Year-end group Korean beef dinner in Yangsan, 26-person room: Damso

I hadn't had beef in a while and went searching for a good place, and found a famous, tasty spot in Yangsan, so this time I made a reservation and visited Damso Main Branch (담소 본점)! Every seat is a private room, so it's very private, and the beef was just as delicious as its reputation as a Yangsan favorite!! There were so, so many other things I liked too, so let me walk you through what was good :)

Where is Damso Main Branch, and what are the hours and parking?

Damso Main Branch is at 253 Geumo-ro, Units 803 and 804, Dongmyeon, Yangsan, Gyeongnam. It's open daily from 16:00 to 21:40, with last order at 21:00. Parking is free for 1 hour 30 minutes, and you can reserve through Naver.

Inside Damso Main Branch: how many people fit in the private rooms?

Damso Main Branch is on the 8th floor of the building. This is the entrance before you go in, and it's so pretty that it doesn't feel like you're inside a building at all,

and the interior is neatly done in a white and wood combination too.

They even have group rooms ready like this, and being on the 8th floor, the view is... 🫠 Views aside, since everything is a private room, it would be great for family gatherings or even meeting the in-laws! They say Damso Main Branch in Yangsan even has a room that fits up to 26 people!!!!! I can't believe it holds that many.. I think it's a great spot for anyone looking for a group gathering place this coming year-end!

Damso Main Branch table setup

Damso Main Branch serves one individual tray per person. We reserved ahead, so everything was already set up when we arrived.

Each person's tray had pickled chili peppers, radish wraps, chives, salt and onion soy sauce, plus your own scissors and tongs.

On top of that, assorted wraps, white kimchi, garlic and ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste for wraps)~!

Which cuts come in Damso Main Branch's Set A and Set B?

At Damso Main Branch you have to order one main meat dish per person, and beef differs in taste and texture by cut, right..? So!!! To try a variety, we ordered Set A and Set B :)

• Set A: sirloin, hanger steak, brisket
• Set B: saewoosal (shrimp-shaped cut), hanger steak, toshisal (skirt-area cut)

Thanks to ordering sets, we got to enjoy a really wide range of cuts, and everyone... can you see the color of this beef 🥺? You can tell at a glance that it's really good quality!

I was so eager to eat that I put a piece on right away!

How Damso Main Branch taught us to grill beef

At Damso you can flip the meat often, and they explained that it gets tough if grilled too long, so you can eat it as soon as the red is gone.

The first perfectly grilled piece I dipped in salt, and true to a Yangsan beef favorite, it really melted in my mouth.

And so the meat party began~~~ Everyone has their own tongs and scissors, so each person can grill to the doneness they like, which was so nice!

Is Damso's hanger steak good with just salt?

The hanger steak at Damso Main Branch had a beefy flavor that wasn't overpowering, so it was delicious dipped in salt alone. I compared it at different levels of doneness, and overall the natural flavor of the beef really came through. Usually with a strongly flavored cut like hanger steak, the beefy taste is so intense that I'd eat it with something punchy like onion soy sauce or wasabi, but Damso's hanger steak isn't overwhelming, so it tasted great even just with salt 🥺

Why the meat smell didn't cling to our clothes at Damso Main Branch

At Damso Main Branch the smoke escapes into a space beside the grill, so the meat smell didn't cling to our clothes. And this was another thing I loved! Eating beef usually leaves a strong smell, so I wore clothes I didn't mind getting smelly, but partway through I realized the smell wasn't strong at all? When I looked, the smoke was whooshing away into the space next to the grill!!!!! Thanks to that, no meat smell stuck to me at all and I could eat beef really cleanly :)

Damso Main Branch dessert: Hanwoo doenjang ramyeon

And the dessert was Hanwoo doenjang ramyeon (Korean beef and soybean-paste noodles)!

At beef restaurants, if you order a ramyeon like this they usually just toss in a few bits and call it done, but the Hanwoo doenjang ramyeon at Damso Main Branch was the real deal?

Even though I'd eaten tons of noodles and meat, more meat kept showing up,,, not just the main course but even the dessert was absolutely perfect!

Is Damso Main Branch in Yangsan good for group gatherings?

These days a lot of places are mostly viral marketing, so even famous restaurants often turn out to be just so-so when you actually go, but Damso Main Branch was a place where I really understood why it's famous!

Maybe that's why the reservations were completely full on the day I visited, and on the way out I saw families waiting. The staff were also so~~ kind, the atmosphere and food were clean and tidy, and it tasted so good that I was thinking of booking here next time I have a family gathering or an important get-together. If you're looking for a Yangsan private-room restaurant for a group or family gathering, I recommend visiting Damso Main Branch :)