Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - YuSang

Hearing that a new restaurant has recently opened in Prince’s Building in Central, offering contemporary Korean cuisine under the concept of yusang goksu, the traditional poetry-and-drink game in Korea, we came today to try it out.

Passing through the dark brown wooden shutters at the entrance, the staff led us to our table on the window side, looking out to Statue Square. The soft lighting, subdued color and neat patterns created a cozy and comfortable dining ambience.

Like in all Korean restaurants, we were served an array of small dishes to start. The six involved kimchi, pickled cucumber and carrot, seaweed, fresh vegetables, and white baits. They were good and we finished all before the arrival of the first course.

For appetizers, we started with Yukhoe 宮廷生牛肉 ($225). The raw yukhwe was seasoned well, lean yet tender, and upon mixing with quail egg, minced garlic and onion, pine nuts, was truly phenomenal in taste, with the shaved black truffle adding some earthy tones. On the side was seaweed rice crisps to enjoy the beef tartar together.

Next came Seonggeal Gimbap 海膽魚子御卷 ($280). While they looked like Japanese sushi, no vinegar was added to the rice. Instead, an abalone liver paste was used to enhance the flavours of the sea urchin roe kimbap. The sea urchin and caviar topping were both premium and of wonderful quality.

The third appetizer was Baekgimchi Oi 白泡菜 ($122). Made in two styles, the shredded carrot and burdock were wrapped in either cucumber or white cabbage, with the vegetables lightly fermented with a bit of sourness. The clear white kimchi cucumber was a signature of the restaurant, great in texture and taste.                                                                    

Then we had Modeum Buchimgae 韓式綜合煎餅 ($350). The assorted Korean pancake was my favourite dish in the evening, dry and not oily, with a crispy texture, and plenty of seafood toppings like clams, white baits, red bell pepper, prawns. The dipping sauce had a wealth of flavours and enhanced the pancake tremendously.

For the main course we had Dubu Hansang 白切肉配手工豆腐 ($365). Each poached sliced pork belly was enjoyed together with homemade tofu, with a bit of either salty shrimp paste, white bait sauce, or gochujang to pair. On the side there was also some kimchi to go with the pork too, offering different tastes and experience.

The last dish we had Byeongeo Gui 辣醬炙燒馬友魚 ($280). The large fish fillet was charcoal grilled beautifully, brushed with Korean chili paste gochujang to add a bit of spiciness. Drizzled with some lemon juice on top to freshen up the palate, this would a good alternative if you did not want to go for the usual Korean BBQ beef or pork.

Service was good, with the staff attentive and doing a bit of explanation of the dishes, though they could probably go a bit deeper. The bill on the night was $2,266. Considering the overall dining experience and food quality, I would rate them an Excellent 80 points, worth returning.