Yakitori course dinner on Hwangridan-gil, Gyeongju: Yakitori Sogi

A cozy, Itaewon-like space and a reservation

We made a reservation in advance for 6:30 p.m. on a weekday evening. Even though the restaurant opens at 6 p.m., the counter was already full except for our reserved seats—so popular! Most guests seemed to be in their 20s and 30s, enjoying a drink and a meal in the atmospheric setting.

Inside, there are six to eight counter seats, two tables for four, and bar-style seats looking out the window.

The interior had the appealing feel of a hip little restaurant tucked into a back alley in Yongsan or Itaewon.

The menu is broadly divided into the full A Course and half B Course, and you can add à la carte items without interrupting the flow of the meal. Ordering alcohol is required here, but there is also a wide selection of non-alcoholic drinks for anyone who does not drink well, is driving, or simply wants to enjoy the atmosphere, so it did not feel burdensome.

The A Course yakitori, grilled with laser focus

Once we had put down our bags and settled in, the starter dishes arrived: “cheese tofu” and chicken breast salad.

The cheese tofu tasted closer to a sweetish cheese than tofu. With a little wasabi, it was a uniquely delicious combination I had never tasted anywhere else!

The chicken breast salad also had wonderfully fresh vegetables, and the meat was as tender as chicken tenderloin, properly whetting our appetite right from the start.

Then the grilled skewers began to arrive, and the first bite—chicken tenderloin—was the best tenderloin of my life. I already love this cut, but it just melted away in my mouth. My husband was making a fuss about ordering another one immediately. (And it was only the first skewer…)

The chicken karaage that followed was a perfect match with the potato salad,

and the chicken shoulder wrapped in green onion was topped with yuzu wasabi and sansho pepper, making its fragrance burst through.

From afar, I could see the owner grilling the skewers delicately with such concentration that it felt as though he might bore a hole through them with his gaze. I immediately understood: “Ah, that’s why it simply can’t taste bad.”

The boneless chicken wing meat, leaving only crispness and chew; the richly grilled chicken hearts; the chicken skin rendered of its fat until crisp; and the whole chicken thigh with green onion and mushrooms—every one of the six skewers was flawless.

Tsukune, chicken gomtang, and sorbet

After the skewers, grilled shiitake mushrooms arrived. Their savory flavor and charcoal aroma rose right up, cleansing my palate so thoroughly that I felt I could start the course all over again.

Next came tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs), which we dipped generously into a poached egg seasoned with soy sauce and chopped scallions.

I do not usually care much for poached eggs, but the sauce was incredible, so I really enjoyed it. My husband said the sauce was so good that, if he had only had a spoon, he would have scooped up every last bit… After cleansing our palates with sweet-tangy tomato marinade, we finished with a satisfying bowl of chicken gomtang (clear chicken soup) containing grilled rice.

For dessert, the sorbet was blended with shiso, a Japanese herb. The delicate herbal scent mingled with the refreshing apple sorbet in such an impressive way that it made a perfect final note.

How was it for a Gyeongju travel dinner?

One advantage of a course meal is that the food arrives slowly, so it was lovely to chat with my husband and look back over our day in Gyeongju. The staff were also truly kind, and with quite a few international guests mixed in, we came away feeling as though we had briefly been somewhere other than Gyeongju.

For anyone who wants a special dining experience in a hip, relaxed atmosphere instead of the usual Korean food on a Gyeongju trip, I highly recommend Yakitori Sogi (야키토리소기), a Hwangridan-gil favorite!