our seats I started looking around the salad bar, and a banner near the entrance made me jump. The unlimited draft beer is free!

For people who like a cold beer with their buffet, this is a real jackpot. Ask a staff member, take part in the review event, and you can enjoy unlimited draft beer right away, so definitely make use of it.

Flounder fin and salmon belly: the picks among 100+ sushi

The sushi corner at Kuu Kuu Nowon looked like at least 100 kinds even at a quick glance. Honestly, some of you may not expect much from buffet sushi, but the variety and sheer amount hit me the second I walked in and my jaw dropped.

I piled my plate high and went back 3 times, and still couldn't get through the whole lineup. The ones I remember most were the flounder sushi, raw salmon sushi, aged kimchi yukhoe (Korean beef tartare) sushi, and chadol (thin-sliced brisket) sushi.

The yukhoe and brisket were insanely savory, and the flounder and salmon were really fresh.

Tips for picking flounder and raw salmon sushi

• Look closely at the flounder sushi stand: a few plates made with the fin (engawa) are mixed in, and I recommend grabbing those. Crunchy and nutty, it's a work of art.
• Look closely at the raw salmon sushi too: thick, rich salmon belly sushi is hiding in there, so the tip is to pick mostly belly pieces.

Kuu Kuu Nowon sashimi corner: how fresh is the raw salmon?

At the sashimi corner of Kuu Kuu Nowon, the raw salmon was genuinely good quality and fresh without any fishy taste. At buffets I usually avoid frozen or not-so-fresh sashimi, but the quality of the sashimi corner here was impressive.

I lost count of how many times I went back for the raw salmon. The soft, rich flavor spreading in my mouth was as satisfying as a decent Japanese restaurant. Even people who really love sashimi should be happy with this freshness.

Unlimited grilled lamb chops and the made-to-order noodle corner

What caught my eye most in the hot food corner of Kuu Kuu Nowon was the grilled lamb chops. After stuffing myself with sushi and sashimi I moved on to the cooked dishes, and out of all of them the lamb chops were the most welcome.

Even at a lamb skewer place, lamb chops are pricey and you can't eat all you want, so being able to eat as much as I liked here moved me. No gamey smell, nicely browned, and dipped in the special seasoning powder they were really tasty.

Next to it there's a neatly stocked noodle corner where you can have jajang, jjamppong, udon, cold soba and miso soup made on the spot to your taste, perfect for cleansing the palate with a hot broth.

Dessert corner at Kuu Kuu Nowon with bead ice cream and a chocolate fountain

The dessert corner at Kuu Kuu Nowon has waffles, ice cream, slush, yogurt, fruit and cake, plus a chocolate fountain and bead ice cream (tiny frozen ice cream beads), a real dessert kingdom. There's a reason people say there's a separate stomach for dessert.

From freshly baked crispy waffles to ice cream, slush, yogurt, all kinds of fruit and cake, there was really nothing missing.

Especially the chocolate fountain overflowing with sweet chocolate, and the bead ice cream that has been my favorite since I was little, all unlimited. I was so happy. If you love bead ice cream, this place will drive you wild. After the meal I happily cleared a few plates of dessert too.

Kuu Kuu Nowon: recommended for a day when you want to eat until you're full

Kuu Kuu Nowon Branch is a place you won't regret visiting when you really want to eat delicious food until you burst. The overall food quality and variety rank up there with Kuu Kuu's Gold branches, so my satisfaction was very high.

The place is spacious and comfortable, so if you're looking for somewhere for a group gathering or a meal out, I highly recommend Kuu Kuu Nowon as a family gathering spot in Nowon!