YORI is a Korean restaurant in Covent Garden, serving up a range of authentic Korean dishes and specialising in Korean barbecue. The Covent Garden branch is one of many YORI sites all over London - the group has other central London sites in Piccadilly Circus and King's Cross, as well as sites in Wimbledon, Clapham Junction, Ealing and Fulham.
YORI Covent Garden's black and yellow shop front is striking and hard to miss, and the interiors are equally slick, balancing black tabletops and dark walls with natural timber floors and chairs. There's some foliage dotted around, and this helps to add a little colour to the space, alongside bunches of pendant lights with hang from the ceiling.
The menu is compact and features a greatest hits collection of authentic Korean cooking. Among the appetisers you'll find japchae (stir fried glass noodles with vegetables) and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) as well as pajeon Korean pancakes with seafood and/or kimchi. The menu also has soups like kimchi jjigae, rice bibimbaps, fried noodle dishes, and Korean-style deep fried chicken, but the star attraction here is the Korean barbecue. Guests can order platters of beef bulgogi, sirloin, rib finger, beef rib, pork belly, pork bulgogi or Wagyu, which are barbecued and served with lettuce, barbecue sauce and sliced garlic and chilli. For those who don't want to spend too long choosing, you can plump for one of YORI's barbecue sets, which are recommended for 2-3 people.
Meanwhile the drinks list features a range of Korean teas as well as alcoholic drinks like soju, makgeolli, Korean beers, whiskies and a few house cocktails too.