Gangseo Japanese restaurant for uni ikura don: Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa

I’m the type who really loves seafood dishes like eel and uni, so I went looking for somewhere delicious and found a promising place around Magok. It was inside Magok One Grove, which I visit whenever I’m bored, so that was perfect. There’s a Kyobo Book Centre and Traders there too, so it’s actually pretty fun. This is Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa One Grove Branch (우나기 욘다이메 키쿠카와 원그로브점), a great eel rice bowl spot in Magok One Grove.

The atmosphere at a Japanese restaurant in One Grove near Magok Station

It’s near Magok Station and inside the One Grove building, so it’s very accessible whether you take public transportation or drive. It looked like a good option for nearby office workers’ lunches, family gatherings, or a date meal too.

Anyway, the neat, polished Japanese-restaurant vibe was obvious from the exterior, so I went in with high expectations.

Once inside, I absolutely loved how huge and open the space was. The tables were generously spaced too, making it a really comfortable place to eat without worrying about the people around you.

The restaurant is fairly large overall, and there seemed to be quite a few people visiting for group gatherings or company dinners. It also looked like they had nicely arranged private rooms for a cozy meal.

I ate at a window seat like this, and it was cozy and lovely.

A menu with everything from eel rice bowls to uni bowls

Once seated, I looked over the menu and found everything from their signature premium eel rice bowls to fresh sashimi dishes. It’s known as a great eel rice bowl restaurant in Magok One Grove, so I had originally planned to order eel, but the sashimi menu suddenly had me craving fresh seafood. There was sashimi moriawase (assorted sashimi), uni maguro don, uni ikura don, and even distinctive rice bowls with fresh tuna and eel together.

The à la carte section was fun to browse too, with unusual dishes that aren’t easy to find in everyday life, including honesenbei, uni samhap, umaki, kimoyaki, and uzaku.

They also had a varied selection of Japanese alcohol to pair with the food.

• Uni ikura don ₩55,000
• Kimoyaki ₩4,500
• Total ₩59,500

Uni ikura don loaded with rich uni and salmon roe

After much deliberation, I couldn’t resist the uni I love and ordered uni ikura don, plus kimoyaki to have alongside it. After a short wait, the uni ikura don arrived with an incredibly luminous, neat presentation.

Uni ikura don ₩55,000

The accompanying dishes included crunchy gungchae pickles, fragrant yuzu pickled radish, cabbage salad, and crisp gim (roasted seaweed).

None of the side dishes were overpowering; they were all clean and tasty, with a subtle charm that made them nice to pick at alongside the rice bowl.

This was something like a light soup. It was mild, clean, and warm—just right for settling your stomach.

The main uni ikura don had what felt like almost two bowls’ worth of rice firmly packed into the bowl, topped generously with sea urchin roe and salmon roe. Just looking at the colors, you could feel the freshness.

First, the salmon roe (ikura) popped completely in my mouth and had no fishiness at all, which I loved. Its gentle saltiness and nutty umami made it so appealing with the rice.

The uni (sea urchin roe) was soft and rich, melting away in my mouth with a deep ocean flavor. I’m normally extremely sensitive to fishy smells, but there was no bitterness or fishiness at all—only uni’s characteristic nuttiness and a subtle sweetness—so I enjoyed it so much. Both uni and salmon roe felt a little unfamiliar the first time I tried them, but once you get hooked, there’s no getting out...

I had been deciding between this and the uni maguro don, but the combination of rich uni and popping salmon roe worked so well. If you put rice, uni, and salmon roe on the crisp gim and wrap it up, the seaweed’s fragrance gently embraces everything and makes for an even deeper flavor.

Sweet-and-savory kimoyaki on the side

Kimoyaki ₩4,500

The kimoyaki I ordered as a side for the main rice bowl also arrived freshly grilled and neatly presented. Kimoyaki is a Japanese dish of eel liver, along with some other innards, threaded on skewers, brushed with a sweet-and-savory tare sauce, and grilled over charcoal.

Because the amount you get from one eel is quite limited, I thought it might be hard to find outside a restaurant specializing in grilled eel, so I ordered it. The outside was soft but pleasingly chewy to bite into. The eel’s distinctive nuttiness and slight bitterness paired with the salty-sweet sauce, and I thought it would be really good with drinks too.

The uni ikura don, with popping salmon roe and rich, sweet-nutty uni piled over a generous serving of rice and wrapped in gim, had wonderful flavor. The kimoyaki was light and nutty, making it a great accompaniment to the main dish. Both were very delicious! If you’re looking for a good restaurant in Magok One Grove with both atmosphere and flavor, I recommend it!