Opening in SoHo this November, the multi-faceted Korean bar links Peel Street and Graham Street in the spirit of 1990s Hongdae, with a cocktail programme built on sool and a menu of Korean anju.
Yeon-Sool, a new Korean cocktail bar, opens in Soho in November 2026 under the direction of Danny Park, the former General Manager of Seoul’s Zest.
Yeon-Sool’s inspiration is 1990s Hongdae, the Seoul university district where Korea first met the world, and the world first met modern Korea. The name joins two Korean words: yeon, meaning connection, and sool, the country’s traditional spirits. Together, they read as “connected by spirit.”
Yeon-Sool offers two distinct settings within a single venue. On the Graham Street side, Danny’s craft unfolds within an industrial and lived-in space. Here, a vibrant rhythm prevails with five seats facing the bartender at a counter, and another 23 seats that invite guests to dive into the moment and be guided through the flavours and spirits of the Korean peninsula.
Over on Peel Street, the atmosphere is focused on high-energy hospitality. The long room is anchored by a bar counter that extends into a communal table, with space to spill out onto the street – where the buzz of Hong Kong’s nightlife reaches its apex.
The interiors evoke a ‘90s-era artist’s Hongdae loft in brick, concrete and metal, tying the bar back to a time and place of transformative potential in recent Korean history.
KOREAN CULTURE MEETS THE WORLD
Few bartenders have a résumé as global as Danny Park. Born in Seoul, he studied hospitality in Arizona and Switzerland before beginning his career in New York where he got his first taste of the city’s speakeasy culture. Danny then moved back to Seoul, where he joined Zest – first as a regular customer, then later as a junior bartender. As Zest rose through the ranks of Asia’s 50 Best Bars, so did Danny, eventually becoming the bar’s General Manager where he oversaw the bar’s operations as it became a flagbearer for Korean mixology on the world stage. At Yeon-Sool, he brings his global approach to Korean craft and heritage to Hong Kong for the first time.
“Nowadays, everyone can make good drinks, and everyone can offer good hospitality,” says Danny. “What makes the difference is personality. A drink shows the character of the person who makes it. I am excited to open my first bar in Hong Kong, which sits at the centre of Asia, with so many people living, visiting and doing business here. This is the ideal city to make Korean cocktail culture more approachable, and to share it much further.”
A TASTE OF YEON AND SOOL
Danny’s cocktails trace the lineage of Seoul’s own bar scene, which first absorbed the precision of Japanese bartending and later the warmth of Western hospitality. His menu works in two directions: Korean spirits used for Western compositions and Western spirits given Korean flavours. Ingredients run from fermented pastes to native fruits such as Korean pear and omija, five-spice berry.
At the heart of it all is sool, which encompasses all traditional Korean spirits. There is soju, which is defined as any clear spirit distilled in Korea, whether from rice, barley or sweet potato; makgeolli, a fermented rice wine; and cheongju, the clear layer drawn from its surface, which becomes yakju when infused with medicinal roots. The latter is Danny’s favourite cocktail ingredient, which he uses in place of dry vermouth.
“Korea has so many great spirits that people simply aren’t aware of,” says Danny. “I want to bring them to Hong Kong and share them with the world. When guests leave, I want them to remember two things: a drink that was perfectly balanced, and a happy night with real warmth to it.”
ANJU – FOOD PAIRED WITH ALCOHOL
No Korean bar is complete without anju, the food designed to satisfy the cravings to sustain long nights of drinking into the wee hours. At Yeon-Sool, bold Korean flavours are given an international accent. The Corn Dog, a classic American-influenced street snack, is finished with gochujang ketchup – so delectable it’s impossible to stop at just one – while Korean Fried Chicken arrives with shrimp chips and a blue cheese and doenjang dip in a nod to Buffalo wings. Other options include Galbi-Jjim Mandu short rib dumplings and White Kimchi Grilled Cheese – a craveable grilled cheese with white kimchi, mozzarella, and emmental on sourdough bread, served with a spicy creamy gochujang sauce for dunking as a play on grilled cheese with tomato soup. For dessert, the Hongdae Sundae features vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries, gochujang-strawberry syrup, makgeolli whipped cream, and white chocolate crumbs to round out a supremely shareable menu.ONE BAR, TWO MOODS
Where is Yeon-Sool and when does it open?
