Horse meat sashimi to shabu-shabu in Jungmun, Seogwipo: Marijoa

A horse meat course instead of black pork in Jeju

What do people usually eat in Jeju? Black pork, braised hairtail, mackerel sashimi. I'm usually the same, but this time I wanted to try something a bit different, so I went for a Jeju horse meat course. That's Marijoa, in Jungmun, Seogwipo.

I first tried horse meat when I visited Jeju in the winter two years ago. It was tastier than I expected, but I did notice a bit of that distinctive smell. I eat lamb just fine, so I figured that was tolerable, but on this trip I looked into horse meat again and found out Marijoa is a certified edible-horse-meat restaurant, so I went to check it out.

This was way tastier than the horse meat I had before. First of all, that smell I was worried about was completely gone, and the meat was so tender it genuinely surprised me. I thought I'd feel a bit sad about coming all the way to Jeju without eating black pork, but — pat myself on the back for choosing horse meat!

A horse meat spot worth the trip

Why horse meat comes as a course

Marijoa is near Jungmun in Seogwipo, so it's an easy stop while touring around there.

We ordered the mari course. Honestly, when I thought of horse meat, I only imagined yukhoe (raw seasoned beef, here horse) or grilled cuts. But what the owner told us was really interesting. Since horse meat isn't consumed as widely as beef or pork, it's hard to run a restaurant using just one cut.

So in the end, they have to use various parts of the whole animal evenly, which naturally means the food ends up structured as a course. Knowing that made the course even more fun to eat. The same horse meat tasted completely different as sashimi versus grilled,

and different again as braised ribs versus shabu-shabu. So if it's your first time trying horse meat, I actually think a course like this is way more interesting than ordering a single dish. It felt like experiencing almost every part of the horse, start to finish, in one meal.

The Joa course

Starting with horse meat extract

At the start of the course they give you horse meat extract first. One sip and — wow, straight-up health-tonic flavor. There's a slight herbal-medicine feel to it, but I actually love ssanghwatang (a Korean herbal tonic), so it was totally my thing. It warms your stomach up before the course really begins.

Horse meat sashimi and yukhoe

And here's the dish that first made my eyes go wide!

Horse meat sashimi and yukhoe. Sashimi and yukhoe are hard to make delicious to begin with if the meat isn't fresh. Oh... it was genuinely fresh, and so tender it shocked me. I barely noticed the distinctive smell I remembered from before.

The sashimi especially — I wanted a whole extra plate of just that. Horse meat is relatively low in fat, so even raw, it left no greasy aftertaste in my mouth. With yukhoe, you can sometimes get sick of the seasoning and richness if you eat a lot, but this one had a really clean finish.

The horse meat sushi that came alongside was fun too. Some pieces were lightly seared on the outside like tataki, and some were rolled up prettily like summer rolls, making a perfect appetizer before the grilling really begins.

Stir-fried black jireum

Next up was stir-fried black jireum. At first I had no idea what black jireum was, but it turned out to be a part with a chewy texture like makchang (grilled small intestine). They stir-fry it in seasoning, similar to stir-fried chicken gizzard.

One bite in and I immediately ordered a beer... I really tried not to, haha. There's just no avoiding it. Completely a beer-calling flavor!

Malkkaseu / braised ribs

Then came the braised ribs and malkkaseu (breaded, fried horse cutlet). The braised ribs were another surprise too — horse meat as braised ribs? I wasn't sure it would work, but it was so tender. Almost no chewiness, and since it isn't too fatty, even eating the sweet rib sauce felt light.

The braised ribs stuck with me, and my partner Udoryeong loved the malkkaseu. Instead of just deep-frying a thick piece of meat, they layered thin slices of meat like a mille-feuille.

So even though it's fried, the meat stays tender instead of chewy. And we hadn't even gotten to the main course yet, haha.

Best menu

Horse meat grill, served with its fat

Finally, the horse meat roast grill arrived. The owner grills it herself, and we had tenderloin, sirloin, and heart. Looking at the grill pan, though, she'd placed fat right alongside the meat. At first I thought, wait, you eat the fat on purpose?

The owner explained that since horse meat is naturally low in fat, grilling a bit of fat alongside it and eating them together makes it much tastier. So I tried the fat with the meat and — wow, that's amazing. A perfect combination. Horse meat plus fat has now become a formula in my book. Non-negotiable.

Try putting a bit of fat and some of the grilled mushrooms on the horse meat and eating it all together, samhap-style. The savory fat rounds out the lean meat, and the mushroom ties the aroma together at the end.

Shabu-shabu to finish

And finally, shabu-shabu comes out. By this point we'd already gone through sashimi, yukhoe, sushi, stir-fry, braised ribs, malkkaseu, and grilled meat. I wondered if we could possibly finish it all — but we did.

I never expected shabu-shabu to be this good. To my taste, it was even better than beef shabu-shabu. Really clean flavor, with a subtle nuttiness when you chew. Wrapped with the napa cabbage, it's genuinely delicious. There's almost no greasiness, so it kept going down even after I was already full.

The final noodles were fun too — they add noodles made from dragon fruit cactus (baengnyeoncho) and from tangerine, and the colors instantly feel like Jeju. A fitting ending to a horse meat course eaten in Jeju itself. After finishing the whole meal, I felt genuinely full, but oddly not weighed down.

If I had to pick a best menu item at Marijoa

And if you ask me to pick just one best menu item at Marijoa...? I can't, haha. But if I had to rank them anyway: sashimi, shabu-shabu, roast grill. And number one is the sashimi.

I still remember being surprised at how tender that first bite was, way more than I expected. Whatever image I had of horse meat being smelly or chewy pretty much vanished with that first piece of sashimi. I ended up never eating black pork this whole Jeju trip. At first I felt a little sad about coming all the way to Jeju without it, but after this one meal at Marijoa, I didn't feel that way at all.

So if you're looking for a good restaurant near Jungmun, Seogwipo, or want to try something a bit special in Jeju, I'd say give Marijoa a try. If you feel like it's a shame to only eat black pork and hairtail on your trip, give the horse meat course a shot this time. My parents are heading to Jeju this fall, and I'm definitely going to recommend this place, haha. Having a meal here with a beer would suit my dad perfectly!