Located at: 3rd Floor, Tower #2, Al Ghurair Centre, Al Rigga Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Visited on: 10 Oct, 2019

Being hidden away on the third floor of one of Al Ghurair’s towers certainly hasn’t dampened the popularity of this place! We went on a weekend (Thursday night), and unless you have reserved ahead, there’s quite a bit of a queue to get in. Shogun serves a variety of Korean, Thai and Japanese cuisine, and we were there (mostly) to try the Korean menu.

Well, to start off we did go with a bit of Japanese – a portion of Ebiten Tobikko Roll – prawn tempura roll topped with flying-fish roe (AED 55). The dish came with six jumbo-sized pieces which were rather scrumptious. The generous coating of roe gave it a nice bite, and the seasoned tempura flakes added a wonderful bit of texture with each mouthful, while the mayo dressing made the whole dish a smooth affair.

For the mains we decided to try out two barbeque options: Dakgogi Gui – marinated chicken BBQ (AED 69) and Saewu Bulgogi – marinated shrimp BBQ (AED 79). I have to say, both marinades were great. The chicken marinade was the simpler of the two, but certainly didn’t compromise on flavour. The shrimp marinade had bits of spring onion and sesame as well, which were a nice addition. I think we managed to do a pretty decent job with the table-barbequing, as both dishes turned out to be quite tasty, with the prawns having a nice chewy crunch to them. Not too sweet, and not really spicy either. Easy and enjoyable.

Dakgogi Gui and Saewu Bulgogi

In addition, we also ordered an Ojingeo Bokum – stir fried calamari in spicy sauce (AED 63). This was probably the dish of the night. So delicious! With sizeable pieces of crunchy calamari, onions, zucchini, red and green chillies, there was much to munch and a beautiful sweet-savoury sauce to enjoy – thoroughly. This really was a great choice of dish.

To go with all of the above, we ordered a portion of Kimchi Bokumbab – kimchi fried rice (AED 63). This sticky fried rice was quite a delight too, and came with a pot of seaweed and a fried egg on top. I wasn’t so much a fan of the seaweed, but the rice was wonderful – and the sauce from the calamari dish went perfectly with it. Quite a pleasure.

Shogun also provides diners with an array of sides that include a salad plate, kimchi, a sweet potato-chicken combo, cut savoury omelette, a tofu-vegetable mix, a sweet and spicy radish-carrot salad, and a mushroom mix. My favourite was the radish-carrot salad, which was refreshing and palate-cleansing. I also enjoyed the mushroom accompaniment.

If you haven’t checked this place out as yet, it’s definitely worth a visit. And remember – reserve ahead!

Yummy Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Special offers: Emirates Platinum card holders get 15% taken off the total bill.