Cutting extra-long tail sushi with scissors, Yu Iksang Sushi in

There's apparently a sushi place in Hongdae famous for extra-long tail sushi. So I dragged my boyfriend — a Hongdae/Sinchon local and total sushi nerd — out to the bar seats! Yu Iksang Sushi, a Hongdae sushi restaurant in Seoul.

Today too, let's just eat raw like sushi lol. That's my new motto from now on ⋆｡˚

Hours and seating at Yu Iksang Sushi

Hongdae sushi restaurant Yu Iksang Sushi's ⏰ hours: Tuesday–Sunday 11:00–21:00, last order at 20:00, closed every Monday.

The place is pretty small. 9 bar seats plus two 4-person tables. When I visited it was absolutely packed.

Recommended: the Couple A Plus, 26 pieces

The recommended menu at Hongdae sushi restaurant Yu Iksang Sushi — we ordered the Couple A Plus!

The Couple A Plus is 26 pieces total: fish sushi plus torched sushi.

The day I looked my prettiest ^ ^

The owner seems pretty into anime — the walls are covered in posters everywhere, so it was fun to look around while waiting!

Why they give you a brush and scissors

Salad and mini soba (buckwheat noodles) with broth. Pickled radish, ginger and soy sauce are already on every table, so we just helped ourselves.

Hongdae sushi restaurant Yu Iksang Sushi also gives you a brush, for painting on soy sauce since the sushi has such a long tail .ᐟ When you dip normally the rice falls off and it often gets soaked in too much soy sauce, but brushing it on was so much easier ㅠ.ㅠ Could every sushi place please give out brushes too `· .

Oddly enough they also give you scissors. Scissors at a sushi place? Weird, but I put them to very good use.

Service item 1: Shrimp tempura

I ate the shrimp tempura first, while it was still warm — service item, and the frying here is really well done, so my expectations for the place shot straight up ╰(*°▽°*)╯ The batter was thin and crispy while the shrimp stayed perfectly springy.

I'm not normally a big soba fan but this was so clean and tasty I finished the whole thing.

The visuals are overwhelming, , , but the lighting at my seat was a blue nighttime tone so the photos came out terrible ㅠㅠㅠ. With my boyfriend's help I turned on my phone flashlight and tried hard, but it still didn't come through well, ugh.

So generous, so generous.

Service item 2: A drink

My boyfriend's a total drink nerd — he always looks for a drink wherever we go — so getting one as a freebie made him so happy ~

How to enjoy the extra-long tail sushi

Okay, let me walk you through how to properly enjoy Hongdae sushi restaurant Yu Iksang Sushi ツ When a restaurant puts its own name and face on the line, that says it all, right? Since the sushi has such a long tail you brush the soy sauce on, and the wasabi isn't pre-mixed in, so you add it yourself to taste — it was pretty strong. There might've been a spoon meant for the salmon or torched sushi..? I didn't notice, so I just used chopsticks lol. I've genuinely never imagined eating sushi with a spoon, and even trying to imagine it now, I can't ・~・｡ Anyway, this place is really famous for its long-tailed sushi, so let me show you just how long the tail actually gets...

First, the salmon — this is how long it is. Honestly I don't normally like salmon, but the visual was so overwhelming I had to try it. The distinctive salmon smell, the oiliness, the texture — none of that is usually my thing, but here there was almost no off-putting quality; it was soft and delicious >.<

The flounder is about this long too!

Comparing it to the chopsticks, it's nearly the same length lol. Extra-long tail sushi, confirmed 🙌

The small plate obviously can't contain it. So the scissors are for cutting this long piece of raw fish. Honestly I thought 'who cuts their sashimi?!' and tried to just eat it whole, but it was so big I genuinely couldn't manage (I have a small mouth). My boyfriend just ate his whole lol, but I cut mine in half to share. Truly the first time in my life I've cut sushi with scissors...

The tuna looked amazing from the color alone, and tasted just as good! Using the brush to paint on soy sauce like they explained made it weirdly fun too ~

Tasting each torched (aburi) sushi piece

Garlic shrimp aburi

? — Garlic shrimp aburi. The lineup seems to change a bit depending on the day; I'm not totally sure what the one on the left was, but it was very likely imitation crab sushi. The shrimp was springy and delicious, and the mountain of crispy fried bits on top was the real kicker 🥹 So crunchy, so good!!!!

Baby octopus aburi — tamago aburi. The octopus was tender, not chewy at all, and the tamago (sweet egg) was perfectly sweet ♡⃛

Beef aburi — grilled roll. I already love beef sushi to begin with, and this was grilled perfectly, melting soft in my mouth! The grilled roll had a combo of cabbage, egg, and shrimp (I think) inside that worked really well. There was also a garlic mackerel aburi but I can't find the photo anywhere — it was tasty too...

Service item 3: Eggplant sushi

My boyfriend hates eggplant, so it was all mine..... great, but I was already full.. It was fried eggplant with a pretty noticeable eggplant aroma, and since I like eggplant I ate it up happily haha

Service item 4: Jjanggu stickers

Out of nowhere the owner asked if we liked Jjanggu (Shin-chan) and stuck a sticker on each of our phones — but my phone case is a material stickers won't stick to, so my boyfriend ended up putting both on his. So cute ㅠㅠㅠㅠ ugh, I need to change my case just to steal it back.

Service item 5: Candy

No matter how fresh and non-fishy the raw fish is, your mouth still ends up a little fishy afterward, right? They gave us candy, which was perfect for a palate cleanser after finishing. And they even picked a refreshing flavor >_<

The owner was busy running around handing out service items to every table, but stayed so friendly and cheerful the whole time, and the sushi quality was great with really generous portions — I'd absolutely recommend the extra-long tail sushi at Hongdae sushi restaurant Yu Iksang Sushi!