With all things Korean invading our lifestyle, it’s not surprising to notice a spurt in the number of Korean joints around the city. We visited one such recently opened outlet, Soy Yum, off Southern Avenue, on a sultry weekday afternoon.
One of the city’s plush Japanese, Korean and modern café experience centres, Soy Yum, a 62-seater eatery, is the newest gift to the City of Joy from Pravakar Yonzone and Reevu Wangdi, who introduced the city to authentic North East flavours a decade ago with their brand, Momo I Am.
When you enter Soy Yum, an art store by Misfits in the left corner will grab your attention with a collection of oversized t-shirts, graffiti supplies, Japanese lanterns, anime posters, and graffiti art by Reevu himself. The zone adds the right amount of colours to the otherwise neutral palette and understated aesthetics of the diner.
Designed as a Japanese Izakaya, the menu looked interesting, and we couldn’t wait to dig in. We had to start our gustatory trail with a Spicy salmon maki that had the freshest slice of salmon, tonkarashi with spicy tanuki or tempura crumbs that added the right crunch to every bite. The sweet and sticky Buta negima graced our table next. Soft Belgium pork served in skewers with bite-sized celery in between and drizzled with Japanese-style smoked yaki sauce was oh-so-good. These appetisers, paired with bottles flavoured kombucha, were the perfect start to a grand meal, and we couldn’t wait more.
For the mains, we settled for a hot bowl of spicy chicken Miso ramen, boasting of ramen noodles with spicy tobanjan-based soup, chicken strips, jammy eggs and other condiments, and kept waiting for the star of the show — the Korean BBQ grills.
A grill, set up on the tables, prepared our meat as we finished our ramen. As thinly sliced chicken and pork meat, garlic pods, onion rings, button mushrooms, peppers, and enoki mushrooms wrapped with bacon were getting a good grill, slices of omelette, crab sushi, cabbage and cucumber kimchi, sauteed greens, and four types of tangy and spicy sauces arrived at our table to go with them. Like the Koreans, we stuffed them all inside a lettuce leaf to bite into the wholesome goodness. A little later, we were served a warm, spicy watery broth, with veggies along with rice, and it was so delicately flavourful and comforting.
A meal here wouldn’t be complete without having a jiggly-soft Japanese cheesecake from their in-house bakery. With the customary hot stamp on the cheesecake, the dessert — a blend of a super soft vanilla sponge and cheesecake — was the perfect end to our elaborate meal.
Meal for two: Rs 1,000+