Gangnam sushi bar course with cold udon: Ilpum, Seoul

A Gangnam Station kaisendon spot with seriously good quality: Ilpum Gangnam Branch.

Ilpum Gangnam Branch, found underground near Gangnam Station

Do you like kaisendon (Japanese seafood rice bowl)? I found a Gangnam Station spot with incredibly good quality this time, so I thought I’d introduce it to you 😊 Ilpum Gangnam Branch.

People usually spend their time around Gangnam Station Exits 10 and 11, so who knew there would be a gem like this in the basement of Seocho Trapelice, just a two-minute walk from Exit 6!

I wandered around a little even after getting downstairs, but go down the stairs, head all the way right, then go all the way inside and you’ll find Ilpum, this Gangnam Station kaisendon spot.

Was this a Gangnam Station kaisendon place that only I hadn’t known about? There were lots of reservations and even a wait~ I came at 5:30, right when break time ended, for an early dinner and ate leisurely, but it filled up in no time. It seemed like everyone had reserved, so I recommend making a reservation before visiting ✔️

The location is a little awkward, so I wondered how people knew to find it so well. Apparently it has appeared on TV and lots of celebrities have visited. It was even more fascinating seeing signatures from famous people almost everyone would recognize hanging up 👀

Most seats at Ilpum Gangnam Branch are counter seats, so it had an omakase-like atmosphere too. The dark wood counters and atmospheric lighting made it feel calm yet upscale, and the overall vibe was lovely—it looked great for a Gangnam Station date or a blind date too 😉

You can store bags on the wall behind the counter seats 🛍 Counter seating can often be inconvenient for bags or outerwear, but this setup made it easy to eat comfortably at Ilpum Gangnam Branch~

There are also regular tables for four to six people, so visiting as a group is possible~ There aren’t many larger tables, though, so I think you should especially reserve ahead if you want one!

One thing I especially loved at Ilpum Gangnam Branch was that water came right to the seats. We drink a lot of water, and having a water dispenser at the counter meant we didn’t need to ask separately—it was so convenient 👍 I’d only seen this at Japanese sushi restaurants or izakaya; even Korean places with counter seats rarely have it, so I really loved it.

Kaisendon and unagidon are the signature dishes

Ilpum’s signature dishes are kaisendon and unagidon (grilled eel rice bowl). But the sashimi quality was so good that the sushi and sashimi seemed like they would be great too.

Events

For the Naver review event, you could choose two scallop croquettes or crab croquettes; there were also two complimentary sushi pieces for pregnant guests, ₩5,000 off with Naver prepayment, 20% points back with Naver Pay, and ₩2,000 points back for writing a review after a Naver reservation. There were lots of discounts and freebie benefits if you look into them before going, so make good use of them~

Chawanmushi came out first after ordering

Once we ordered, they first brought miso soup, seaweed, white kimchi, and chawanmushi (steamed egg custard).

Since we were seated at the counter, they placed the food above the counter like omakase, and we each moved it onto our own tray to eat.

Chawanmushi

Before properly digging into the cold seafood dishes, warming up the stomach first with warm, soft chawanmushi 😌

The bouncy, pudding-like chawanmushi had a savory depth, perhaps from the shrimp, and was perfect for waking up the appetite~

Special sashimi rice bowl | ₩39,000 Premium kaisendon | ₩37,000

Special sashimi rice bowl topped with thick-cut fish

While deciding what to order with the kaisendon, I thought it would be nice to enjoy more sashimi, so I tried the special sashimi rice bowl for the other dish.

I don’t know fish well enough to name every species exactly, but this sashimi rice bowl had six kinds of fish, including sea bream, flounder, Spanish mackerel, salmon, and tuna! Every slice was cut thick, making it wonderfully satisfying to chew, and you could tell at a glance that they used high-quality fish.

I tend to like fatty fish sashimi, and there were plenty of rich fish like tuna belly and salmon, so it was right up my alley! It was even better wrapped in seaweed with radish sprouts 😋

Premium kaisendon with a wonderful variety of seafood

There was a regular kaisendon too, but I wanted to enjoy it properly, so I ordered the premium kaisendon~ It was made so beautifully that I almost felt bad eating it ✨️

The rice inside seemed seasoned because it had taken on some color, and it was savory too.

Before ordering, I worried it might be too similar to the sashimi rice bowl. Some fish overlapped, of course, but it didn’t feel similar at all. For example, the sashimi bowl had fresh salmon while the premium kaisendon had seared salmon, and it included squid sashimi too—there were little differences in the fish selection.

Most of all, the biggest difference was that the kaisendon had loads of seafood beyond sashimi: uni (sea urchin), crab meat, ankimo (monkfish liver), salmon roe, and other premium seafood that goes so well with rice.

Abalone, scallops, and sweet shrimp—seafood that is simply delicious even on its own 🤩

There were also extras to enjoy alongside it, such as sweet Japanese rolled egg and fried lotus root, making the bowl feel truly varied. With seaweed, gamtae (seaweed), and white kimchi, there were even more ways to combine everything. Maybe because the ingredients were aged with kelp, there wasn’t any fishiness at all. The portion was so large it was hard to finish, so ₩37,000 did not feel wasteful whatsoever.

Karaage cold udon served with the mains

And every main dish even comes with a noodle or fried dish, plus dessert. When I visited, they served cold udon with one piece of karaage (Japanese fried chicken).

Even though the karaage in the cold udon had been sitting in the broth for quite a while, it wasn’t soggy at all—it stayed so crisp and delicious that I thought it could sell well as a standalone dish 😋 The broth wasn’t ordinary udon broth either; it was a refreshing cold stock with a subtle yuzu flavor, so it tasted refined and cleared the palate nicely.

Crab croquettes

They give you croquettes for writing a receipt review, so how could we not do it~ You absolutely have to do this ⭐️ We asked for crab rather than scallop croquettes, and tried them with the light mayonnaise-based sauce that came alongside.

Seriously insanely delicious 😍 The outside was crisp, while the inside was warm, moist, and creamy with crab cream. The quality was so high that I thought, “They give this as a freebie?” I couldn’t taste much crab, but the texture was on another level, so I didn’t mind that at all.

Mango panna cotta for dessert

And it wasn’t over yet—they gave us mango panna cotta for dessert too! Seeing this, I thought, ah, popular places really do have a reason. The main dishes were already excellent, but an omakase-level noodle dish and dessert came with them, so the value was just crazy.. 👍

The moment I tasted the mango panna cotta, I said, “Wow~ delicious.” The panna cotta had a rich milky flavor, and the mango purée on top didn’t taste cheap either. I was so full, but still scraped the bowl clean haha.

Sponsored, but somewhere I want to return to

I visited this Gangnam Station kaisendon spot, Ilpum Gangnam Branch, through a sponsorship, but it was a genuine restaurant I would return to with my own money. It was surprising to get this level of quality and this much food at these prices. Nothing—the mains, sides, or dessert—felt carelessly made; everything was excellent, and the generous portions made me extremely satisfied. It felt like I had found a hidden Gangnam Station gem, which made me so happy. I want to keep it to myself, but since I’m introducing it to you, I recommend going and trying it 😉