Shichimi mentaiko scallop pasta at a Changwon izakaya: Yakitori Gong

A return visit review of Yakitori Gong, an izakaya at Urban Bricks in Jung-dong, Changwon.

Where is Yakitori Gong, and when is it open?

Yakitori Gong is located at 47 Jungdong-jungang-ro, Urban Bricks 3044, Uichang-gu, Changwon, Gyeongnam, South Korea. It's open Wednesday through Sunday from 18:00 to 24:00, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

I was looking for somewhere to grab a drink in the evening around Urban Bricks in Jung-dong, Changwon, and ended up back at Yakitori Gong. I've always liked the combo of grilled skewers and draft beer, so I decided to try the yakitori with beer again.

What Yakitori Gong feels like on a second visit

This was my second time at Yakitori Gong, and being a Japanese-style izakaya, the soft lighting and Japanese decor caught my eye the moment I walked in. The overall dark tones combined with the lighting made for a nice atmosphere in the evening, and with plenty of tables around, it felt like an easy, low-pressure spot for a date over drinks with two people.

What impressed me most was watching the skewers get grilled over charcoal — staff grill them right there inside the restaurant, and watching the skewers turn golden brown through the smoke made the wait fly by. The faint charcoal aroma drifting through the air really gave it that authentic yakitori-shop feel.

What comes in the 2–3 person yakitori and mentaiko scallop pasta set

From the 2-3 person set menu, I ordered the three yakitori skewers plus the mentaiko scallop cream pasta.

The three yakitori were green onion chicken thigh, chicken skin, and heart. The table already had a wooden plate set out for the skewers, and the staff placed them there. Each skewer was set down neatly as soon as it finished grilling, ready to eat, which looked great too. The table also had salt, shichimi, sansho pepper, and soy sauce set out so I could season each skewer to taste.

The chicken thigh was juicy and tender, with the outside grilled golden over charcoal for a subtle smoky flavor. The chicken skin had a delicious crispy part, and the heart had a chewy texture — rotating between the three kept things from getting boring.

Does shichimi improve the mentaiko scallop cream pasta?

The dish that went surprisingly well with beer was the mentaiko scallop cream pasta — the salty mentaiko flavor added to the smooth cream sauce made it quite tasty.

At first I ate it as is, but then I tried sprinkling on a little shichimi, and it went better than expected — the distinctive shichimi aroma and slight kick made the cream sauce taste a bit cleaner. Personally, I thought it tasted much better with shichimi on it.

A scallop skewer comes served on top of the pasta, and eating it hot right away, it was really tender and plump!

Kirin draft beer 3+1 event at Yakitori Gong

As it happened, Kirin draft beer's summer event was running that day too — order three glasses of Kirin draft and get one more free (3+1). Since I'd come planning to drink draft beer anyway, the timing was perfect. Cold draft beer paired with charcoal-grilled yakitori was, as expected, a great combo.

Overall, Yakitori Gong has a wide variety of skewers plus dishes like pasta and hot pot, so it seems like a good spot to visit with several people and share food. It's especially well suited for whenever you're craving charcoal-grilled yakitori with a cold draft beer. If you're looking for a spot with an izakaya vibe for drinks around Urban Bricks in Jung-dong, Changwon, or somewhere to enjoy grilled skewers and draft beer on a date in Changwon, Yakitori Gong was worth stopping by.