No.9 hanwoo grilled set near Samseong Station: Gungmin Hanwoo House

I was so grateful and happy to eat No.9 hanwoo (the highest marbling grade among the tu-bul tiers) again after such a long time. I had a truly wonderful meal at Gungmin Hanwoo House Samseong Station branch.

The marbling was on another level — deeper, richer, with an astonishing Maillard reaction. It was genuinely delicious. No sauce at all, just salt and pepper sprinkled on while grilling, and yet the meat had such a wide, complex range of flavor.

Gungmin Hanwoo House Samseong Station branch

I stopped by the Gungmin Hanwoo House Samseong branch.

They say this is beef that won a presidential award.

Gukdae modeum and the No.9 grade

I ordered the gukdae modeum (assorted grill set).

Hanwoo tu-bul covers grades No.6 through No.9. Of those, No.9 is the very top.

Side dishes and yukhoe minari muchim

The side dishes were neat and well put together.

You could feel the sincerity put into the hanwoo.

It felt like the side dishes were carefully chosen to pair with each bite of hanwoo — not too much, not too little.

The quality of the charcoal was excellent.

The yukhoe minari muchim (beef tartare with water dropwort) was really delicious.

The grilling order: galbisal, deungsim, buchaesal

It had been a while since I'd had truly proper hanwoo.

From the bottom: galbisal, deungsim, buchaesal.

I put my favorite, deungsim (sirloin), on first. Load the grill just enough, grill it carefully, and eating it crisp outside and juicy inside is when you really experience what proper hanwoo tastes like.

The visuals were really great.

Flip it about twice, keeping the outside from burning while letting a good Maillard crust build up.

Once a piece is grilled enough, add a new cut so you're grilling and eating in stages.

Final thoughts

The taste was truly fantastic. Even a week later, I still feel like the flavor of that grilled hanwoo is lingering around my mouth. I ate so well. It's pricey, but I felt satisfaction to match — a really great experience. I strongly recommend Gungmin Hanwoo House.

(Useful info) What is No.9 hanwoo grade?

'No.9' isn't a separate grading system — it refers to the top level of the nine-stage marbling scale (No.1 to No.9) used to rate intramuscular fat in hanwoo. The higher the number, the better the marbling (the spread of fat within the muscle). (Adbeef)

• Relation to meat-quality grades: only within the 1++ grade is the marbling number 9, 8 or 7 additionally marked. In other words, No.9 points to the richest marbling within the already top-tier 1++ grade. (K-beef)
• Why it gets special treatment: most consumers know grades like 1+ and 1++, but few know about the number breakdown — premium hanwoo gift sets that tout 'Number Nine' are highlighting especially well-marbled meat. (Herald Corp)
• Rarity: as one example, No.9-grade beef makes up only about 0.01% of all Hoengseong hanwoo produced, so brands market it separately to emphasize how limited it is. (Hanoowa)
• Taste difference: well-marbled meat is generally known to be tender, juicy and richly savory, but lower grades aren't necessarily bad — with enough aging, lower-grade beef can also become much more tender and juicy. (A-Ha)

So No.9 isn't so much a 'better grade' as a finer breakdown of the best marbling within the 1++ tier — and given the price, it does deliver a clear difference in fat content and tenderness.

(Useful info) The origins of Korean charcoal grilling

Korea's grilled-meat culture has a surprisingly long history.

• Maekjeok (貊炙) — Three Kingdoms period: the oldest known root, originating in Goguryeo, where meat was seasoned in sauce with chives and garlic, skewered, and grilled over fire. China's 3rd-century Soushen Ji even records maekjeok as a dish of the northern peoples, prized enough to be served first at important feasts. (Professionalbarbecuer)
• Seolljeok (Goryeo dynasty): despite Buddhism's ban on eating meat, royalty and the aristocracy reportedly kept up the culture of grilling meat on a gridiron. (Kfoodtimes)
• Neobiani (Joseon dynasty): good cuts of beef sliced wide and thick, marinated in a court-style soy sauce mix, then grilled on a gridiron — the closest ancestor to modern bulgogi, and it appears in the Joseon-era text Siuijeonseo. (Professionalbarbecuer)
• Nanrohoe (煖爐會): a Seoul custom of gathering around a brazier with a gridiron set over the charcoal, grilling beef seasoned with oil, soy sauce, egg, scallion, garlic and pepper — a seasonal dish enjoyed from the 10th lunar month onward to fend off the cold. (Wikipedia)

So today's hanwoo charcoal grilling traces an unbroken line from 4th-century Goguryeo's maekjeok, through 13th-century Goryeo's seolljeok, down to the charcoal grilling of the 21st century — not a recently invented method at all, but the accumulated result of a very long Korean love of beef. (Kfoodtimes)