A note on the words: yukgaejang is a rich, spicy Korean beef soup simmered with vegetables, here served as the soup near the end of a generous dinner course. Yakushu refers to traditional herbal liquors infused with medicinal botanicals, while jeon are, apparently, morsels coated in flour and deep-fried, and bossam is food wrapped in leaves.
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Soshian on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Today was a long-awaited return to one of my favorites, Soshian! What’s more, while I had only ever visited for lunch before, this time I was getting to have the evening course, so I was beyond excited! Soshian is a Korean restaurant that serves proper, authentic-style Korean food, and it is overwhelmingly delicious. In particular, the lunch yukgaejang udon is so insanely good it blows me away. Spicy yet comforting in flavor, it has saved me from hangovers more times than I can count.
Anyway, setting that aside, Soshian at night has a completely different atmosphere from the daytime — glittering with bright decorative lighting, ha.
This time I was shown to a semi-private room on the second floor.
Since I only ever use the first floor at lunch, it felt delightfully fresh.
Soshian course — 7,150 yen
Soshian set menu — 3,850 yen
[Shared style] Soshian set menu — 4,950 yen
This time I had already booked the Soshian course!
Now then, wondering what to have for the first drink, I looked at the menu and there was medicinal herbal liquor (yakushu)!
Since I don’t usually drink it, maybe it would make a nice aperitif? So I picked whatever one was supposed to be good for anemia! (I don’t remember the name, ha.)
Since I had the chance, I tried it on the rocks, and the sweetness combined with that herbal medicinal feel was pretty nice, ha.
It wasn’t particularly delicious, but as an aperitif it might be just right. It seems like it would be good for the body, too.
A seasonal rice porridge, and the ingredient turned out to be abalone! Quite a luxurious porridge right out of the gate.
While I was a little worried about filling up on porridge at the start, the gentle abalone broth was delicious and comforting.
There was something like a fresh spring roll wrapped in daikon, spicy konjac, char siu, and what looked like nikogori (jellied broth).
Incidentally, all of them were gently seasoned and very tasty, but the one in the back right had quite a spicy kick that paired great with alcohol!
And then, switched to beer!
Next was Korean-style sashimi. You dip it in sesame oil to eat; the octopus was plump, pleasantly chewy, and delicious.
The sauce served with the oysters was pleasantly spicy. Squeezing lemon over it added acidity that made it very easy to eat.
Jeon is apparently a Korean dish coated in flour and deep-fried. An assortment of fried morsels, in other words.
Shellfish, vegetables, meat — each was bite-sized yet delicious. The batter gives it substantial heft, so I started gradually getting full, ha.
At this point I decided to switch to makgeolli, ordering a bottle of Soshian Makgeolli, named after the restaurant.
Crisp and easy to drink — though definitely the kind where if you get carried away, you will get very drunk.
Served in a small ramekin, with the melted, browned cheese and the red sauce, it looked almost like a mini gratin.
There were about three pieces of tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes) inside, and it was quite filling! The pairing with the cheese was spot-on.
Gyoja-ninniku (Alpine leek) is so good. It is a flavor I find myself craving from time to time.
And the dishes kept on coming! The japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) came in a bite-sized portion and was very easy to eat.
Are these treated somewhat like kimchi, I wonder? They were thoroughly delicious, though.
And then, the kuroge wagyu steak. Having namul (seasoned vegetables) on top gives it a distinctly Korean feel!
The meat was tender and delicious! But…
I was already completely full!!!
It was truly an enormous amount of food.
Then for the final soup, you can choose between spicy and non-spicy. Naturally, I picked the spicy one.
Hooray! It’s yukgaejang!
And so, the yukgaejang I love so much at lunch actually made an appearance, ha.
The beef came in chunky pieces; my memory of the lunch yukgaejang was that the beef was shredded into thin threads, so I wonder if they change it for dinner? As for the flavor, it had that same rich, deeply layered taste. Man, this was good.
I didn’t need any more food, but of course you end up eating a bit anyway. Rice is just the perfect match for yukgaejang.
And on top of that, a sweet drink.
Overall it was a massive menu that left me completely satisfied! Since it was a tasting course, everything gave an impression of being more delicate than the Korean food I usually eat. While novel, it was a wonderful experience enjoying time-honored traditional Korean cooking through this course. I was reminded once again of how exceptionally good the yukgaejang is, so I definitely want to visit for lunch again!
Soshian (Korean / Roppongi Station, Nogizaka Station, Hiro-o Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
