Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Um Yong Baek

Hearing that the popular Korean restaurant has opened a branch in HK, today we came to Stanley Street in Central to try it out. The restaurant is famous for offering Busan cuisine and its high-quality pork. Because of its popularity, there were two dinner servings, and we came on the first session, starting at 6:30pm.

The décor was neat, with the use of wooden furniture and columns to recreate a vibe of older and traditional Busan cottages. The restaurant was quite big, with two floors, and we were seated on the ground floor. On the side were communal floor seats in the traditional Korean style, for bigger groups.

Ordering the UYB Pork BBQ Set for Two ($510), it included a selection of UYB’s signature pork cuts served on one plate, including belly, collar, and jowl, plus chives and garlic. Like in Korea, the staff would help to grill the meat at the table, saving us the effort and ensuring also the meat was cooked properly. With different sauces and condiments, the quality of the meat was wonderful, and the taste was very good as well.

We also had Truffle Duxelles Stuffed Mushrooms ($80) too. The baked scallop-shaped mushrooms were marinated with truffle oil, topped with sauteed minced mushrooms. It took a while to grill on the side at lower heat, with the intense mushroom flavours pleasant and a good complement to the meat that almost everyone ordered.

We also had some additional meat, picking Yangnyeom-Gui ($330), marinated special cut, with pork ribs, Gabrisal, the prized pork belly section connecting loin to the neck, and cheek meat. With the marinade the meat was more flavourful and tender, offering different texture and experience.

Finishing with Haemul Dolsot-bap ($65), seafood stone pot rice, the issue for us was that this was served too early, while we only started to enjoy the grilled meat, and by the time we finished all the meat the rice had cooled down quite a lot. It tasted good though, and there were rice crisps at the bottom.

Service was great, with the staff not only helping to grill the meat, but throughout the process explaining the different parts of the meat and how to best pair with the different sauces, in what sequence. The bill on the night was $1,128. Good value for money. Considering the overall experience, I would rate this restaurant an Excellent 78 points, worth returning.