Flounder vs engawa at a Seolleung sushi restaurant: Sushi Ian N

Hi, I'm the happy advocate, your go-to guide for Teheran-ro restaurants.

There are honestly more lunch options near Seolleung Station than you'd expect. Today I want to recommend Sushi Ian N Seolleung Station for anyone who loves sushi. This time I went on a relaxed lunch date for two, and we each picked out sushi we wanted to eat — and the short version is, this is a stress-free Seolleung sushi restaurant worth visiting.

What is Sushi Ian N Seolleung Station like?

Sushi Ian N Seolleung Station is close enough to Seolleung Station to make it a convenient office-worker lunch spot. The restaurant runs as conveyor-belt sushi, so once you're seated, there's the fun of picking plates as they pass by on the rail. Items not on the rail can be ordered separately, which I liked, since it means you can build the lunch you actually want that day.

For this visit in particular, instead of a quick in-and-out meal for two, we decided to sit a little longer, chat, and take our time choosing what to eat. That made it feel more like a date than a standard lunch.

Picking your own plates off the rail at lunch

The biggest advantage of conveyor-belt sushi has to be the freedom to choose exactly what you want.

Ordering a preset set menu is fine too, but personally I like picking things one by one based on my mood or appetite that day. Sushi Ian N has flounder, salmon, tuna, shrimp varieties, various rolls and gunkan, and some more unusual options too, so even as a pair we could each pick what we liked.

We slowly scanned the rail and each picked out a plate. One of us went for cleaner, lighter fish sushi, while the other leaned toward richer or more fun options — being able to eat according to your own taste like this feels like a pretty important point when looking for a good Seolleung sushi restaurant.

What I liked most about going as a pair was that the process of choosing plates together — "want to try this one?" — is quietly fun in itself. It was nice for a calm sit-down meal with conversation, and since the plates arrive one at a time, the chatting flows naturally too.

Flounder and engawa: the point of this visit

What I especially liked on this visit to Sushi Ian N was the flounder and the engawa.

Flounder is personally one of the sushi types I order most often. It has a clean, slightly chewy texture, making it a great starter when you first sit down for sushi. Eaten with the rice, the fish's clean flavor really comes through, so it's also nice to return to after trying other plates. And if you like flounder, you can't skip engawa. This time I ordered flounder and engawa separately to compare them. Engawa, the fin part of the flounder, has a distinctly rich, savory flavor that's clearly different from regular flounder. Eating the lighter flounder first and then moving on to engawa made the difference between the two even clearer.

Engawa especially is the type where the savory flavor builds the more you chew, so if you love sushi, it's worth adding at least once. Sushi Ian N actually has flounder and flounder fin — engawa — listed as separate menu items, so you can order exactly what you want.

A quiet lunch date near Seolleung Station

What I personally enjoyed most about this visit was that we could each pick the sushi we wanted as we went. Around Seolleung Station these days there are plenty of restaurants aimed at office workers who need to eat quickly during lunch hour, but with sushi, since you're picking one plate at a time, you naturally end up pacing the meal yourself.

For a date especially, I think this pick-as-you-go style is quite nice compared to a meal where everything arrives at once.

"Want to try this?" "I'm getting one more plate of engawa."

Recommending plates back and forth like this made the meal feel much more relaxed than an ordinary lunch. So I'd recommend Sushi Ian N to anyone looking for a lunch date spot near Seolleung Station. A too-formal sushi restaurant can feel like too much, but a rushed meal isn't what you want either — this place sits right in between.

Worth it if you want sushi in Seolleung

The biggest strength of Sushi Ian N Seolleung Station is being able to pick as much variety of sushi as you want. The official menu includes flounder and engawa along with salmon, red seabream belly, tuna cheek, shrimp varieties and more, so there's a fairly wide range to choose from.

If you like flounder like I do, I'd recommend trying the regular flounder first and then adding engawa to compare. They're from the same fish, but the difference in flavor and texture is clear enough to make it fun. Most of all, sitting quietly with someone and choosing sushi one plate at a time for a lunch date turned out to be far more satisfying than I expected.

If you're looking for somewhere to eat lunch near Seolleung Station — especially if you're searching for a Seolleung sushi restaurant, a sushi place near Seolleung Station, or a lunch date spot near Seolleung Station — Sushi Ian N Seolleung Station is worth putting on the list.

Being able to drop in casually and pick exactly what you want, and to order favorites like flounder and engawa separately, was pretty appealing. Next time I visit, I'd order the flounder and engawa we had this time as a default, and try building a new combination with other menu items too.