Oyster Creek Landing Became Hampstead's Restaurant Row Without Being Built as One

Sang and Adam Woo, the father and son behind Seoul Sushi, already had two ways to feed Wilmington, a food truck and a stall in the Cargo District. When they picked a spot for their next restaurant, they went home. Adam Woo told Port City Daily that he and his father both live in Hampstead, so the location "felt like a natural addition."

They opened Seoul Sushi and Korean BBQ on Sept. 8 at Oyster Creek Landing, the development on Shuckin Street in Hampstead. It's the fifth food or drink business on a tenant list that also includes P.T.'s Olde Fashioned Grille, Tiny'z Tavern, Bubba & Finn's and Drift Coffee. Morning coffee, burgers, shaved ice, a bar and now sushi and Korean BBQ all share one parking lot. That lineup came together one lease at a time over about two years, in a building marketed for offices and services.

A development pitched around offices and services

Oyster Creek Landing was developed by Double Dimension LLC as a mixed-use project, with retail on the ground floor and professional office suites upstairs. The Greater Wilmington Business Journal covered its grand-opening event, an afternoon of live music and food-and-drink specials in May 2025.

The tenants that story named were mostly appointment businesses: Salt Aesthetics Bar, Pender Pediatric Therapy, Creative Hands Occupational Therapy, Paradise Pilates, Haven Salon Studios, Oppa Nails, Pluris Management Group and Behavioral Consulting for Autism, among others. That's a place you drive to for a 2 p.m. session. Nothing on that list suggested anyone would come for dinner.

The food businesses had actually arrived first. Several were open months before that grand opening.

How the food tenants added up

Tinyz Tavern opened Aug. 30, 2024. StarNews reported in its August 2024 restaurant roundup that it was the brand's third location. By early November that year, a later StarNews roundup listed P.T.'s and Bubba & Finn's as open too. Drift was announced the following March. Each one signed on separately, and over time the ground floor turned into the most varied place to eat in this part of Pender County.

What a day there looks like now

The lineup covers the whole day, from early morning to after dark:

• Morning: Drift Coffee + Kitchen lists daily hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on its Hampstead page, with the kitchen closing at 3. The menu has coffee and espresso drinks, avocado toast and breakfast burritos, plus bowls, salads and sandwiches at lunch.
• Lunch: P.T.'s Olde Fashioned Grille serves burgers, and its fries are what the chain is known for.
• Afternoon: Bubba & Finn's Hawaiian Kine Treats has Dole Whip, shaved ice and Kona coffee, plus loco moco if you want a full meal.
• Evening: Seoul Sushi does sushi rolls, bibimbap bowls and Korean-style wings, and Tinyz Tavern has the bar.

Drift is the only one of the five that publishes hours on its own page, so check before you go anywhere else on that list late in the day.

Before September, the evening options here were a burger and a tavern. Seoul Sushi gave the center a sit-down dinner spot with a menu built around one chef's training.

The Seoul Sushi menu and where it came from

Sang Woo's background explains the menu. Port City Daily reported that he was born in Korea and moved to Pittsburgh with his family when he was 5. His family ran a Korean restaurant there, Young Bin Kwan, and an Asian market for two decades. As an adult he spent almost seven years at Pittsburgh Fish Market, a restaurant with a live oyster and sushi bar, and later worked as sushi chef and sous chef at Nakama Japanese Steakhouse.

The Hampstead menu combines both of those kitchens. Port City Daily's opening story called out a few standouts:

• The Seoul: shrimp tempura and fresh crab, topped with spicy tuna.
• The Hanalei: a tempura-fried roll with seasoned lump crab, eel, avocado and cream cheese.
• Bibimbap: your choice of bulgogi beef or spicy pork over white rice, with spinach, carrots, cucumber kimchi, squash, pickled radish and an over-easy egg.
• Korean BBQ wings: the most popular sauce, made on a gochujang base.

The restaurant started small. The Woos launched the food truck around the Cape Fear region in 2023 to keep overhead low while they saved toward a restaurant, then opened in the Cargo District in 2025. Hampstead is the second brick-and-mortar location. Ahead of the opening, Adam Woo told Port City Daily they would "temporarily stop accepting bookings for our food truck" until the Hampstead location was ready and adjusted.

The opening also came later than first planned. Topsail Magazine reported in late June that Seoul Sushi expected to open in July. It opened Sept. 8.

"We believe that Hampstead is looking for more diversity in the food sector, and we believe we can add on a different variety of food that Hampstead locals can look forward to having."

Adam Woo, to Port City Daily

Why the timing matters this fall

The Woos' point about variety lands harder because of what else happened nearby this season. A StarNews roundup from early October reported that VK PHO, the Vietnamese noodle house at 2761 N.C. 210 in Hampstead, is closed while the space moves to new ownership. The same roundup noted that Unwined Wine Bar, Beer & Charcuterie closed Sept. 27 after six years at 114 N. Topsail Drive in Surf City. Its owners are part of the new Coconut Cove restaurant and said they will keep hosting live music there.

Some new options showed up in the same stretch. Cuban Coffee Co., a mobile espresso and matcha bar, is serving the Hampstead area, with pickup and regular hours at Raise the Bar Therapy Services. It offers drinks like a Dulce de Leche Latte, along with cinnamon rolls and Cuban pastries. Over in Surf City, The Tank at Marina Joes opened a sports bar at 209 N. New River Drive.

Taken together, Hampstead lost its pho counter on N.C. 210 the same season it gained sushi and Korean BBQ on Shuckin Street. The best concentration of choices in town is now in a center whose first big announcement was mostly about pilates studios, salons and therapy practices. Seoul Sushi's arrival puts five food and drink businesses in one place, and the newest one is run by people who live in Hampstead.

Before your first visit

A few practical notes. Reporting has listed the center at both 43 and 44 Shuckin, as both Street and Lane, so searching for the restaurant name usually works better than a street number. Drift's posted kitchen hours end at 3 p.m., so a late breakfast there needs to be an early one. If you're hoping to book Seoul Sushi's food truck for an event, check with the Woos first, since they paused truck bookings while the Hampstead restaurant got up and running.

Knowing Hampstead well means knowing which corners of town are changing and which new tables are worth trying. If you're curious how that growth shows up in your own home's value, Jennifer Bullock - Main Site can walk you through it over coffee at Drift. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll bring the numbers to the table.