After stopping by Waffle Verviers, which has just opened in Mokdong, we moved on to Izakaya Rang in Hongdae for round two. It is actually right in front of Hapjeong Station, but that neighborhood can be counted as part of the greater Hongdae area, so I will call it Hongdae.
Nihonshu
I just ordered something that was not too expensive. Even allowing for the exchange rate, you cannot help comparing it with what you used to drink in Japan.
Sashimi moriawase.
It was pretty good. The prices are reasonable too. The problem with this place is probably that it is such good value that it is always packed. It is expensive compared with a Korean-style raw fish restaurant, but against the Japanese restaurants here in Korea it is clearly competitive.
A whole tray of uni
This was decent enough as well.
Fried oysters
I wish the oysters had been a bit plumper, but since I will not get a chance to eat kaki fry in Japan this winter, I enjoyed them anyway.
Grilled hatahata
It was a roe-bearing hatahata, but I prefer it steamed, so the grilled one was only so-so.
Now that the craze for Japanese-style izakaya and robatayaki has blown over, restaurants with a decent concept seem to be appearing one after another. When I was younger I think I drank an awful lot of soju at robatayaki places, but trends have been evolving along with my age. If places like this keep multiplying, I half expect that at some point we will get Japanese restaurants that are something else entirely, quite unlike what you eat in Japan. For now they still fall a good way short of the real thing, though.