Gangnam Seoul Korean BBQ where staff grill bone-in pork belly: Giun

A galbi samgyeopsal dinner with my sibling near Gangnam Station

Since switching jobs to a company in Gangnam, I've been on a constant hunt for good places to eat. Yesterday after work I had samgyeopsal (pork belly) with my younger sibling — we went to Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch (기운 강남역 본점), which is famous for its galbi samgyeopsal (bone-in aged pork belly)!

Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch: hours and location

Giun is about a 10-minute walk from Exit 4 of Gangnam Station, so it's quick to find. There are a lot of offices nearby, and when we visited there were groups finishing up company dinners here! While we were standing outside, one of them told us this place is really good and to go on in.

What's the atmosphere like?

The interior is stylish and upscale! It was a Monday, and seeing people wrapping up a company dinner made me think this must be a genuinely good spot.

Galbi samgyeopsal sets and prices

Here's the menu and prices at Giun Gangnam Station Main Branch. Galbi samgyeopsal is pork belly aged on the bone, and it's Giun's signature. Aging the pork belly with the bone deepens the flavor during the process, and you also get to taste the unique texture of the rib meat between the bones!

• Giun Set: galbi samgyeopsal 600g + vegetable platter = ₩60,000
• Don-Giun Set: galbi samgyeopsal 200g + pork neck 200g + pork skirt 150g + vegetable platter = ₩58,000
• Sul-Giun Set: galbi samgyeopsal 200g + pork jowl 150g + pork shoulder cap 150g + vegetable platter = ₩59,000

There are three nicely put-together set menus. We ordered the Giun Set.

The grill Giun uses is a specially made brazier fired with red clay (hwangto) on all four sides! There's a dedicated brazier with a hood right above it, so it catches the meat smell well and your face doesn't get hot, which I loved. While we were eating I told my sibling that the charcoal here must be really good because the smell was different — and it turns out they actually use binchotan, top-grade white charcoal.

The drawer beside the table had cutlery, wet wipes, soju glasses and a bottle opener.

Free corkage, so it works for gatherings too

They sell Asahi draft beer, and the wine prices are on the cheaper side too. The table next to us was drinking whisky, and when I looked into it, corkage here is free! With no corkage fee, it's a great option for a get-together near Gangnam Station. It's nice for a drink with your meat, and being able to bring your own bottle at no extra cost is a real plus.

Neat side dishes and a range of sauces

The side dishes came out really neatly, like at a high-end Korean set-menu restaurant. And every single one was something I love.

From the left: gungchae namul (seasoned celtuce stem), scallion kimchi, seasoned chives, myeongi namul (pickled wild garlic leaves), rinsed aged kimchi, salted octopus, and soy dipping sauce. They went perfectly with the meat and weren't over-seasoned, so they tasted great! Everything except the myeongi namul is made in-house. Honestly, it's rare for a BBQ place to serve gungchae namul, so any place that does can safely be considered run by people who really know food.

For dipping the meat there was ssamjang (soybean-chili paste), miso mustard, salt and wasabi. The ssamjang had several kinds of beans in it, like lentils — maybe they boil the beans separately — and the whole beans were still intact, which gave it a really nice texture. Since there wasn't just one sauce but several, we could try a different combination with each piece of meat.

Galbi samgyeopsal grilled by the staff

While we were picking at the side dishes, the meat arrived right away! It was in really good condition and looked delicious.

The vegetable platter that came with it was zucchini, gosari (fernbrake), kkwari peppers, scallion, minari (water dropwort) and garlic scapes — an all-star lineup. It's not just meat; the vegetables come out generously alongside, so just the visual made it look so appetizing.

Having the staff grill the meat was so convenient. They set the vegetables in a pretty ring around the edge and grilled the meat in the center until it looked mouthwatering.

Can you see the smoke getting sucked into the hood? It pulls the smoke so well that my eyes didn't sting at all and the meat smell barely clung to us, which was great. And since they grill the meat for you, we could take photos and chat and eat in comfort.

Since it's galbi samgyeopsal, the staff cut the bones off partway through grilling. It was my first time having bone-in pork belly, so I found it fascinating. They grilled it so skillfully, and the smell kept getting better — it was hard to sit still...

The combos I tried: salt, and grilled scallions in soy sauce

They recommend dipping the very first piece in Himalayan pink salt, so that's what I did.

Ridiculously good! The meaty flavor was fantastic and the charcoal aroma that had soaked in was so, so good. The meat is so tasty that, personally, dipping it in salt was my favorite way to eat it.

For the next piece they told us to eat it with the vegetables, so I wolfed it down with minari.

How to eat at Giun the tasty way! They recommend grilled scallion + soy sauce, myeongi namul + wasabi, and miso mustard + pickled gungchae.

They moved the grilled aged kimchi onto a plate for us and dropped the grilled scallions into the soy sauce.

Following the recommended method, I ate the pork belly together with the grilled scallions soaked in soy sauce. The aroma of scallions grilled over charcoal was honestly insane.... So, so good. That charcoal-grilled scallion aroma pairs incredibly well with the meat.

The portions were big too, so I was seriously full by the end. A delicious dinner where I ate till I was about to burst.

How it was as a company dinner and gathering spot near Gangnam Station

Dining out around Gangnam Station is pretty pricey, but with a solid set and a great restaurant atmosphere, this place satisfied on both taste and ambience. The vibe is really nice for company dinners, get-togethers, or a wedding-invitation gathering near Gangnam Station. The meat is truly delicious, so if you're looking for Korean BBQ or samgyeopsal near Gangnam Station, I highly recommend it!