Group of 4 lunch with soba and potato croquettes: Elephant Sushi

When I'm craving sushi in Gwanghwamun, there's a place I often end up at — Elephant Sushi. I visited once before and remembered being pretty satisfied with the price-to-quality ratio, so this time I went back for a repeat visit.

This time it was four of us, and we ordered four Elephant Sushi A sets! We also grabbed 3 pieces of potato croquette from a review event and even a cup of sake with a Naver follow coupon!! Made sure to claim everything haha

Location and hours of Elephant Sushi Gwanghwamun

• 27 Sejong-daero, Basement floor B109-5, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Daily 11:00 - 21:00
• Break time 15:00 - 17:00

You know the KT Building in Gwanghwamun, right? The one with those two huge screens attached — it's basically a landmark building in Gwanghwamun. This restaurant is on the basement floor there~~

You can wait via Catch Table, or you can also make a same-day reservation through Naver, just so you know!

Why I came back

These days, a lot of sushi places can be pretty pricey, but Elephant Sushi's biggest strength is that you can eat a wide variety of things for around ₩10,000-something 🤗 Turns out there's a reason so many Gwanghwamun office workers come here for lunch!

What's in the ₩19,000 Elephant Sushi A set

We ordered the Elephant Sushi A set. Price was ₩19,000. It comes with a variety — white fish, salmon, shrimp, tuna, ankimo (monkfish liver), egg, inari (fried tofu sushi), and more, so it's fun to try a bit of everything. They said the exact lineup can vary slightly depending on the day's supply~

Grabbing the review-event potato croquette and follow-perk sake

Surprisingly a lot of people skip claiming these! At Elephant Sushi, if you join the Naver review event you get 3 pieces of potato croquette, and if you also follow on Naver, you get a free cup of sake. We made sure to grab both, and having a sip of sake while eating sushi bumped up the satisfaction level even more~! It only takes a few seconds anyway, so definitely grab these if you visit 👍

From salad and soup to buckwheat soba

After ordering, the salad and soup came out first — when you're hungry and waiting, having these basic sides come out first is honestly kind of nice. I had a sip of the warm soup, ate some salad, and before long the soba and sushi arrived. I thought it'd just be sushi, but with salad, soup, and soba included too, I thought the composition was pretty solid for a set in the ₩10,000-something range.

My dad really loved the cup of sake we got with the Naver notification coupon! It wasn't too strong either, so it went well alongside the sushi.

The potato croquette from the review event was better than expected too. Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside — good to pair with sushi one bite at a time.

How was the 10-piece sushi?

Finally, the main event! The Elephant Sushi A set came out with 2 pieces of white fish, 2 pieces of salmon, shrimp, tuna, ankimo, egg, inari, and more — 10 pieces total. Personally I love this kind of assorted sushi set because you're not just eating one kind, you get to taste a bit of everything~ The balance of the lineup was pretty good this time too.

The buckwheat soba and sushi combo

One thing I personally loved was the buckwheat soba. I thought it'd just be sushi, but the soba came along with it. Eating salmon, then a bite of soba, then white fish, then a bite of soba — the combo was really solid. It cut through the richness nicely, and it let me enjoy all 10 pieces of sushi to the very end. For a set in the ₩10,000-something range, I felt they really put thought into the composition, and I was satisfied.

Salmon sushi and white fish sushi

The first thing I reached for was, of course, the salmon sushi. The salmon was cut to just the right thickness — not too thin, not too thick — and it had a texture that melted smoothly in the mouth. Salmon lovers will be reliably satisfied. The white fish sushi had an appealing clean flavor — rather than the richness of salmon, it had a light, clean style, good to eat in between other pieces.

The surprisingly good ankimo sushi

And something that personally surprised me was the ankimo (monkfish liver) sushi. It's not something you usually come across easily, but the rich, savory flavor was memorable. Might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

The tuna was also fine with no fishy taste, and the shrimp had a nice springy bite. The egg sushi and inari were good to eat toward the end — among all the bolder-flavored pieces, they acted like a palate cleanser. Most of all, what I liked was that the lineup wasn't lopsided at all! From the standard salmon, white fish, and tuna to distinctive items like ankimo, it felt like a pretty satisfying set for the ₩10,000-something price range. Maybe that's why, after finishing, I naturally found myself thinking 'not bad at all for this price.'

Was it enough for 4 people?

Four of us ate four Elephant Sushi A sets plus the soba and potato croquettes, and cleaned the plates! At first I wondered if it might not be enough, but with 10 pieces of sushi plus salad, soup, and soba, it turned out to be surprisingly filling. I get why Gwanghwamun office workers keep coming back for lunch here.

Wrap-up

Overall, it's a clean, tidy sushi restaurant. During lunch hours it fills up almost entirely with Gwanghwamun office workers, showing just how popular it is — solo dining works here, and it's also good for a group visit, so it's a solid choice if you're looking for a good Gwanghwamun lunch spot.

• A repeat visit to an affordable, ₩10,000-something sushi spot in Gwanghwamun
• 10 pieces of sushi plus salad, soup, and buckwheat soba make for a filling meal
• Grab the Naver review-event potato croquette and sake perk for even more value