Weekday lunch solo with vegetable croquette at Chisot Yeoksam

I had somewhere to be today, so I ended up heading to Gangnam alone ••

For some reason I wanted a really good meal, but going alone felt a bit awkward 😭 And that's how I found this Gangnam rice bowl spot near Yeoksam Station — 'Chisot'!!

Chisot Yeoksam Main Branch: location and hours

Chisot Yeoksam Main Branch

🕖 Mon-Sat 11:00 - 21:30, break time 15:00 - 17:00, last order 14:30 - 21:00. It's a 6-minute walk from Exit 7 of Yeoksam Station!

If you just follow the map, the sign comes into view right away, so it's easy to find

Weekday lunch atmosphere — do you need a reservation?

Small but clean and comfortable inside! I visited on a Tuesday for lunch, and since it's apparently an office workers' favorite, there were a lot of lunch-time reservations •• If you're planning to visit during lunch, I'd recommend booking ahead ☺️

The menu was really varied — apparently eel and salmon are Chisot's best and most famous dishes! Being a favorite among Yeoksam office workers, they also sell bento sets that are great for a single meal, and in the evening there's even a whole anju (drinking snack) menu 🫕

What I ordered and the prices

• Hitsumabushi set ₩37,000 (you can choose the size!)
• Side vegetable croquette (4pc) ₩8,000

Honestly, the visuals shocked me with how good it looked ;;🫪 The bento bowl was piled with plump, fresh, big eel •• The set came with miso soup, steamed egg, banchan (side dishes), and ochazuke. It was even bigger than I expected?!

How to eat Nagoya-style hitsumabushi

There's a card on the tray explaining Chisot's traditional Nagoya-style hitsumabushi and how to eat it. The staff also kindly walk you through it ~,~

There's furikake and sansho pepper powder for sprinkling on the ochazuke, so you can adjust it to your taste

As the card says, you divide the eel rice bowl into quarters and move a portion to your bowl, topping it with seaweed flakes, wasabi, and chopped green onion. This was seriously delicious!!!! Now I know why it's a top Japanese restaurant near Yeoksam Station ..🤍 Eating it the proper way really seems like the safest bet haha

Side vegetable croquette

The vegetable croquette I ordered as a side! It came with sweet chili sauce

True to its name, it was packed with vegetables and potato inside. This is exactly that crispy-outside, soft-inside thing — the outside was perfectly crunchy and the inside was soft and full. I'm not even that into croquettes and I still loved it ••• Highly recommend!

Half as rice bowl, half as ochazuke

I ate half like a regular eel rice bowl and the other half as ochazuke

Just looking at the photo makes my mouth water. Eaten plain, the eel flavor stood out, but with ochazuke the rice flavor came forward and everything blended together. Ochazuke can be a love-it-or-hate-it dish, but personally I'm firmly in the love-it camp, so it was so good ♥.. The great thing about Chisot's eel rice bowl near Yeoksam is that you get to enjoy two different dishes from one order!!

Self-serve rice and ochazuke refills, plus a review event

One of the best things about Chisot near Yeoksam Station is that you can help yourself to more rice and ochazuke at no extra charge ,, (when even a single bowl of rice usually costs a thousand won…)

They're also running a Naver review event — join in and you get 2 pieces of delicious salmon jang (soy-marinated raw salmon) (the salmon here is amazing too)

I clearly meant to have a simple solo meal, but Chisot's eel rice bowl was so good I accidentally overate. I came alone today, but next time I want to come with someone so we can try every croquette on the menu haha

If you want a great meal near Yeoksam Station in Gangnam and don't know where to eat solo, I highly, highly recommend 'Chisot,' a top Japanese restaurant near Yeoksam Station!!🫪