Daejeon fusion Korean restaurant for yubu rolls for two: Usul

Why we picked Usul in Daejeon

While looking for a place to eat with a friend in Daejeon, I wanted something a little different from the usual Korean food, so I visited Usul (우슬). The menu items with unusual ingredient combinations caught my eye more than the typical dishes, and this time we ordered gochujang yukhoe with yubu rolls and a sweet corn shrimp potato pancake.

Where Usul is and what the storefront looks like

Usul is located on Jungang-ro138beon-gil in Jung-gu, Daejeon. It's on the 1st floor, Unit 109 of the building, so I checked the address before heading over.

If you're looking for somewhere to eat with a friend around Jungang-ro Station, it's a pretty accessible location.

I visited this time wanting something a bit different from what I usually eat, and the menu lineup felt like it fit the whole fusion Korean restaurant near Jungang-ro Station, Daejeon idea well.

Inside Usul and choosing from the menu

After we sat down, we looked over the menu. It uses Korean ingredients but the names and combinations were a bit different from a typical Korean restaurant, so it was fun just deciding what to order.

We ordered the gochujang yukhoe with yubu rolls and the sweet corn shrimp potato pancake so we could try a few things together. It worked well for a meal with a friend where we wanted to share different dishes rather than focus on one main.

What two of us ordered and the table setting

At most Korean restaurants people usually order familiar things like stew or grilled meat, but at Usul the dishes that caught my eye were familiar foods like yukhoe, yubu rolls, and potato pancake given a slightly different ingredient combination.

Gochujang yukhoe and yubu rolls: two dishes on one plate

The first dish we ordered was the gochujang yukhoe with yubu rolls. Getting to enjoy yukhoe (raw beef) and yubu (fried tofu skin) — two very different ingredients — in a single dish already set it apart from a regular yukhoe menu.

Usually you order yukhoe to focus on the yukhoe itself, but this dish's feature was being able to order gochujang-dressed yukhoe together with yubu rolls in one go. The composition was clearly different from ordering yukhoe alone.

Since I visited with a friend, it was also convenient to share one piece at a time. Rather than ordering the yukhoe and the yubu rolls separately, getting both components in a single dish suited us well when we wanted to try a little of everything.

How was the sweet corn shrimp potato pancake?

The second dish we ordered was the sweet corn shrimp potato pancake. Potato pancake itself is a familiar Korean food, but the addition of sweet corn and shrimp stood out.

I ordered it wanting something a little different from a regular potato pancake. It was fun that potato, corn, and shrimp — each familiar on its own — were combined in one dish.

Ordering the potato pancake alongside the relatively cold gochujang yukhoe and yubu rolls kept the overall combination from feeling one-note. Moving from one dish to the other, the difference in ingredients and composition made it good for slowly sharing with a friend.

Usul for two people or for a group

Above all, the style of sharing several different dishes with a friend suited the place well. It kept the familiarity typical of Korean food while offering a different menu composition, which fit the whole reason for seeking out a fusion Korean restaurant near Jungang-ro Station, Daejeon.

Final thoughts on Usul

Usul was a fusion Korean restaurant near Jungang-ro Station, Daejeon that I visited with a friend to eat slightly different Korean food. This time we ordered the gochujang yukhoe with yubu rolls and the sweet corn shrimp potato pancake and enjoyed two very different compositions together.

What stuck with me most was how yukhoe and yubu rolls were combined into a single dish, and how sweet corn and shrimp were added to the potato pancake — familiar Korean dishes given new combinations. It suited a time when I wanted to experience everyday Korean food in a different form rather than eating it as usual.