Jungmun horse meat grilled tableside at a weekend dinner: Marijoa

On this Jeju trip I tried something really special — Jeju horse meat! 🐴 This was literally my first time eating horse meat ever, so I was a little nervous haha, but once I had it as a course it actually tasted a lot closer to beef than I expected. If you're looking for something unusual to try only in Jeju, pay attention to this review!

Parking and the dining room at Marijoa Seogwipo Jungmun Branch

Marijoa Seogwipo Jungmun Branch is a horse meat course restaurant at 215 Ieodo-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do. There's a huge dedicated parking lot right in front, so even someone like me who's not confident parking could just pull right in.

I came to Marijoa Jungmun to try horse meat for the first time on this Jeju trip! I could see the standing sign advertising horse meat course cuisine from far away and it made me weirdly nervous-excited haha. I've had black pork and hairtail in Jeju plenty of times, but this was my first time with horse meat, so I was curious what it would taste like.

There's a big horse statue in front of the restaurant, so it caught my eye the moment I arrived 🐴 haha.

Near the register they also sell Jeju specialty snacks and omegi tteok (rice cake). On one side they were selling the horse bone extract separately, the same thing we'd get in the course a little later, so it was fun to browse haha.

I checked the origin of the horse meat too — it's domestic Jeju horse. There was also a certificate on the wall designating them as an authorized Jeju horse meat seller, so since this was such a new food for me, I made sure to check that before eating.

The interior was much bigger than I expected. Lots of tables and plenty of open space, so it looked like it could easily handle a family trip or a big group of friends.

We had a weekend 6pm reservation, so we sat down right away with no wait. Other guests kept trickling in the whole time we were eating haha.

What comes with the 39,000-won Joa Course for two?

Marijoa has course meals that let you try horse meat prepared many different ways. We ordered the Joa Course for two. It comes with extract, sashimi, yukhoe (raw seasoned beef-style dish), sushi, makkas, braised galbi, grilled cuts and shabu-shabu — for first-timers like us, a course covering so many preparations beat ordering just one dish.

While we waited, I read the horse meat info printed on the table, which listed its nutrition and characteristics. Since it's not a meat you run into every day, reading up before the food arrived was actually pretty fun haha.

First, the side dishes were set down: seasoned bracken fern, cucumber salad, pickled onion, kimchi, corn salad and more. With the banchan (side dishes) ready, it's time to properly start the horse meat course 🐴

First course: a small glass of horse bone extract

The Joa Course kicked off unexpectedly with horse bone extract! I'd seen it for sale earlier in the shop, and it turns out one cup comes included with the course. I was so curious what it would taste like haha.

Cheers to good health~~ 🥂 haha. The taste was exactly like drinking traditional herbal medicine. A bit bitter, but not undrinkable — totally manageable for one cup. Starting the horse meat course on such an unusual note made me feel like I was really having a proper offbeat Jeju food experience 🤣

Sashimi, yukhoe and sushi: what does raw horse meat taste like?

After the extract at Marijoa, the raw horse meat dishes all arrive together — horse sashimi, horse yukhoe, and horse meat sushi! Cooked horse meat was already new to me, so raw felt even more unfamiliar. But this is where my mental image of horse meat slowly started to change haha.

Horse meat sashimi tastes far more familiar than expected

First I tried the horse sashimi. It comes with regular lean meat plus a fattier chadol (brisket-style) cut, and the staff suggested trying the chadol cut first.

This is the chadol cut, where you can clearly see the fat. It looks completely different from the lean cut, and with the added fat it had a nice nutty, savory flavor.

I dipped it in sesame oil sauce too. With the mild lean meat and the savory oil sauce together, it felt pretty close to eating regular beef sashimi.

Marijoa's horse yukhoe could pass for beef tartare

Next was the dish I was most curious about — horse yukhoe! Visually it really does look just like the yukhoe we normally eat haha.

The taste was far more familiar than I expected too. The seasoning was sweet and savory, and the distinctive horse meat smell was barely noticeable — if someone served this without telling me, I honestly wouldn't have known it was horse meat haha. If you have any hesitation about horse meat, starting with the yukhoe might be the way to go.

Horse meat sushi in three styles

The horse meat sushi wasn't just one type either — it came as a summer roll, a fresh horse meat sushi, and a cooked horse meat sushi, three kinds total. Same meat, but different prep methods and accompaniments made each bite a little different, which made the course fun to work through.

The summer roll had vegetables, horse meat and perilla leaf inside. After eating meat nonstop, the crunchy vegetables and fragrant perilla leaf were a nice palate reset in the middle.

I also tried the sushi topped with raw and cooked horse meat respectively 🍣. The raw version let you feel the tender, chewy texture of horse meat a bit more, while the cooked version was easier for a first-timer to get into. Bottom line: all three were delicious haha. All that nervousness about horse meat turned out to be unnecessary — it went down way easier than I expected.

Second round at Marijoa: makkas, braised galbi and egg rice

After working through the raw dishes, a batch of warm dishes arrived all at once — makkas, braised horse galbi and egg rice, filling the whole table. With grilled cuts and shabu-shabu still to come, the course was seriously packed haha.

Makkas, the horse meat cutlet

When I first heard the name 'makkas' I had no idea what it was haha, but simply put, it's a pork-cutlet-style dish made with horse meat. Crispy fried horse meat topped with the familiar cutlet-style sauce, so visually it wasn't unfamiliar at all.

Taking a bite, there was a thick piece of horse meat inside, and it was much more tender than I expected. The sauce tasted like standard cutlet sauce too, so it felt more like eating a good cutlet than eating horse meat specifically haha. A very approachable dish for horse meat first-timers.

Braised horse galbi with big, meaty chunks

Next was horse meat braised galbi! Slow-cooked in sauce, aside from the fact it's horse meat, it looked pretty much like the braised galbi we normally eat.

The meat inside was pretty substantial too. Pulling a piece out revealed a large chunk of horse meat, more generous than I expected.

The texture wasn't quite melt-in-your-mouth, more of a satisfying chew, but not tough either — it tasted great with the braised sauce.

Egg rice, a good palate break between courses

Eating meat nonstop, you need some rice too haha. Warm egg rice came alongside, which was perfect to eat in between the meat courses from sashimi to yukhoe to braised galbi.

Mixed together with the popping fish roe, one bite! Not an especially unusual flavor, just a solid, reliably good egg rice that anyone could enjoy haha.

Staff grill the horse meat cut by cut at your table

At Marijoa, the horse meat grilled course is cooked right at your table by the staff. The cuts served that day included tenderloin, thick muscle, heart and a fattier cut.

After the warm dishes, a grill pan appeared on the table. We'd already had sashimi, yukhoe, sushi, makkas and braised galbi — now it was time for grilled horse meat! Trying the same meat across every possible preparation was genuinely fun haha.

For the grilling, staff started by putting the fattier cut on the pan first. I'd thought horse meat was overall a lean meat, so it was interesting to learn there's a fattier cut too haha.

According to the staff, these are horses raised for food in Jeju, and horse meat can get tough if grilled too long, so it's best eaten lightly cooked rather than well-done. Since this was my first time with the meat, I had no idea how well-done it should be, so having explanations for each cut made it much easier to eat.

The grilling itself was all handled by the staff too. They grilled each cut to just the right doneness and told us exactly when to eat it, so all we had to do was listen and enjoy haha.

Once a piece was perfectly cooked, they set it on top of mushrooms so we could eat it right away. Tasting it, horse meat overall is low in fat and tastes close to mild, lean beef — even as a first-timer, it barely felt unfamiliar.

I also tried the cut with fat attached alongside the lean meat. The clean, mild meat combined with the nutty fat made for a definitely tasty bite!

I dipped the fatty cut into a soy-and-chili sauce too. The salty, spicy sauce paired really well with the nutty fat, and eating it that way was delicious too. Also apparently horse meat is high in unsaturated fat, so it won't make you gain weight haha.

My favorite course: horse bone shabu-shabu to finish

And the last dish of the course: horse meat shabu-shabu! It's packed with horse leg meat and vegetables. Staff explained the broth is made from horse bone stock, and after eating so much horse meat in so many ways, ending on a warm bowl of soup felt like the perfect finish.

Once the broth started boiling, we loosened up the vegetables and the kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and got ready to dig in. The noodles came in two colors — prickly pear cactus and tangerine — which made it look prettier than your average shabu-shabu!

The thinly sliced horse leg meat went straight into the broth too 🐴. Just like with the grilling, we didn't cook it too long — lightly done and pulled right out.

The cooked meat went straight into the dipping sauce too. By this point what really struck me was that horse meat shabu-shabu wasn't much different from the beef shabu-shabu we normally eat. If nobody had told me, I would have just assumed it was mild, lean beef haha.

And finally, a warm spoonful of the broth to finish! As the meat and vegetables kept simmering, the broth got richer and richer, making for a warm, satisfying end to the course.

Is Marijoa's Joa Course worth it for a horse meat first-timer?

Honestly, going in, I had no idea what horse meat would taste like at all, but eating it in person, it was overall low in fat and close to mild, lean beef — much tastier than I expected. If you want to try something a bit more unusual in Jeju beyond black pork or hairtail, I'd recommend this as an offbeat dish worth experiencing :)

Marijoa Seogwipo Jungmun Branch: location, hours and reservations

• 📍 Address: 215 Ieodo-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
• 🕐 Hours: Daily 12:00 - 21:30
• 🚗 Parking: Large dedicated lot in front of the restaurant
• ✔️ Amenities: Group-friendly / reservations / high chairs available