YORI Korean Restaurant (Covent Garden)

You're walking down Catherine Street, weaving past the theatre crowds, and suddenly you're sitting at a table with a tabletop grill in front of you, the smell of marinating beef hitting you straight away. YORI does that thing really well—makes you feel like you've stepped into a proper Korean restaurant, not some Anglicised version of one. The menu spans the classics: bibimbap that actually has some backbone to it, bulgogi that's been done right, and banchan that arrive without you asking. It's lively without being chaotic, and genuinely packed with people who know what they're after. Service is efficient and knows their stuff, which matters when you're trying to figure out which cut of meat to go for.