Review of 'Yori'

This tiny little Korean BBQ restaurant sits just off of Piccadilly Circus opposite the venerable “Stock Pot” restaurant. It is actually because of the “Stock Pot” that we visited Yori as the “Stock Pot” (which I have never before visited) turned out to be closed for renovations (for a few months evidently) on the day we wanted to visit so we wandered across the road to try this instead. I have always been a fan of Korean BBQ - It may not always be a taste sensation but it is nice, clean food with simpler flavours (and often spicy as well!).

Yori's interior is quite modern and they should appeal to the lunch time crowd with a reasonably priced set menu at lunch. We were off to a show in the evening so did not have a lot of time and stuck to two dishes only - A chicken hot pot and a BBQ dish of marinaded beef and squid. The chicken hot pot arrived first - A pot of rice topped with various vegetables, a runny egg, vegetables and marinated chicken which was surprisingly tasty. Our complementary sides of two different types of pickled vegetables - One radish (we think) and the other bean sprouts - provided a nice cleansing flavour on our palette throughout. The BBQ dish, of course, involved the staff coming over to turn on our recessed table BBQ where it quickly came to life and a waiter continually minded the food as it cooked in front of us. The squid, though cooked for as long as the beef were, surprisingly, NOT chewy and everything was delicious over top of the side of rice we had ordered.

My dinner companion did mention that one thing she did notice was that the meat did not really taste of anything except for their marinades and I would have to agree. Nice though the flavours were if I had my eyes closed I might not be able to tell the difference in the different meats we had (ok, texture might be a bit of a give away, but I think you know what I mean). The hot sauce on the side served only to further hide the different flavours here.

Having said all of this, it was a nice meal, the staff were very friendly and understanding (when we told them of our show they made every effort to serve us quickly). The prices were not bad with the bill coming to £26.80 which included non-alcoholic drinks for the two of us (barley tea pot for me - which was lovely - and a soft drink for my companion) - Perhaps a bit pricy for the amount of food given but this is an expensive neighbourhood! A simple menu with a nice selection of rice, soup, BBQ, noodle and hot-pot choices. Worth a punt if you are in the area and have a hankering for Korean, that is for sure…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2013-06-29

Cuisine: Korean

Address: 6 Panton Street, Piccadilly, Westminster, London, SW1Y 4DL

Public Transport: Piccadilly Circus

Location: London (England) - Piccadilly Circus

Map:

Telephone: 020 7930 8881

URL: