The Scores
The Restaurant
Yu Yuan sits on the lobby level of the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, occupying a room designed with latticework screens, jade-green panels, and floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the Inwangsan hillside. It is the only Cantonese restaurant in Seoul awarded a Michelin star — a distinction it has held for two consecutive years in the 2025 and 2026 guides.
The kitchen is led by executive Chinese chef Hak-Yeong Choi, who trained through Hong Kong and Guangzhou before taking the Seoul posting. The lunch dim sum service is the city's most serious dim sum programme: har gow, siu mai, turnip cake, and char siu bao executed with the precision of a Hong Kong tea house. The dinner menu shifts to a carte of whole Peking duck, wok-tossed lobster, steamed grouper with ginger and scallion, and a clay-pot rice with Chinese sausage that regulars order at the start to ensure the correct timing.
The wine list carries serious Burgundy and a curated Champagne selection more commonly associated with Paris than Seoul. Service is conducted with Four Seasons formality — deeply attentive without pressure, the kind of room that knows when to appear and when to disappear.
The private dining room seats twelve and is the preferred booking for Seoul's banking and technology sector when foreign counterparts visit. The combination of recognisable luxury brand and genuine culinary credibility makes it one of the city's most tactically useful tables.
Best Occasion Fit
Impress Clients: Yu Yuan carries the Four Seasons stamp and a Michelin star in a cuisine that Korean counterparts rarely experience at this level. The international signal is instant — you chose a room that required knowledge.
Close a Deal: The private dining room at Yu Yuan is wired for discretion. Twelve seats, soundproofed walls, a dedicated butler, and a menu that arrives without distraction. The deal-closing table for Seoul's top-tier corporate world.
Birthday: The kitchen will produce a personalised celebration dessert and the service team will treat a birthday with the warmth the occasion demands. The rooftop bar two floors above is the natural extension for aperitifs.
What Guests Say
I've eaten Cantonese food across Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Singapore. The har gow at Yu Yuan holds comparison with the best of them. The Peking duck required 24-hour notice — absolutely worth the advance planning.
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