Seoul Korean BBQ grilled over corn fuel: pork neck at Yukseong

Hi everyone!! Here's my review after having dinner at Yukseong, a Korean BBQ restaurant located between Sangwangsimni and Wangsimni. There are tons of BBQ spots between Sindang and Wangsimni, but I've already been to this one twice. Let's get into the detailed review 😝

Where is Yukseong? Hours, closing day and parking

• Yukseong / 97 Muhakbong-gil, 1F, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
• Closed Mondays
• Tue–Sat 16:00–23:00 (last order 22:00)
• Sun 16:00–22:00 (last order 21:00)
• Free corkage
• No parking support (use nearby Yuseong parking lot)

I walked over from Exit 4 of Sangwangsimni Station, and right after turning into the alley you'll find Yukseong's entrance! We sat by the window near the front door haha. They grill over corn fuel here, so you wait a bit for the flame to get going.

Free corkage at Yukseong: why it's worth reserving

Yukseong has free corkage, so you can bring your favorite drinks. We came early on a weekday evening and were the first customers of the seating, but when I came on a weekend before, most of the tables were reserved!! If you want to bring in a drink they don't carry and get corkage, I'd recommend reserving ahead.

We didn't bring any drinks of our own today, so they gave us each a glass of white wine as a welcome drink haha. It had a clean taste, so it went down easy.

What comes in the 550g pork set

Yukseong's menu! Same as last time, I ordered the pork set (550g). While eating, I noticed there was instant noodle on the dessert menu, so we ordered a bowl of yukgaejang-flavored ramen too haha. As you'd expect from a BBQ place, they've got a wide range of drinks too!

Pork neck, skirt steak, and pork belly come out together with mushrooms. Just looking at it, it seems super fresh. They say the meat Yukseong uses is prime grade, carefully selected for quality. It looked really good just by eye, so my expectations were sky high. I don't usually like pork neck much, but they grilled it juicy and delicious!!

Banchan: black sesame cabbage and beef radish soup

Cabbage tossed in black sesame sauce, lettuce wraps, sauces, radish namul, and pickled mustard leaf all come out. There's a decent number of banchan (side dishes) while you wait for the meat, and we enjoyed them all!! The cabbage salad is so good. They also serve beef radish soup as a banchan, so I sipped that before drinking 😝

Cross-aged pork neck: why it stays so juicy

They oil up the heated grill and start with the pork neck first. Yukseong says they use a cross-aging method that softens the meat's texture and maximizes umami!! Aging it in multiple stages optimizes the flavor and texture at each step, apparently. A lot of places serve dry pork neck, but this was genuinely juicy and tender, so good...

You can also swap the tonic in the highball for sparkling water!✨ Here's the highball with a lemon slice on top

Corn fuel means less smoke smell on your clothes

They grilled the meat so well haha. They cut the fattier top part and the leaner bottom part nicely, so even the same cut had different textures to enjoy.

Maybe because the fuel is corn, the grilling smell wasn't strong at all!! It's so surprising how little smell lingered on our clothes lol. There's less smoke too, and the corn smoke flavor infused into the meat, which was really unique. They came by to check on the meat periodically while it cooked.

The sauces: fresh wasabi, garlic and yuzu kosho

Fresh wasabi with salt and pepper is my favorite combo. There's also a garlic sauce and yuzu kosho sauce prepared, so you can pick based on your taste! This is the super juicy pork neck they plated up once it was fully grilled. I don't usually like pork neck, but I really enjoyed it for the first time in a while.

After everything was grilled, they moved it up top for easy eating. There were two of us, but a lot of the other tables had groups of friends or families. Meat is a classic family dinner-out choice, right?😉

After finishing the pork neck, we moved on to the skirt steak and pork belly, and both were chewy and really tasty too! The owner and staff were all great at grilling and super kind. If you're looking for a BBQ spot near Wangsimni or a place for a family dinner, I recommend Yukseong 🍗✨