YORI Korean BBQ Restaurant in Cambridge

Our stop at YORI wasn’t for the Korean BBQ but a quick lunch. Although, we would love to come back and try out the full Korean BBQ experience. Lured by their lunch set offers on their window, we were promptly shown to a table for two and encouraged to order using the QR code on the table and browser on our smartphones.

It didn’t take long for our mains to arrive but while waiting we were served three appetiser side dishes. These were complementary vegetable sides which includes pickled seaweed in the style of Japanese wakame salad, pickled bean sprouts and a helping of kimchi. Unfortunately both the bean sprouts and kimchi were rather bland although the wakame was pickled long enough to be somewhat tasty.

Ordering from the website was quick and relatively easy although if you’re part of a large party you might want everyone to order on their own phone to save time. The set lunches were listed along with all the other ala carte options.

What we ordered

We ordered the following lunch sets:

Dak Gang Jung – deep fried boneless chicken bites glazed in sweet chilli sauce with rice and miso soup on the side.

Dak Gang Jung with Rice Miso Soup and Side Dishes

The fried chicken while boneless was a bit overdone which made it tough on the inside. The crisp coating on the chicken pieces smothered with the sweet chilli sauce was tasty though. The shredded white cabbage with a bit of salad dressing did not serve well as an accompaniment.

Raw cabbage on its own is quite a difficult thing to get right apart from in coleslaw, and the very little bit of dressing did not make the cabbage palatable. It would have been better to have a side salad of lettuce leaves or even some pickled vegetables as a side. The rice and the miso soup were pretty standard although generous in portion.

Chicken Bibimbap – rice served in a warm bowl topped with a mixture of vegetables, fried egg sunny side up and grilled chicken accompanied by gochujang sauce and miso soup on the side.

Bibimbap is a typical Korean classic served in a very hot stone bowl, typically with beef. Unfortunately the chicken bibimbap was disappointing. The hot stone bowl was barely warm to touch which mean that it was not hot enough to crisp the rice at the bottom nor was it hot enough to cook the egg. It would have been better if the egg was fried sunny side up and served on the rice if the stone bowl wasn’t going to do the job.

The chicken was cooked, but just barely which meant that the further cooking that was expected to happen via the stone bowl just did not happen. The vegetables served with the rice gave it a nice crunch and the change in texture made the overall dish more palatable.

The spicy Bibimbap Sauce is usually poured over the whole bowl and then the contents of the bowl stirred well to mix it all up. Unfortunately in this case, it would have made the overall dish even colder.

Would we recommend it?

The ambience, service and overall feel of Yori in Cambridge was nice. It was a nice place to sit and eat a quick lunch. The servers were attentive and pleasant. Unfortunately the food this time was disappointing. Having said that, this is the first time we have eaten at Yori and we possibly might give them another chance, although we might order something else. Overall the food is authentically Korean with nice touches such as the stainless steel chopsticks and complementary appetiser sides.

For some authentic Korean food at bargain prices, we would recommend eating at Yori, as long as you’re not too invested in the perfect experience.