Hongdae sushi restaurant, giant eel and early sell-out: Yu Iksang

Where is Yu Iksang Sushi and when is it open?

Yu Iksang Sushi (유익상스시) is a sushi restaurant in an alley near Seogyo Elementary School in Hongdae, famous for its long-tailed sushi. It is open daily 11:00–21:00 (closed Mondays, last order 20:00). I'd been craving sushi in Hongdae for a while, looked around, and ended up here.

It's a bit of a walk from both Hongikuniv. Station and Hapjeong Station, so leave yourself plenty of time if you start from the station!

The owner studied in Japan and apparently brings that authentic sushi flavor here. It's been in Hongdae for quite a while, but since it's tucked into an alley, it isn't the easiest place to find.

Yu Iksang Sushi dinner queue and sell-out: what time should you go?

We arrived at 6pm and got lucky: we were the last to walk straight in, and the guests right behind us started the queue. Around 7:30pm it even closed early because the ingredients had sold out.

Before the food came, I studied how to enjoy the sushi 🍣: brush the soy sauce on with the brush, and put the wasabi on top separately... taking notes..

Yu Iksang Sushi menu and standard starters

The menu has a wide range of sets to choose from. The two of us ordered the Couple A Plus.

The standard starters include clear soup, soba, salad, shrimp sushi, soy sauce and pickled rakkyo (pickled shallots). Shrimp sushi and mini soba come as standard, no less! Eat the shrimp sushi first, then perk up your appetite with the cold soba before the main sushi >.<

What's in the 26-piece Couple A Plus?

After a short wait, the Couple A Plus arrived. The plate underneath is sooo much bigger than I expected. Can the two of us really finish all this ..? But so much for the worry, we cleaned it out (spoiler).

The full set is 26 pieces in total, including salmon, aged-kimchi flatfish, tuna, tamago aburi (seared egg sushi), garlic shrimp aburi, beef and more. There were so many kinds that I couldn't keep track of them all. We just ate happily, the two of us ^.^..

• Long-tailed sushi: 2 pieces of salmon, 4 pieces of aged-kimchi flatfish
• Others: tuna, tamago aburi, garlic shrimp aburi, beef and more

A big plus of the Couple A Plus set is the variety, from live-fish sushi to garlicky ones, so you can eat to your own taste.

Aged-kimchi flatfish sushi: kimchi as long as the fish

The first thing I tried was the aged-kimchi flatfish sushi. The flatfish on top covers the rice so much that you can barely see it. Look closely and the rice is hiding in there (?). A small touch from the owner that I liked: the aged kimchi is laid as long as the flatfish, so eaten in one bite, the seasoning of the sushi and kimchi matches perfectly.

Today's top pick: tuna sushi and long-tail salmon

The tuna sushi has a light brush of sesame oil on springy slices of fish. Add wasabi on top and it cuts the richness right away, making a sooo good bite. My top pick today was the tuna!

The salmon sushi's tail is so long that it's hard to lift in one go. Tuck the tail under the sushi and lift it all at once with your chopsticks, and the nutty salmon aroma fills your mouth.

Garlic mayo sushi: crunchy with tempura crumbs

The sushi topped with garlic mayo sauce comes in a huge variety: crab stick, shrimp, white fish, egg sushi and more. I usually like clean-tasting sushi, but the tempura crumbs on top of Yu Iksang Sushi's pieces added a crunch that made them fun to chew.

Eel sushi so big it's practically a rice-topped eel

The eel sushi looked amazing! It's so big you could call it eel with a bit of rice rather than eel sushi. It was so huge that I cut the eel off and ate it separately ㅇ0ㅇ

Finishing with the free eggplant sushi

Just as we were nearly done, the owner of Yu Iksang Sushi brought us eggplant sushi on the house. The eggplant was fried crispy outside and juicy inside, and went well with the light sauce brushed on top. A mild eggplant sushi to finish and cleanse the palate, and we ate happily until we were stuffed 🍣💕