A steaming bowl of milky pork broth has landed on Stanley Street. Um Yong Baek, the Busan-born pork rice soup specialist that built a cult following in Singapore, has opened its first Hong Kong outpost in Central — a three-minute walk from Central MTR, serving dwaeji gukbap alongside three-way aged-pork barbecue.
In This Guide
What is Um Yong Baek?
Um Yong Baek is a Korean restaurant chain built around dwaeji gukbap, the pork-and-rice soup native to Busan, South Korea. The brand built its reputation in Singapore before opening its first Hong Kong location on Stanley Street in Central, bringing the same slow-simmered broths and Jeju-style barbecue pork to a compact, no-frills dining room.
The concept leans into simplicity: two broths, a short list of banchan, and pork cooked three different ways at the grill. It's the kind of restaurant built for a quick, comforting lunch as much as a longer dinner with shared plates.
The menu: gukbap and aged-pork BBQ
The signature dish comes in two styles: a clear, delicate broth made from fresh pork, and a milky, creamy broth simmered for hours from pork bones and trotters. Both arrive unsalted, following Busan tradition, so diners season the soup themselves at the table with salted shrimp, chives and chilli. A bowl of gukbap starts from HK$120.
At dinner, the kitchen shifts focus to three-way aged-pork barbecue — pork grilled at different stages of dry-ageing for varying textures and depth of flavour, served with the same banchan spread. It's a smaller, more focused menu than most Korean BBQ houses in Hong Kong, which is part of the appeal.
Address, hours and getting there
Um Yong Baek
Stanley Street sits in the thick of Central's lunch-hour dining strip, tucked between Wellington Street and Lan Kwai Fong — an easy stop before or after a browse through Central's other venues.
Why is a pork soup shop worth the hype?
Dwaeji gukbap is comfort food in Busan the way congee or wonton noodles are in Hong Kong — unpretentious, built for repeat visits, and better for the unsalted broth that lets each diner season to taste. Um Yong Baek's arrival gives Central office workers a genuine alternative to the cha chaan teng and ramen shops that dominate the area's quick-lunch options.
If you're building out a wider Korean food crawl, see our guide to the best Korean restaurants in Hong Kong or read up on Yusang's Korean anju and sool pairings. For more of the city's essential bowls, our best hotpot round-up covers the other side of Hong Kong's soup obsession.
Frequently Asked Questions
Central's New Comfort Bowl
Busan-style pork soup and three-way aged-pork BBQ, four minutes from Central MTR. Um Yong Baek is now open on Stanley Street.