À la carte galbi samgyeopsal at a Gangnam Station BBQ house: Giun

While deciding on dinner near Gangnam Station, I wanted proper pork for once, so I stopped by Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch. I usually love samgyeopsal, and while searching for Korean BBQ spots near Gangnam Station, a menu called galbi samgyeopsal caught my eye — different from regular samgyeopsal. The name alone made me curious what it would taste like, and after trying it I understood why it's introduced as the signature dish here. What made it especially easy was that the staff grilled the meat themselves on the charcoal hearth.

What kind of restaurant is Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch?

Walking from Gangnam Station exit 4, Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch sits a little away from the busiest strip, so it's a good pick if you want a quiet, well-styled Korean BBQ place near Gangnam Station. The whole space had a clean, calm feel, and even though it's a Korean BBQ restaurant, it felt less chaotic than most — a good spot for a meal with friends, a date, a work dinner, or a gathering. I visited on a weekday during early evening and it was already full, showing how popular it already is.

It's not a fully private room, but the divider-style seating made it feel private enough, and there was space under the chairs for storing belongings.

Staff grill the pork for you at the table

What I liked was that staff grill the meat themselves. Timing the meat at a BBQ place is always a bit stressful, but at Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch the staff grilled it from start to finish, so I could just relax and chat while eating. The ventilation was also excellent — after the meal, no smell of meat lingered on my clothes or hair at all.

Giun menu and the galbi samgyeopsal price

Most other customers seemed to be ordering the Giun set menu, but since I'm not a big fan of minari (water dropwort), I went with single-order meat only. The dish I was most looking forward to that day was galbi samgyeopsal. Giun sells it in 200g portions for ₩19,000, and galbi samgyeopsal is characterized by a higher fat content than regular samgyeopsal.

The drink selection was also quite varied.

At Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch, fully heated charcoal goes into the ochre clay hearth, and the meat is grilled on a cast-iron plate.

Side dishes at Giun and the recommended eating order

A wide variety of side dishes are set out: wild garlic leaf, pickled gungchae, green onion kimchi, chive salad, ssamjang, wasabi, salted seafood, soy sauce, miso mustard, pink salt, and kimchi that's grilled right on the hearth.

Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch offers several suggested ways to enjoy the meat. First, for the very first bite of any cut, they recommend dipping it in Himalayan pink salt — this brings out the meat's natural flavor best. After that, try it with grilled green onion and soy sauce, then wild garlic leaf with wasabi, miso mustard with pickled gungchae, and chive salad with salted seafood — working through the combinations one bite at a time makes for a really enjoyable range of flavors.

Galbi samgyeopsal 200g: how fatty is it?

The galbi samgyeopsal looked really high quality. I worried that with a higher fat content, the actual meat portion might feel skimpy, but the ratio turned out to be great.

They oiled the heated hearth first, then grilled the green onions before the meat.

The gorgeous galbi samgyeopsal, mid-grill.

Watching the meat brown nicely on the plate made me think meat really is best grilled over charcoal. With the weather warming up too, it made me want to do charcoal grilling outdoors sometime.

Just as the outside was cooking to a mouthwatering finish, staff cut it into bite-sized pieces — thick enough that each piece looked quite hearty when picked up. The galbi samgyeopsal cooking to perfection.

Green onion and kimchi, grilled and served alongside the meat. My personal guess as to why the kimchi looks white is that if the seasoning burns and sticks messily to the plate, it produces a lot of smoke — so this might be a way to keep things clean and easy to eat.

For the first bite of galbi samgyeopsal, I tried it plain, just lightly dipped in pink salt, and the meat's own savory flavor came through first. Especially with the fat rendering just enough to bring out a soft texture, it had a richer, more savory flavor than typical lean pork. Genuinely. Delicious.

The best pairing among Giun's side dishes

Galbi samgyeopsal was fine on its own with just salt, but eating it with the various sides definitely added more fun,

There were sides like wild garlic leaf and pickled gungchae that cleanly reset the palate, along with wasabi and various sauces, so I tried switching up the combination with almost every bite. Personally, dipping in salt or adding a touch of wasabi was the cleanest combination and let the meat's flavor come through best.

Eating it with grilled green onion added charcoal aroma and the onion's sweetness, and pairing it with the pickled vegetables cut through the richness of the fat. Rather than sticking to one method the whole time, switching sides kept things interesting right to the end without getting tired of it.

Adding galmaegisal skirt meat and bibim naengmyeon

It felt like a shame to stop at just galbi samgyeopsal, so I also ordered gagmaegisal (skirt meat) to try.

I was already full from the meat, but stopping there felt a little incomplete, so I added rice and bibim naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles) from the meal menu, which made it feel like a proper, hearty meal. Giun also has other meal options that pair well with meat: pork intestine stew, pork intestine rice stew, water naengmyeon, bibim naengmyeon, and Giun fried rice — apparently the fried rice is a gochujang-based signature dish stir-fried with corn, bell pepper, and onion.

What I would order next time at Giun

Next time I'd like to try one of the set menus that includes other cuts together. Since the staff grill everything for you, it's an easy, relaxed meal — a place I'd want to return to on a day I want to eat slowly in a clean, calm setting.