Japanese in South Korea - 57 Restaurant Picks

Salmon, tuna and white fish are cut thick and piled until the rice disappears underneath. Kamidong, the house's heaped…

Hitsumabushi, grilled freshwater eel over rice, uses a whole eel and is eaten in three rounds: eel and rice on their ow…

Sliced beef with scallions and pickled radish sits over rice in the gyudon served on the ground floor of this Noryangji…

Nagoya-style hitsumabushi, grilled eel over rice, is served in a hanok-style building with a small pond and a bamboo ga…

The Yukhoe and Salmon Jewel Box arrives in a box-shaped dish divided into soy-marinated salmon, raw seasoned beef, flyi…

Sashimi here can be cut to one of three thicknesses: thin slices melt softly, thick ones give more chew. Matured-sashim…

The ground floor puts diners at a dachi counter facing a large griddle, watching okonomiyaki and noodles cook. Upstairs…

One cook handles everything from taking orders to working the griddle, and guests sit side by side at a bar counter to…

At the counter, the chef shapes each piece right in front of you while chatting and explaining the menu one item at a t…

Yukkuri means slowly in Japanese, but with lunch waits that can stretch close to an hour, the name does not quite apply…

Blinds between tables keep neighbors out of sight, though their voices still carry. Hitsumabushi comes with a choice of…

Every dish is grilled, fried or simmered only after it is ordered, so plates reach the table hot. Chicken teriyaki, smo…

Eight counter seats and one table for two make up the whole room, and the course runs once at lunch and once at dinner…

Bonjour plus sugoi: the name sums up a kitchen that runs Japanese ingredients through French bistro sauces and techniqu…

The one-person set pairs chicken karaage with chicken gyoza and a drink, and the two-person set adds a pork cutlet curr…

On a first visit, start with the fried eggplant and meat rice bowl: the eggplant is crisp outside and soft within. Japa…

A crisp pork cutlet goes into hot, tangy, mildly spicy kimchi broth in the kimchi nabe tonkatsu, and the pot stays hot…

Unpasteurized namazake comes by the glass at this small sake bar in an alley off Gangnam-daero 48-gil. Pours range from…

Fresh noodles are boiled to order, and cold bukkake udon shows off their springy bounce most plainly. Chicken curry udo…

Half the rice in the chashu set goes with the seasoned braised pork, and the rest is drowned in warm barley tea to make…

Counter seats face the open kitchen, so the chef slicing aged fish is right in front of you, with ordinary tables for g…

Down a flight of stairs to basement level 1 on Nangye-ro, a small room decorated with Japanese ornaments, warm lights a…

Halfway through the bowl, ask for broth and the seafood rice turns into a savory, ochazuke-style finish. Jeitakudon let…

Salmon, flounder, scallop and shrimp are piled thick on the rice for the yaki donburi, then torched only on top, leavin…