Hongdae alley sushi restaurant with tamago aburi: Yu Iksang Sushi

Why we chose Yu Iksang Sushi in Hongdae

While looking for a good sushi restaurant in Hongdae, I ended up at Yu Iksang Sushi, which is known for sushi with a pretty unusual look. Hongdae is packed with sushi places already, but this one has a style that's a bit different from the usual, so I'd been curious about it for a while. It's especially famous for its long-tail sushi, where the fish hangs way out past the rice, so this time I went with my boyfriend.

Where Yu Iksang Sushi is and what the room feels like

Yu Iksang Sushi sits inside an alley in Hongdae. You'll find it once you step off the main Hongdae street and into the alleyway — actually being a bit removed from the chaos of the main street made it nice for a sit-down meal.

Inside, it's a cozy sushi spot with both counter seats and tables. Having table seating made it comfortable to sit for the two of us, and the tables weren't uncomfortably crammed together either. There are tables from 2-person size up to bigger group tables, so it looked good both for couples and for groups of friends or family coming for sushi.

What comes in the Couple A Plus set for two

Yu Iksang Sushi has everything from basic sushi to assorted platters, salmon sushi, tuna sushi, and aburi (torched) sushi, plus couple sets meant for two. What we ordered was the Couple A Plus. It comes with a variety of sushi — flounder, salmon, tuna, beef, garlic shrimp aburi, mekka aburi, tamago aburi, and more — so it's great when you want to try a bit of everything.

Side dishes came out too — cabbage salad, soup, cold soba, and shrimp tempura — so the whole spread ended up a lot more filling than I expected.

What long-tail sushi actually looks like on the plate

The second the Couple A Plus arrived, we both went "whoa." The portion and the visual were both huge. It wasn't just a plate piled with regular sushi — it was covered in long-tail sushi, where the fish stretches out way longer than the rice, so it looked hearty just from the sight of it. With the plate packed that tightly, it actually photographed really well too. Definitely different from a typical assorted platter where a few pieces sit neatly in a row.

In particular, the flounder and salmon weren't just sitting a little on top of the rice — they hung down way longer than the rice, so it looked clearly different from ordinary sushi. It's literally long-tail sushi, and seeing it in person made it feel even longer than in photos. Dunking the whole piece in soy sauce is awkward since the fish is so long, so I used the little brush that came with it to brush soy sauce right onto the fish instead.

The aburi sushi and the side dishes

The lightly torched pieces, like the garlic shrimp aburi and mekka aburi, brought a smoky flavor plus sauce that gave a different kind of taste compared to the raw fish sushi.

Since so many types come out on one plate, I liked that we weren't stuck on one flavor the whole time — we could go back and forth between raw fish sushi and aburi sushi. On top of the sushi, taking a bite of cold soba here and there and adding in the shrimp tempura made for a pretty filling meal for the two of us.

The complimentary eggplant sushi

They also brought out eggplant sushi as a freebie. I'm normally a fan of eggplant so I dug in right away, and it was cooked soft enough that it paired really well with the rice underneath. After eating fish sushi for a while, the eggplant sushi gave a nice change in texture too. The Couple A Plus already had plenty of variety, and with the bonus sushi added on, we finished the meal genuinely stuffed.

Who Yu Iksang Sushi is a good fit for

Yu Iksang Sushi is a good fit for people who want something a little different from ordinary sushi. Unlike typical sushi where the fish sits just slightly on top of the rice, the long-tail sushi here — where the fish hangs way down past the rice — is the restaurant's biggest signature, fun both to photograph and to actually eat. If you're on a Hongdae date and want something more special than plain sushi, or you just love sushi piled high with long, generous cuts of fish, I'd recommend Yu Iksang Sushi.