Youbae
Youbae is a Japanese Restaurant in Seoul. Though not exactly one of my top choices in restaurant selection while in Seoul. Personally, I had thought I would eat nothing but Korean food. But that proved to be false, with trips to Kraze Burger, McDonalds, Dominos, and now Youbae.
The interior of Youbae, features a raised platform. But before you step on to it, you must remove al your shoes. The soft lighting highlights the wood accented hallway. There wasn’t any large single dining room, but a bunch of semi-private booths. The sunken booths allowed for traditional on-the-floor-seating. But thank goodness for the space under the table which was craved out for those with large feet, legs, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised. Mr. K boast about how Youbae had some of the best Japanese food in Seoul. The four of us basically celebrated the year end with three large dishes. The pork shoulder, the seafood and chicken tempura dish, and yakitori skewer assortment. The pork shoulder was some of the best I had ever tasted. It was so tough or too tender. It had the right amount of necessary texture. It had an attractive and slighty chewy component. The charred edges gave a crispness. This was a well made dish. Next we had the seafood and chicken tempura dish, which included larger than bite-size chunks of meat. The chicken and seafood was juicy. And lastly we had a bunch of skewers. I didn’t get a good impression with everything coming out in one large plate. This is a very Korean style, rather than presenting the skewers one by one. Though, since we weren’t at a bar – I think they just wanted to serve it all together. There weren’t any real standout in the yakitori in each of the different skewers
One thing I regretted was not having the ramen. Mr. K said that Youbae had some of the best ramen. It was kinda funny, afterwards, Mr. B argued that so-so ramen shop was better, but Mr. K said ramen was based on a Japanese style, not the Korean spicy bastard style.
Anyways, though I am unsure if I would return, I know that if I tried their Raman, they might have gotten a high rating.
What to Order: Pork Shoulder What not to Order: Yakitori
Rating 1 Pigs Price Range 2 $/¥/NT
유바애 Youbae 서울 강남구 논현동 62-6 02-512-8848 youbae.com
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