Friday night garlic shrimp aburi sushi in Hongdae: Yu Iksang Sushi

It's Friday, the end of the work week, and finally a Hongdae date with my food-loving other half! Hongdae really is the street of youth, haha. Just walking around people-watching feels like it recharges my energy.

Anyway, my partner said there was a sushi place in Hongdae she'd wanted to try for a while, so we went to find it. Apparently it's famous for its extra-long sushi pieces.

Yu Iksang Sushi's location and hours

Yu Iksang Sushi is about a 5-minute walk from Hongik University Station Exit 9. It's close to the main gate of Hongik University, so apparently it's a popular lunch spot among students — a real Hongdae sushi favorite.

• Tue–Sun 11:00–21:00
• Last order 20:00
• Closed Sundays
• Address: 18-7 Wausan-ro 23-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (101)
• Parking 🚫

The place is fairly small. Two 4-person tables and one bar table — since the owner runs it alone, there can be a wait.

Kiosk ordering and the Couple A Plus set

You order via the kiosk at each table. One menu item per person is required, and the sets are said to be generous and good value, so we went with the Couple A Plus set.

The owner's hands are seriously fast, haha. The food came out so quickly after ordering that I was genuinely surprised.

Because the sushi pieces are so long, you're meant to brush soy sauce onto them with a little brush.

Soba, doenjang soup, and shrimp tempura came out first.

Shrimp tempura is best eaten piping hot, straight away.

What's in the Couple A Plus set

A generously loaded sushi platter arrived on a huge plate! From left to right: salmon x2, flounder x4, tuna x4, garlic shrimp aburi x4, tuna mekka aburi x2, eel sushi x2, sweet shrimp aburi x2, crab x2, tamago aburi x2, beef x2, and baby octopus aburi x2. They said the exact lineup can vary slightly depending on the day's ingredient supply.

Living up to its reputation for extra-long sushi, the pieces really are long and huge. My raw-fish-loving partner's eyes went wide, and I had to cut mine with scissors because it was too big, haha. The aged salmon just melts in your mouth.

The aged-kimchi flounder sushi is also a total delicacy. The tangy aged kimchi and chewy flounder pair really well together. My partner sat there with furrowed brows and kept humming to herself, haha.

The soy sauce was especially delicious, so I brushed it on generously~~

The tuna was soft and clean-tasting too. All the fish was fresh with zero fishy taste, which made it easy to eat.

The best one: garlic shrimp aburi

The most delicious piece was the garlic shrimp aburi! The sauce — mayo-based? — was insane, and the shrimp clung chewily to the tongue. Add the savory depth from the garlic flakes and it was just incredible.

The tuna mekka aburi was also soft, and the sweet shrimp aburi was solid too. Since they share the same mayo-based sauce, pretty much everything was good.

Partway through, they gave us a complimentary eggplant tempura sushi — freshly fried and warm, it just melted in my mouth 👍

I let my partner have the eel sushi~~

The egg sushi was really soft. Not many places do good egg sushi, but Yu Iksang Sushi passes with flying colors! 👏👏👏

My partner kept massaging the plate saying the sauce was too good.. you're making it hard for me to hold my head up, haha.

Cleared it completely! The owner saw it and was shocked, haha. You'd think we licked the plate. That's how good it was ^^

We got a refreshing complimentary glass of Sprite to cleanse the palate too,

The owner kept giving us extra things, haha. He was so cheerful and kind that we had a genuinely pleasant meal.

How was it as a Hongdae sushi spot?

Yu Iksang Sushi, a Hongdae sushi favorite. With good value pricing, you can enjoy delicious, generous sushi — it seems to be popular not just with students but as a date spot for couples too. Honestly, everyone else there was a couple except us, haha. Especially recommended if you like big, long sushi! Great taste, kindness on top, and excellent service too — a place I'd love to visit again, haha.