Ambience: not much. The restaurant is small and tables are packed closely together. Two overhead televisions - on mute, thankfully - show Korean news and soap operas.

Pros: come for the homey pots of soups and stews, and skip the barbecue (which is cooked in the kitchen anyway; there are no grills on the tables).

Cons: the servers are competent, although not particularly welcoming. Some of the more interesting dishes are not listed on the menu - you have to be in the know to order them. Lettuce with boiled pork and spicy sauce (HK$250) had meat that was too firm, and the vegetables - used to wrap the meat - were soggy. Rice with seafood, vegetables, beef and egg in hot pot (HK$110) was served in a dolsot (stone pot) that wasn't hot enough, so the rice didn't develop a good crunchy crust.

Recommended dishes: gul guk bap (oysters and rice in soup, HK$90) - an off-menu item - was soothing, mildly flavoured comfort food. We came specifically for the soondae guk (HK$90, also off-menu) - a limited-availability special served on Tuesdays until they run out. It had a fiery-looking broth (although not as spicy as it looked) with chunks of soondae (Korean blood sausage) and thinner pieces of crunchy, tender pigs ear. Even better, though, was the spicy beef soup (HK$90, above) which was richer and more deeply flavoured. Potato and pork spare rib stew (HK$250) is meant to serve two, but it was a huge, bubbling hot vat of food better suited for four diners. It had chunks of mostly tender meat and potatoes in a spicy but balanced broth. Spicy stewed codfish (HK$180) featured large pieces of cod with clams, slices of white radish and other vegetables in an intense sauce that had a sweet aftertaste. Mixed cold spicy noodles (HK$90, left) refreshed our palates after such a richly flavoured meal.

What else? The restaurant also serves unusual (on Korean menus, anyway) dishes of tempura and shabu shabu.